Mailbag: Jon Jones or Conor McGregor, who fights again first? Plus MMA's 3 wise men and more

Are point deductions the key to stopping weigh-in misses? Who will fight first: Jon Jones or Conor McGregor? And what is the fifth-best Billy Crystal movie, anyway?

These and other important questions in this week’s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @benfowlkesmma or @benfowlkes.bsky.social.

First of all, you’re a point-snatching madman and I love it. Second, a friend of mine once suggested that fighters lose a point for every time they initiate a mid-fight hug, high five or fist bump and I really think the two of you would get along.

Third, I definitely don’t hate this idea. But I do think we should be wary of thinking that point deductions solve everything. The points matter only if the fight goes to the judges. If I show up heavy and poke you in the eye, and if those things together help me put you away inside the distance? Then the point deductions aren’t going to matter.

What always matters is money. What if you gave up half your purse for missing weight? What if your win bonus went to your opponent? Like Bryan Battle said, if people started to feel like they were almost fighting for free they’d be really sure to make weight. The fact that he said this after missing weight does weaken the argument somewhat, but still.

I say it’s Jon Jones. I think he comes back and fights Tom Aspinall by the summer. This might be at least a little bit of wishful thinking, but UFC CEO Dana White calling that matchup out as his must-see “guaranteed” fight for 2025 tells me that he’s feeling the pressure on that one and has an incentive to make it happen.

As for Conor McGregor, are the powers that be really going to turn right around and try to book that guy a fight immediately after he was found liable for sexual assault? I don’t care if it’s in the UFC or boxing, it’s a bad look to say the least.

It also seems like, just in practical terms, terrible timing. A jury of this man’s peers just stood up and called him a rapist. His reputation in his home country is in shambles. The wax museum and the liquor brand and the video game all want nothing to do with the guy. Is this really the time when fight promoters would like to stand up and shout about how eager they are to do business with him? Really?!?

Because Jones is the UFC heavyweight champ. That’s why. If you’re going to be the heavyweight champ, you need to fight the top heavyweight contenders. Jones became champ by beating a guy who was not champ. He then defended the belt against a guy who was not the top contender. If he bails out of the division now, this whole heavyweight thing was just a years-long scam that wasted everyone’s time.

And you know what else? If he wants to go back down to light heavyweight and fight Alex Pereira so bad, he could still do that after he fights Aspinall. That’s true whether he wins or loses! The Pereira fight would still work and would still sell either way. But avoiding this Aspinall fight would be a serious stain on his already complicated legacy.

Three might be pushing it. But if I had to come up with a wise council of UFC fighters I’d go with: Dustin Poirier, Jim Miller and Cub Swanson (he counts because he’s not technically retired yet).

I hate to admit it, but it’s probably “City Slickers.” Because, I mean, obviously “When Harry Met Sally” is at the top of the list. “Throw Momma From The Train” is second.

After that, you get into some confusing territory around the term “starring,” since he’s by no means the star of movies like “The Princess Bride” or “Deconstructing Harry,” but they still feel weirdly like Billy Crystal movies in a way. Then you realize it’s really just a toss-up between “City Slickers” (the original) and “Analyze This” (again, only the original). Though as a dad who had to watch “Monsters Inc.” a whole lot, I have to admit he did slay that voice acting role.

Strikeforce did have some really great fighters. Daniel Cormier, Ronda Rousey, Tyron Woodley, Gilbert Melendez, Miesha Tate, Josh Barnett — the list goes on and on. But I also think Bellator and PFL have great fighters that are going under-appreciated outside the UFC.

My main problem with the PFL broadcast is that they try to do too much. There’s so much unnecessary stuff on the screen, so many stats and “SmartCage” crap that I, personally, don’t really care about. I understand you have to set yourself apart from the UFC somehow, but does it have to clog up my view of the fights?

I think so. The UFC loves to put gold on the fight posters, and the best way to do that (without creating endless interim titles) is to bring in a new division. The big issue is that the roster is already so crowded, and strawweight would be thinned out some if those fighters had a lower weight class they could drop down to.

But the UFC and whoever ends up as its main broadcast partner in 2025 always need more of that sweet, sweet content. You bring in another division, that gives you more fighters to populate those Fight Night cards. It’s just a matter of convincing the honchos that there’s enough talent to stock it.