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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIf DDP gets past Khamzat Chimaev next weekend, who realistically takes the belt from DDP?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody. Not for some time, at least.<\/p>\n
As one of the earliest adopters of Dricus du Plessis, I have and will continue to support my boy as he works his way up the middleweight all-time rankings. Is DDP a bit goofy at times? Yes. But that only makes me love him all the more. And his awkwardness does a bit to hide just how smart and capable he is in the cage.<\/p>\n
DDP is probably the best active fighter right now when it comes to game plans. Every fight he enters with clear ideas about how to attack his opponents, and how to minimize their preferred offense. Just look at the rematch with Sean Strickland. Strickland came into the fight doing the same old thing, but DDP had it figured out. He smothered Strickland\u2019s jab, took away the teep, and beat Strickland senseless.<\/p>\n
And that makes DDP a real problem for anyone at middleweight, because most of the top of the division has a lot of film out there already. Anyone he steps in there with, \u201cStillknocks\u201d is going to have smart ideas about fighting them, and while he\u2019s not always the prettiest, DDP has a ton of physicality to back up his IQ, and well-rounded skills. He\u2019s not an easy man to beat.<\/p>\n
If someone is going to beat him, my guess is it\u2019s Khamzat, a guy who is such an overwhelming force of nature that he may simply power through DDP\u2019s plans. But I think not. My guess is Khamzat gets a little shook when he realizes he can\u2019t simply overpower DDP, and the South African champion drowns him in the deep water as the fight goes on.<\/p>\n
And if he does that, I don\u2019t see who from this current crop is taking it. I would pick DDP over Nassourdine Imavov, Caio Borralho, and Reinier de Ridder. The only one I would have to really think about would be Anthony Hernandez, who is not as overall talented as DDP, but does bring superhuman cardio to the table. It\u2019s possible \u201cFluffy\u201d could Merab him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy on Earth does the UFC keep booking Esteban Ribovics inside of the world\u2019s most violent warehouse?\u201d<\/p>\n I dunno, man. They hate fun, I guess.<\/p>\n This past weekend had one of the very rare events where a single card featured two Fight of the Year contenders. Esteban Ribovics vs. Elves Brener was a stone-cold banger that was upstaged just minutes later when Chris Duncan and Mateusz Rebecki carved chunks off of each other for 15 minutes. And while you can never really predict a fight could be Fight of the Year material, anyone who knew anything about fighting knew those two fights were going to be heaters.<\/p>\n So why put them in the APEX? Because the UFC doesn\u2019t care. Ribovics has now won three Fight of the Nights in a row, two of which were Fight of the Year contenders. This man should only ever be fighting in front of a crowd and developing into a beloved action sensation. Instead, he\u2019s in a hollow gymnasium in Las Vegas. For shame.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat MMA promotion would you recommend to watch? Aside from Cage Warriors and LFA, everything else seems a bit amateurish.\u201d<\/p>\n I always tell people to watch Fight Circus (whenever they do put up shows, which is infrequent at this point), but the true answer is KSW and RIZIN.<\/p>\n RIZIN can be harder to watch because there is usually a huge time gap so you\u2019ll have to stay up until, like, 5 a.m. East Coast time, but I still think it\u2019s worth a gander. Their fights are usually decent and the production is good, plus it sort of feels like watching old Pride FCs. Not the same, but there\u2019s some similar vibes.<\/p>\n Now, KSW for sure has those vibes. Basically every KSW show is an arena packed with people and they go HAM on proper production, making their events feel like spectacles in a way the UFC simply never attempts to do anymore. There are also a few extremely talented fighters in KSW, so if you\u2019ve never seen a show, check one out.<\/p>\n \u201cThrow 3 HWs from any period in MMA history into today\u2019s UFC HW division to give it life.\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019re picking Fedor Emelianenko, for sure. My best guess is that even Prime Fedor doesn\u2019t win the title in the current heavyweight landscape because his prime was 20 years ago, and that\u2019s a long time. The sport has come leaps and bounds since then (in part because of him), but I think he would still be shockingly successful given the situation.<\/p>\n Next, prime Daniel Cormier. I know Cormier had a very successful light heavyweight career, but he was always best at heavyweight and he passed up the peak years of his career there because his teammate Cain Velasquez was already in the weight class. Give me a real, extended DC heavyweight run.<\/p>\n Lastly, if we\u2019re trying to add spice, it\u2019s gotta be Brock Lesnar. Lesnar isn\u2019t in the top 20 of all-time heavyweights but the man brought eyeballs and made events seem big. Plus, we could finally get him vs. DC.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Max defends the BMF belt again in the tough LW division, does it become sort of like a LW interim belt?\u201d<\/p>\n I guess that\u2019s one way to look at it, but I think the better way to look at it is like the Intercontinental Belt in WWE: It\u2019s a secondary championship that still has meaning and people can care about, without guaranteeing a title shot or anything like that.<\/p>\n I know Max Holloway disagrees, and some fans might as well, but I simply do not care about a Max lightweight title run. He\u2019s won his belt. It was great. We all loved it. And then he spent years trying to get it back and failed. Most recently, he got knocked out by the dude now holding the lightweight belt. So there\u2019s no need to do that again. Max can end his title chase, because it would purely be the pursuit of a trinket, and he\u2019s already got one of those!<\/p>\n If I was in Holloway\u2019s corner, I would be encouraging him to focus his energies on not just defending the BMF belt, but establishing a real identity for it. A legacy that he can leave behind with it for the next champion to follow suit with. Long term, that\u2019s honestly cooler than winning another title, and it\u2019s something I think the sport really needs. It sucks that modern sports are basically championship or bust, and in the UFC, there are only 11 of those to go around. Having someone actually build up another title into some level of relevance would be a big help to the sport as a whole.<\/p>\n 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\u2019re in luck because you can send your tweets to me, @JedKMeshew<\/a>, and I will answer all the good ones! It doesn\u2019t matter if they\u2019re topical or insane, just so long as they are good. Thanks again, and see y\u2019all next week.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n