Mailbag: Who should UFC actually want to see — and be seen with — at its White House event?

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What should we really expect from a UFC event at the White House? Would Jon Jones and/or Conor McGregor actually fight on it, and if so, would we really want that? And what’s the ideal long-term prognosis for both Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway in the UFC 318 main event on Saturday?

All that and more in this week’s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @benfowlkesmma.

@Beastin364: What are the odds that stars like McGregor and Jon Jones really show up and fight at the UFC White House event? Or is it just something they say they'll do for the attention

I think the odds vary by the individual. Jon Jones? Yeah, I could see him actually coming out of his extremely flexible and very short-lived “retirement” to do this, but I seriously doubt he’d take on Tom Aspinall as his opponent, which is what UFC CEO Dana White described as his dream main event here. I think Jones would rather call his own shot and go after someone easier who still looks good on paper.

As for Conor McGregor, there’s no way. Everything we know about what’s going on with him these days — and we know more than we’d probably like to — makes it seem like he’s thinking about anything but fighting. Don’t get me wrong, he might punch a drunk dude in a nightclub here or there. But he’s not about that life of hard training and sacrifice and hitting people who can actually hit back. Not anymore. Not for some time now.

But there’s another part nobody involved seems to be considering just yet. This would be an entirely different kind of exposure for the UFC. The company — and to some extent this whole sport — has often benefitted from its under-the-radar nature while playing to a pretty niche audience. But with something like this, the attention of the country and the mainstream media would be trained on the UFC and the fighters it chooses to lead the way.

All of which is to say, are we sure we want to go with guys who have such an extensive body of work captured on police body and dashboard cams? Do we want the guy who’s been found liable for sexual assault and the guy who can very recently be heard telling a cop that he knows evil people who can kill him upon request? Because that doesn’t seem like a great look for the UFC.

I know we live in a post-truth age where nothing seems to matter and consequences are for the regular peasants like us and not the rich people on TV, but come on. The UFC has better — or at least less openly and repeatedly embarrassing people — that it could call upon for something like this. Plus, you need someone who’ll show up as promised. It’s not like either of those dudes is Mr. Reliability at this point.

@MMAbandwagon: If Dustin wins in spectacular fashion (sorry Max we love you), what are the chances he gets a wild hair and calls for a title shot against Ilia? Could he retire champion? Am I being ridiculous? That’s a lot to ask of a guy who’s fully committed to retiring but a man can dream

These retirement fights can be tricky for exactly that reason. Fighters never want to go out on a loss. But if Dustin Poirier got a big win and looked great doing it? Well that might just prove to him that he’s got more left in the tank and should stick around a while longer.

Still, I have a hard time seeing that here. When you make a big deal about this being your last fight and the UFC brings the whole show to your home region and all your people show up to see you based primarily on the promise that this is the last chance, it sort of hems you in.

And even if he wanted to keep going, a win here would still only improve Poirier to 3-3 in his last six fights. That’s not me knocking him; he’s had a great career and has fought nothing but top guys for the past five years or so. But a winning streak that’s holding firm at one isn’t a strong case for a title shot in such a stacked division.

@GabeDert: Hoping this is it for dusty p

Win or lose

Be good for Holloway to hang ‘em up too no?

It blows my mind every time I check his Wikipedia page and remember that Max Holloway is only 33 years old. Granted, he started young. And most of the fighters who start young also finish young. But he seems like he’s been smart about preserving his brain and body for the sake of longevity, so I could see him having a few more good years — if he wants them.

The question is what the UFC would be willing to try to do with him. If it wants to go back to matching him with young contenders in the hope that he’ll age into the stepping stone role, I don’t see him getting too excited about that. And if he’s going to stay at lightweight, well, he’s already got that pretty definitive loss to the current champ. These kinds of fights — BMF title fights (or whatever) against peers who bring their own name rather than trying to make one off him — are pretty ideal for Holloway at this point. I just don’t know how many more fighters there are who fit that bill.

@Mike_Fierce_: Does Khamzat become the UFC's BIGGEST (and much needed) star with a dominant win over Du Plessis?!? And which direction in weight class does he then immediately go after for Double Champ status?!?

Whoa there. I’m going to need you to slow way down. Khamzat Chimaev first needs to show up and beat Dricus du Plessis, neither of which is a given.

@shadore66: Kevin Holland is having his 27th UFC fight since 2018. JDM has 8 ufc fights and DDP has 10 fights. Given what we know of ufc contracts, completing them and then signing new ones for more money is the road to success. So: is Holland one of the most successful mma fighters?

Welllll not so fast. Yes, fighting a lot is a good way to bank a lot of money. But Holland has also lost 10 of those fights, with one no-contest in that span. So that’s a lot of fights where he got show money but not win money. Additionally, many of the UFC contracts include escalating pay only if you keep winning. Losing can halt that progress, and Holland hasn’t won more than two in a row since 2020.

Also, while the money generally goes up with each new contract, it doesn’t increase endlessly with no upper limit — especially not for fighters who never really get close to a title. So yeah, I think Holland is probably earning well beyond what most UFC fighters get, and he’s cashing a lot more of those checks while fighting three or four times a year. But does that outweigh being a champion who cashes in big with every title defense? I doubt it.

@StaleSonnen: Will Connor's recently released glamor shot bring more ladies into the bars that show UFC?

You know, somehow I have a hard time imagining that too many women saw that photo and were like, "Wow, I definitely can't find a guy like this on literally every corner of the internet every single day whether I want to see it or not, so I better run to Buffalo Wild Wings and hope for more of this at the next UFC pay-per-view." You get what I’m saying?

@ewillcock: What's really going on at heavyweight? Who do you think challenges Tom next?

Tom said he's got a fight, but no announcement. Jon says he's re-entered the pool, but no clarity what that even means. Pereira is booked. Little interest in seeing Cyril it seems.

My gut says it will end up being Ciryl Gane. Which is a little disappointing, because it means yet another title fight between two people who didn’t become champ by beating a champ.

That’s not Tom Aspinall’s fault. He did every single thing he could do to get Jones in that cage for a heavyweight title unification fight. Whether it’s Gane for him next or one of the other heavyweights knocking around the top half of the rankings, it’s going to be something of a letdown now. Best he can do is focus on winning and then hope Jones feels left out and forgotten enough to come back and accept the one fight he tried his hardest to avoid.