Sherwood's Mailbag

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It’s Christmas in July and I’m curious to know what things are on your list for Santa. Wanderlei to retire? Comprehensive drug testing in and out of competition? A Strikeforce/UFC lightweight grand prix? These are on my list. What else do you and the fans want? -- Jason in Michigan

Jeff Sherwood: Well, Jason, as a fan of the sport, I would like to see the top fighters of Strikeforce taking on the top fighters in the UFC. We already went through this with World Extreme Cagefighting, and I expect it to happen as soon as all the contracts are figured out. Then, let the fighting begin.

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Gilbert Melendez, “King” Mo Lawal, Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Silva, Alistair Overeem, Josh Barnett, and Tim Kennedy. The heavies mentioned will add a big boost to the UFC heavyweight class with plenty of great matchups to make. Also, there are a ton of great matchups I would love to see, such as Strikeforce lightweight champ Melendez versus his UFC counterpart, Frankie Edgar.

I’ve been listening to the radio shows after the Nate Marquardt stuff and people keep on talking about randomly testing every fighter. Not only does that not make sense financially, but I think people are being hypocrites. Sure, random testing would work, but it’s a pain in the ass to the fighters. Want a way to curb drunk driving? It wouldn’t be that hard to put a police officer at the door of a bar and have him make every driver blow before jumping into a car to make sure nobody drives drunk. If that ever happened, people would freak out. What if everyone was drug tested for employment? It seems like people are too quick to allow governing bodies watch very closely over the lives of fighters, whereas if their life had similar scrutiny, they would be extremely upset and say that it’s not fair. To all those who think fighters should be randomly tested at their job, how many of you wouldn’t mind randomly [urinating] into a cup for your employers, or having your bags searched as you leave to make sure you aren’t taking pens, pencils, Post-its, etc.? I’m not implying every employee does drugs or steals office supplies. Even if you were 100-percent innocent, this would be frustrating. It’s about having your personal space invaded frequently to appease a small group of hypocritical fans. Think about how you would react to a similar situation before you say others should be subjected to it. -- Ryan

Sherwood: I used to work at a job that had random drug tests, Ryan, and I had no problems with it. In almost eight years of employment, I was tested about 12 times. It’s not that big of a deal if you are abiding by the rules. I signed up for it and knew it was coming.

As far as costs, I agree. There would be costs, but these are professional athletes and PEDs are against the rules. You have to follow what your employer feels is right. That being said, I’m not so sure the UFC would be a fan of this style of testing. There is already a system in place, and while it doesn’t work all the time, I’m fine with it the way it is. No matter what type of system is in place, people will find ways around it. We see it happen every day.

P.S. I was known to come home with some extra pens and pencils, but never Post-its.

What do you think about a Matt Mitrione-Brendan Schaub matchup? They are both doing very well in their careers and their standup games are much improving. -- Jeramie in Indianapolis, Ind.

Sherwood: This would be a very good matchup between two exciting fighters on the rise. Both guys have been improving with every fight. Mitrione looked very sharp in his last fight against Christian Morecraft and he seems ready for the step up he’s getting against Cheick Kongo at UFC 137 in October. Schaub has been on a nice little run since his first loss, too, beating Chase Gormley, Chris Tuchscherer, Gabriel Gonzaga and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.

I would give Schaub the nod in this, as he’s had a tougher schedule so far -- and still has his biggest test yet to come against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 134 -- but Mitrione has shown he’s game and I would love to see this fight take place.

I’d like to move forward with your conversation about Dan Miragliotta’s “almost” stoppage in the Pat Barry-Cheick Kongo fight. Much like how Matt Mitrione knocked down Christian Morecraft and then nonchalantly walked away to insinuate a referee stoppage, what if Barry had employed the same technique when Miragliotta almost interjected in the fight? Barry said he felt Miragliotta touch him, so hypothetically, what if Barry were to accept that and walk away with his hands raised, while Kongo would have been stumbling on weak legs? Do you think that type of action would have changed the outcome of the fight and insinuated a stoppage by “Big Dan”? -- Mitchell in Minneapolis, Minn.

Sherwood: My take is that once a referee touches the fighters, the fight should be over. It’s that simple. Miragliotta seemed like he was going to stop the Barry-Kongo fight a few times. Just because Kongo won the fight, I don’t think it’s as simple as saying, “Kongo won, so it was a great non-stoppage.”

As for what would have happened if Barry had walked away, I think only Miragliotta can answer that question. In the end, I think Barry learned a valuable lesson: Just because you have a fighter almost knocked out, you still have to keep your hands up when you charge in for the kill.

There has been a lot of talk about MMA fans not being fans of other sports, and I think that among hardcore fans, this is largely true. However, I think that the other 80 percent of fans, the casual fans, tend to be watchers of other sports. Given your experiences over the years in and around the sport, what would you say are the most popular sports among MMA fans? -- Mike in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sherwood: That is a good question. The majority of fighters and fans I have talked to just are not into other sports, plain and simple. They always complain that stick-and-ball sports are too boring, which I do not agree with. I remember being in high school and listening to the Dodgers on the radio. I would bet against just about any high school kid ever doing that today.

Everything is so fast paced these days for the younger generation. When they want something, they have it at their fingertips within seconds thanks to the Internet. I did not have that luxury when I was a kid. I actually had a set of encyclopedias that I used to have to research from for my school reports.

Similarly, I feel that MMA is kind of an Internet-style sport. You get results right now. You do not have to wait four quarters or nine innings. You can get knockouts in mere minutes and then move onto the next fight. It’s fast-paced action, not a Cliff Lee nine-inning shutout that takes two or three hours. But if I had to go out on a limb as to which “regular” sport MMA fans most enjoy, I would say football because of the violence.