Outside Source
As always, the MMA news cycle never stops.
This past weekend, UFC Seattle went down with Song Yadong picking up a technical decision win over Henry Cejudo after a somewhat controversial and incredibly weird ending involving an eye poke. But just as we were putting the finishing touches on this mailbag, news broke that next weekend’s UFC 313 co-main event between Justin Gaethje and Dan Hooker was off because Hooker broke his hand!
Will they replace Hooker or just punt the matchup down the road? And what about UFC Seattle? There’s a ton to go through so let’s dive right in.
Justin Gaethje opponent
If Justin stays on the card, who do you want to see him fight, and who do you believe the UFC chooses. You must pick someone who has a reasonable probability of accepting. While it would be cool to see Ilia earn his title shot, he’s not volunteering for this.
— LR (@SCsportsgal) February 25, 2025
“If Justin stays on the card, who do you want to see him fight, and who do you believe the UFC chooses. You must pick someone who has a reasonable probability of accepting. While it would be cool to see Ilia earn his title shot, he’s not volunteering for this.”
I’m not going to lie to you, Gaethje vs. Hooker falling off UFC 313 is brutal. While the card isn’t bad, it’s also not good, and that’s why I feel some level of confidence that the UFC is going to find a replacement opponent; because it needs to.
As for who that will be, there was no shortage of fighters offering to step up but, all due respect to Rafael Fiziev, Mateusz Gamrot, and Renato Moicano, none of those bring the same excitement that Hooker did. Fiziev is a rematch that Gaethje would be a fool to take and Gamrot is a laughable choice. Moicano is the only one that’s even viable, and for as much as people like Moicano, he’s not going to bang it out with Gaethje. Does Gaethje want to take on a guy who will tackle and grapple him? Doubtful.
No, there really is only one answer here who makes sense (Arman Tsarukyan is not it because he couldn’t make lightweight with a full camp, ain’t happening in this time frame): Ilia Topuria.
You say I can’t choose Topuria, but why not? Who alive thought he would vacate the featherweight title for no real reason? The man is clearly willing to act a little crazy, and this is specifically a fight he’s said he’s wants. Are the circumstances ideal? No. But this would be almost pure upside for him. It solves the question of whether he deserves to get a lightweight title shot with just one defense at featherweight, and it does it in the most badass fashion possible.
Alex Pereira became a living legend last year by doing exactly this sort of thing, and he was fighting in a bad weight class. If Topuria drops his 145 belt to fight Justin Freaking Gaethje on two weeks’ notice and beats him? That’s some god-tier aura. That is how you become beloved and revered, and that turns his fight with Islam Makhachev into a legitimate pay-per-view attraction.
If I had to bet, I’m saying Topuria steps up.
Song Yadong vs. Henry Cejudo 2?
“Is it worth booking to Song Yadong v Cejudo rematch, in the hope that everyone hopefully gets their chocolate ganache? Or is it better for both of them to just move onto other fights?”
I don’t often find myself agreeing with Dana White, but on this we are aligned: I have no interest in watching Song and Cejudo run things back.
I’m of the opinion that officially, that bout should be a No-Contest, because it was ended by an illegal strike and it doesn’t seem like the best process for fights to be won a direct result of cheating (call me crazy). But if you must choose a winner, clearly the right man won. Song was working Cejudo all over the cage and in practice the eye poke just saved us 10 minutes of watching an old man get hit. Sure, the ending was weird and bad, and sure, we can’t know what would’ve happened, but I’m good. It’s not like the fight was even that fun, so let’s just move on.
Rules
Do you actually think a point deduction for every foul would be a better product? Not accusatory btw just wondering.
I feel like standing in the center of the octagon and getting a point taken would get tedious. Feel like it should be quicker somehow is that ever became a thing
— Noah Vilagi (@NVilagi) February 23, 2025
“Do you actually think a point deduction for every foul would be a better product? Not accusatory btw just wondering.”
“I feel like standing in the center of the octagon and getting a point taken would get tedious. Feel like it should be quicker somehow is that ever became a thing.”
100 percent. I have never been more serious about anything in my working life. The fact that MMA doesn’t penalize fouls is both infuriating and insane, and it’s THE ONLY SPORT THAT DOESN’T. There is literally no reason not to do.
“BuT tHeN tHe ReFs DeCiDe ThE fIgHts!”
They already do! Failure to enforce the rules of a game isn’t being objective, it’s actively assisting the offending party! The person who gets fouled did nothing wrong and now they are suffering as a result! Why is the default setting to defend the villain?!?! If NFL refs stopped calling defensive pass interference and just said “well, we told the Saints to stop doing it, 4th and 7” they would be fired tomorrow.
“BuT MmA iS oNlY tHrEe RoUnDs!”
So? Cheating is cheating. In every scenario, one party is getting screwed over. In my scenario, that party is the one who isn’t innocent. You don’t want to get penalized? Don’t f*cking foul. It’s not that hard. Plenty of fighters don’t do it.
