Mailbag: With Kayla Harrison out of the UFC 324 title fight, is there any other option for Amanda Nunes?

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What’s the prognosis for rebooking the title fight between Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes following Harrison’s withdrawal from UFC 324 to undergo neck surgery? Just how cringey was that Golden Globes segment with Brian Ortega and Mackenzie Dern? And are we really calling it the Meta Apex now?

All that and more in this week’s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA on X or @Ben_Fowlkes on Threads.

@jaypettry: Do you think Kayla Harrison's neck surgery will preclude her from a potential appearance at the fabled UFC White House card that I'm not certain will actually happen?

Also, to that point, do you believe the WH card will take place?

Neck stuff is tricky. From the sound of it, Harrison went under the knife to repair disc damage. From my own reporting, I know that the UFC has been fond of steering fighters with chronic neck issues toward disc replacement surgery, with some good results in the past. Rick Story told me that four months after his disc replacement he was in the gym shooting double-legs. Of course, that’s after four months of basically no activity while he recovered from the surgery, so it’s not like he was fight-ready or even training camp-ready right away.

If it’s at all possible to rebook this fight some time in the next nine months, I say it’s worth waiting for. That’s partly because I think a battle for women’s MMA GOAT status is worth waiting for, but also partly because I don’t see many other interesting options for either Harrison or Amanda Nunes right now. I’m still not co nvinced this comeback is a good idea for Nunes, but I know the women’s bantamweight division needed her in a bad, bad way. There’s just nothing going on at 135-pounds right now outside of this match-up. So I say wait and give it a chance.

As for the UFC’s White House card, I do think it will happen. I think it will be weirder than we expect or are really ready for. But after all this talk and anticipation? As long as there’s still an America and still a White House come June, the UFC has to show up and put on a show there one way or another.

@muna007: As cring-worthy as that UFC promo was at the Golden Globes, I'm curious how would you have introduced the UFC to new fans during that segment, if Paramount asked you, Ben?

First of all, I’m not sure the Golden Globes would be the audience I’d aim at right off the bat. Talking up the UFC during football games on CBS makes sense. Trying to get people to associate it with a super popular TV show like “Heated Rivalry” just because they both involve (different) sports is kind of a stretch.

If you’re going to do it at all, why not at least give the fighters a line or two? And why not promote something specific, like an upcoming fight, rather than just picking two of the prettiest fighters on the roster and having them stand there like mannequins in tracksuits that no one outside the MMA bubble would even associate with the UFC? The whole thing felt like some producer told them 15 minutes before showtime that they had to find a way to include the UFC somehow, but it needed to be something they couldn’t possibly screw up. But hey, I guess at least it got people talking, even if what they were saying was, "what the heck was that?"

@NeedXtoseePosts: If you could make a non title, non superfight for 2026 what would it be?

You know what I’d be weirdly interested in? Jean Silva vs. Arnold Allen. Something about the contrast of styles there really appeals to me. The wildman Silva who fights like he’s pure id. The steady technician Allen, who seems like he’s pure tactical precision. Lock those two in a cage together and let’s just see what happens.

@shadore66: How did we go from the condom depot to the meta apex, and what have we lost along the way?

One big difference is that when Condom Depot was throwing money around to get seen on a UFC broadcast, at least some of that money ended up in fighters’ pockets. Same with Dynamic Fastener, still my favorite oddball UFC sponsor. The company president happened to be a big MMA fan who wanted to help out fighters, and getting his company’s name out there was just an added bonus.

We’re a long way from that now. The latest news is that UFC CEO Dana White, a Meta board member, apparently convinced the company to pay for naming rights on what is currently the sport’s least liked but most used venue. To quote Renato Moicano: “Nobody likes the Apex, my brother.”

But hey, money is money. If the UFC can use some of it to make events from there feel like they’re in an actual arena rather than a half-empty warehouse, it’ll be a good exchange.

I'm visiting Japan for the first time and watched some sumo on prime time TV and am wondering how long before one of these guys is world powerslap champion?

Trust me, in terms of money and respect and fame, the sumo guys are doing much, much better than Power Slap guys. I know, according to the social media numbers, Power Slap is more popular than every other sport in the world combined. But sumo is a centuries-old sport that, once you get into it, is utterly fascinating. I highly recommend the Sumo Stomp Substack for keeping up with tournaments. Watch a few matches and you'll see that those big guys can move. It's typically all over in a few seconds after what looks like a blend between clinch wrestling and NFL-level pass blocking. But once you get into it, trust me, you’ll be hooked.

@justlikelasagna: Fine, I miss it. I hate just about everything that’s gone on on the business side over the last few years but here I am dying waiting for ufc to return. Is this how an addict feels?

It is. But if you’re a UFC fan in the U.S., you’re about to see something that very few addicts of other things ever get to experience: a price decrease.

How do you see Vice's role in combat sports playing out over the next year?

Let’s just say I’m curious to see where it’s going. Vice has dipped in and out of the combat sports waters over the years, but now it seems to be making more of a financial commitment in securing broadcast rights to some PFL and LFA events. I know the “Dark Side of the Ring” series was a real hit for Vice, but I also know it’s tough to build a steady viewership for MMA events that don’t include the letters UFC.