Sean Brady won his third straight against Leon Edwards on Saturday, but will it be enough to earn him another crack at UFC welterweight champ Belal Muhammad? (Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images)
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
What is it going to take for fighters like Steve Erceg and Sean Brady to earn second chances against the champions who already beat them once? What are the worst texting mishaps when it comes to communicating with pro fighters? And who should play Jack Dempsey in a movie about “The Long Count Fight”?
All that and more in this week’s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA or @benfowlkes.bsky.social.
@EyeofMihawk: How much extra work does a contender have to do to earn a rematch with a champion they lost to recently? Does it matter how close the fight was? Asking for Sean Brady, Brandon Moreno and Steve Erceg
Also: match Ulberg with Jiri for #1 contender or save them both in a thin 205?
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I think the number one factor in those situations is what else the division has going for it. Because if there are other interesting contenders on the way up? Bad news for the guy with a loss to the current champ. Fans would rather see fresh matchups. The UFC has an easier time selling those. Unless the first fight was somehow controversial, or just a classic battle that people are eager to see again, the defeated contender might be in for a long wait.
However! The calculus changes in a division the UFC doesn’t really care that much about, like flyweight. Steve Erceg might only have to win one or two in impressive fashion — he could start on Saturday at UFC Mexico City — to make his case for another crack at Alexandre Pantoja. The fact that Pantoja has basically cleared out the division helps him even more. There simply aren’t a ton of options, and it’s not like UFC executives are staying late each night brainstorming elaborate plans for the 125-pound title.
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Sean Brady is in a tougher spot. He already has two people ahead of him (Jack Della Maddalena and Shavkat Rakhmonov). Also his first fight with Belal Muhammad was really not competitive at all. That said, Brady now has three straight wins and has looked great lately. His only loss is to the champ, and it was almost three years ago.
I could see him making a better fight of it the second time around. His best chance is probably to stay ready and keep his phone nearby in case someone else pulls out of a title fight soon.
As for Ulberg, I don’t think the light heavyweight division has enough contenders to be whittling the field down at the moment.
@NeedXtoseePosts: If you had to cast a movie of the long count, truly incredible article by the way
– who plays Gene Tunney & Jack Dempsey
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It continues to baffle me that no one has made a really good movie about Jack Dempsey. I mean, it’s right there. One of the biggest sports stars of a fascinating era, which happens to have a lot in common with our current era. (Google what followed The Gilded Age if you want to get really freaked out about the near future.)
He started as basically a boxing hobo, fighting his way through various mining camps while also getting robbed of his winnings by shady manager types. Then he became the heavyweight champ, married a movie star and then a Broadway actress, befriended famous gangsters, and smashed all previous box office records for not only boxing but also any form of live entertainment in America. That’s a fascinating story. Why are we making up fake architects to do biopics on when we have Dempsey?!
But I digress. If we could use some of that de-aging technology from “The Irishman,” I’d say Josh Brolin or Russell Crowe would make a great Dempsey. And maybe we get Ryan Gosling on a better weight-lifting routine and he could play Gene Tunney. If there’s a small role for someone to appear as sports writer Grantland Rice in a scene or two, well, we already know the big homie Chuck Mindenhall looks good in an old-timey hat.
@chjobin.bsky.social: In the wake of that Atlantic article, what kind of text message have you ever received from a fighter, manager or promotion that left you baffled?
One thing fighters consistently do over text is agree to talk to you at a certain time but never even think to mention what time zone they’re currently in. For example, you text and ask if they have a minute to talk for a story you’re working on. The fighter tells you sure, call at six. Never do they think to mention whether that’s Pacific or Eastern or Central or Mountain Time. Never.
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Of course, when you call there’s a good chance that fighter won’t pick up. Maybe ever. And you probably can’t leave a voicemail because either their voicemail inbox is full or has never been set up in the first place. That’s just how it goes.
I will say, once I accidentally texted a fighter when I meant to text my girlfriend at the time. I think I was on the road, covering an event, and I texted her one of those ‘love you, good night’ messages. (Thankfully it wasn’t one of those ‘what are you wearing’ messages.) I quickly realized that I’d accidentally texted Josh Barnett instead, so I tried to explain and apologize. Fortunately, Barnett has a sense of humor. All he wrote back was something along the lines of: “Don’t be sorry. I love you too. Good night.”
@bear_reynolds: Why is the UFC always compared to team sports like NBA and NFL instead of individual sports like tennis and golf?
Maybe because comparing cage-fighting to tennis or golf just seems too absurd? But you’re right, in a lot of ways those sports are more similar in structure. As in MMA, the individual is responsible for all the aspects of preparation. Unlike in MMA, a tennis player or golfer always has the chance to win the top prize and the big money every time they enter a tournament. UFC fighters need the organization to give them a shot, and winning isn’t always enough.
@MMAbandwagon: After close fights with Alex, Big Ank, and C-Los, are we cool with Jan not fighting the top 5? I’ve always blamed it on others, but he is the common denominator in some lackluster fights. The ufc needs some action at 205 and he’s too good at negating great fighters. (Also old af)
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First of all, give Jan Blachowicz a break. At age 42, he needs to be savvier and smarter to stay competitive. Will that sometimes mean performances that aren’t so fun to watch? Yes. But if he goes out there and tries to fight like he’s still 28, he’s going to get knocked out by guys who are actually 28.
But you make a fair point. Putting him in there with potentially fun contenders is a good way to get some lackluster fights. The UFC probably knows this, but keeps doing it because it falls in line with the long-established practice of feeding the old to the young in an effort to get that former champ shine to rub off on the new guy. I’d be fine with it if we just stopped doing that.
@leadbasedsaint.bsky.social: What was your favorite thing about Paris?
The short answer is baked goods. I ate so, so many and they were all delicious. The longer answer is that it’s just a beautiful city with so much history everywhere you look.
That was maybe the most noticeable difference between Paris and other big cities I’ve been to in North America. You walk down a lot of streets in Manhattan and it feels like you could just as easily be in Chicago or Toronto or San Francisco. It’s just skyscrapers and Starbucks. In Paris they still have all the same stuff, but it’s built into rather than over the existing historical charm. I appreciated that.
Also? Did you know there’s a video arcade in The Louvre? And did you know that in this arcade there is one of those pop-a-shot basketball games? That means there must be someone with the high score record on there. So basically, at all times there is somewhere on the planet a person who can claim to be the pop-a-shot champion of The Louvre. I can hardly imagine a more prestigious title.