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Twitter Mailbag: On Jon Jones conspiracy theories, 'snitching,' and more

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What are we to make of the details and potential fallout from Jon Jones’ USADA case? What’s to become of Fabricio Werdum? And do we have ourselves a grappling competition fun enough to be worth paying attention to?

All that and more in this week’s Twitter Mailbag. To ask a question of your own, tweet to @BenFowlkesMMA.

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[Original tweet: https://twitter.com/HumbleMrRecker/status/1042571886599852032]

I don’t blame you for the conspiracy-minded paranoia. There are a few things here that don’t exactly add up, even if the exact timeline of the suspension might be the least of them.

Jon Jones was facing a potential four-year ban. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency knocked 30 months off that in exchange for his “substantial assistance” under what’s been referred to as a “snitching” clause in the anti-doping policy. That got him down to 18 months, which is what USADA was asking for when it went to arbitration.

Instead, the arbitrator, who said he believed that Jones had been “humbled and humiliated by the experience but has learned from his misfortune,” knocked three months off that, largely because he found Jones to be a “very credible person who was well intended and well meaning.”

That’s how we ended up with 15 months, which just so happens to make Jones eligible for UFC 230 at Madison Square Garden. Will the UFC jump on that? Hard to say. As of the time of this writing, UFC President Dana White has done nothing but deny it.

It’s very possible that, once it heard USADA would cut 30 months from the possible suspension due to Jones’ “assistance,” the UFC started planning for an 18 month suspension, which would have brought Jones back in early 2019. It could always amend that plan now, but it’d probably be pretty rushed.

Then again, I could see why you might want to book Jones for a return quickly, before he finds a way to shoot himself in the foot again.

[Original tweet: https://twitter.com/TCampbell1980/status/1042592514035855365]

We need to know more about the exact nature of the “assistance” that Jones agreed to provide USADA in exchange for getting the bulk of his potential suspension axed. It seems tough to simultaneously claim that you don’t know anything about the drugs you’ve been accused of using, but you do know about drugs other people are using.

Is that what Jones did here? Again, it’s not entirely clear yet. But you do have to wonder how “snitching” would realistically play out in MMA.

In a sport like track and field, you could blow the whistle on a coach and the anti-doping agency could effectively run them out of the highest level of the sport. But in MMA, where only the UFC has a deal with USADA, and where relationships between athletes and trainers can be extremely amorphous and unofficial, it could be a lot tougher to take meaningful action.

[Original tweet: https://twitter.com/joervaldez/status/1042551972455428096]

First of all, I’ll bet you cash money right now that Fabricio Werdum will fight again. I don’t know if it will be in the UFC or Bellator, or if it will be in a cage somewhere in Chechnya, but I’m almost certain he’s not just going to fade into retirement like this.

Second, for me Werdum will probably always be the guy who beat Fedor Emelianenko back when nobody did. I was at that Strikeforce event and I remember heading into it feeling like it was just another summary execution at the hands of the “Last Emperor.” I also remember Werdum clowning around with his team in the hotel all week, sometimes to the horror of hotel guests and staff. I remember thinking that he seemed to be in a good mood for a dead guy.

Then he went out there, fell down right away, and somehow locked up a submission that even Emelianenko couldn’t escape from. After that, he immediately began partying as hard as I’ve ever seen a fighter party. This went well into the night, and somehow involved Forest Whitaker.

So yeah, that’s the Werdum I think of when I want to conjure a happy memory. It’s not until I think of all the other stuff – his love of anti-gay slurs, his cozy relationship with a brutal dictator, this doping suspension – that I get sad.

[Original tweet: https://twitter.com/okeeffesimon/status/1042466288898121729]

Excellent question, to which I can only reply: He’d freaking better.

As someone who spent the 99 cents to buy Tyron Woodley’s single, I will demand my money back if he doesn’t use it as his walkout music for his next fight. And you know what? I think even iTunes will see the inescapable logic in my position. So if the artist known as TWoodley wants to keep my money, he needs to do the right thing here.

Also, just saying? Backup dancers wouldn’t hurt.

[Original tweet: https://twitter.com/threeagainst4/status/1042522741830692864]

There was considerable backlash, depending on who you talked to. I even wrote about it before the fight.

Was it as significant or ongoing as the response to Greg Hardy? I don’t know. They are somewhat different situations, at least in terms of how they reflect on the UFC. With Floyd Mayweather, as you pointed out, the whole thing existed in a whole other sport, even if the end result was a bunch of MMA fans giving their money to a serial abuser of women.

With Hardy, the issue is the UFC going all out to nurture and support the nascent fighting career of a man who has still never really acknowledged or apologized for his role in any domestic violence incidents.

So far, what we’ve seen are the UFC’s attempts to sell this as an inspiring redemption story. The trouble is, it’s missing the part where there’s any regret or responsibility or even evident personal growth. And those are pretty important parts, since that’s what separates redemption from just ignoring it and moving on.

[Original tweet: https://twitter.com/tmurf22/status/1042522109770178560]

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[Original tweet: https://twitter.com/AntEvansUFC/status/1042545207462383616]

Ant, you had my attention as soon as I saw the photo of the 10th Planet team looking extremely on brand. You throw in Kazushi Sakuraba and Urijah Faber and that just sweetens the deal for me.

[Original tweet: https://twitter.com/PeteyandJia/status/1042526238336851978]

Dana White blocked me on Twitter some time after he got mad about the headline of a column that he later admitted he had not read. So that’s pretty par for the course. I can’t say it has made my Twitter experience measurably worse.

[Original tweet: https://twitter.com/SkipSkipSkatoo/status/1042453501488623616]

It’s too early to say what, if anything, bare-knuckle boxing will become. But you’re right that it seems popular with a lot of fighters who have mostly aged out of the elite level of MMA, but still have some name recognition and a desire to make money with their fists.

Honestly, one of the things that surprised me most when writing about the resurgence of bare-knuckle boxing was how enthusiastic about it most of the fighters were. They liked the challenge and the experience of it, but they also liked being a part of the whole lineage, feeling like they were John L. Sullivan reborn.

Will that fade, along with the novelty appeal to fans? Maybe. But we’re still somewhat early on in the process to know for sure.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.

Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.

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