“BuT fIgHtErS wIlL fAkE iT!”
It’s the ref’s job to watch the fight and determine fouls, not just take a fighter’s word that a foul occurred. If the ref does that, fire them for incompetence! Also, we have instant replay to correct such mistakes. And if a fighter does, then you can either fire them, or just let the community rip them to shreds for being a piece of shit. I promise you, the number of fighters who fake an eye poke or groin shot will be extremely small, if at all.
And along those lines, to answer the second part of the question, no, it won’t! Because if you start actually penalizing fouls, I GUARANTEE that the number of fouls will drop off dramatically. You won’t be stopping every fight three or four times because fighters will stop committing fouls! In any sport the ability to mitigate penalties is a legitimate skill that players or teams work on. MMA will be the same if there is ever a reason to do so.
For the past 10 years, I’ve felt like I’m taking crazy pills because so many people refuse to get on board with this. I’m glad that’s finally starting to change because the answer is blatantly obvious: take a point for every foul except fence grabs, which instead are punished by awarding the non-offending party a choice of position. Instant replay to confirm fouls.
There, I just fixed MMA.
Cejudo
If Henry doesn’t retire, and he doesn’t rematch Song, who would you like to see each matched up with next?
— Dillon Armoogam (@DOGYEE) February 23, 2025
“If Henry doesn’t retire, and he doesn’t rematch Song, who would you like to see each matched up with next?”
Well, I would’ve said Jose Aldo but instead he’s fighting Aimann Zahabi because … I honestly have no frigging idea. So if Cejudo isn’t going to retire, I’d like to see him try 125 again. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but he was noticeably smaller than Song, and the truth is despite being a former bantamweight champion, that was never his best weight class. He’s only meaningful wins are over Marlon Moraes — who lost 7 of his next 8 and arguably lost the 8th as well — and Dominick Cruz, who was clearly past his prime.
If Cejudo is going to keep going, there’s plenty of viable opponents at 125 pounds.
Anthony Hernandez
How do you see Fluffy Hernandez doing against the top 5 at middleweight?
— jonathan stephens (@mrmeatballesq) February 24, 2025
“How do you see Fluffy Hernandez doing against the top 5 at middleweight?”
“Fluffy” took a hard-fought unanimous decision over Brendan Allen in their rematch in the co-main event this past Saturday and now sits at No. 9 in the UFC middleweight rankings. He’s riding a seven-fight win streak and looks to be a serious contender at 185 pounds. But I’m still not entirely sure what to make of him.
Fluffy has a super power, which goes a long way. In a five-round fight, he can make life miserable for just about anyone with his wrestling and cardio. The problem is, while that works for Merab Dvalishvili at bantamweight, I’m not sure it’s as effective at 185. Fluffy doesn’t have Merab’s chin and middleweights hit harder, and the rest of his game is still very much in need of work. Dricus du Plessis, Nassourdine Imavov, and Khamzat Chimaev all seem like they’d be very hard fights for him, and even Sean Strickland could be tricky. Not saying he can’t win but Brendan Allen gave Hernandez hell in there and he’s a clear tier below that crop of fighters.
Ultimately, I kind of view Fluffy as a Sean Brady type fighter: great but not world champion level. On any night he’ll make a fight of it, but barring a very fortunate break or major development, he may never even fight for a title, and doubtful he wins one. But I’ve been wrong plenty of times before.
Alonzo Menifield vs. Julius Walker
“FOTN? It was the worst fight of the night?”
Rob Font vs. Jean Matsumoto was an incredible fight that was snubbed for reasons known only to Dana White and God. Truly the most upset I was all night was the worst fight on the entire card somehow winning Fight of the Night honors. Just give four Performance bonuses. I do not understand.
Jose Aldo
“Why the hell is Jose Aldo getting booked this way?”
Because the MMA Gods hate me.
I don’t know what exactly I did to piss them off (could’ve been any number of things) but that’s the only reasonable explanation for how the return of Jose Aldo has gone. We’re talking about one of the six greatest fighters ever, a man almost universally beloved and revered in this space, and in the twilight of his career we’re getting garbage-ass fights with Mario Bautista and Aimann Zahabi. And it’s not even in Brazil!!!
All due disrespect to Zahabi, he’s 37 years old. This man is neither a legend nor a viable prospect at bantamweight, so what possible purpose does this fight serve? I’m sure Aldo accepted because he will fight anyone. He’s a King like that. But what chucklehead down at the UFC headquarters thought this was remotely worthwhile?
Aldo should be fighting Patricio Pitbull in a catchweight fight or Henry Cejudo or Deiveson Figueiredo! Instead we’re getting a parade of Aldo fights against people no one cares about. An egregious waste of the final years of a living legend. I’ll never forgive them.
Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who sent in tweets (Xs?)! Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew, and I will answer my favorite ones! It doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.
This article first appeared at MMA Fighting – All Posts
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