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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Welcome to a new and revived edition of "Ask MMATorch," a feature we've run intermittently throughout the years here at MMATorch.com. We're reintroducing it today with the goal to answer your questions on a much more frequent basis. Those answers will regularly come from both myself and MMATorch columnist Rich Hansen, and may occasionally be covered by some of the other contributors we have here at MMATorch.
If you've got a question you'd like us to answer, send them in to askmmatorch@gmail.com, and we'll try answering them daily!
Onto today's questions!
Trevor writes: I think if Luke Rockhold beats Cheat-or Belfort he should get a unification fight with Anderson Silva. What are your thoughts?
MMATorch Editor Jamie Penick Answers: If Rockhold defeats Belfort, it would be very hard to argue against him getting a title fight against Anderson Silva next. The middleweight division is filled with a lot of highly talented fighters who nevertheless have failed to establish themselves as the legitimate No. 1 contender. That's why Chris Weidman ultimately became the default challenger for this July.
Weidman's example is why Rockhold should get a shot with a win over Belfort. Though Belfort's already lost to Silva once, he's one of the guys who has won the right fights to come close to earning a shot; if Rockhold defeats him, it's a more meaningful win than any of the other fighters in the division have picked up recently.
Also, the fact that he was the final Strikeforce champion plays into his favor, as Gilbert Melendez just fought for the title himself. Given he won the belt and defended it more than once against a few tough fighters in Strikeforce, another win in a row over Belfort will make him the most deserving fighter of that Middleweight Title bout.
Of course, that will also require Silva sticking around in the division, which he might not do depending on what super fights are available. But from a strictly results-oriented basis, a Rockhold win over Belfort should put him next in line.
[Name Not Given] Writes: Do you think there comes a time when Dana White reaches out to Gina Carano to put on a super fight against Ronda Rousey?
MMATorch Editor Jamie Penick Answers: It's certainly possible, but this is one of those I just don't see as a realistic option for the UFC. For starters, Carano has been out of action for so long that having her come back to fight the Champ doesn't make any sense from a competitive standpoint. Having her come back to fight anyone seems like a stretch, but to have her return against Rousey would seem like simply a publicity stunt and nothing more.
But there's more reason to believe the fight never happens beyond that. They're in separate weight classes, and Rousey's already discussed reasons why she wouldn't go up to 145 lbs. to face Cris Cyborg. Carano had issues making that weight when she was in her fighting prime, so trying to get into full on fight shape when she's been in movie mode is going to take time as well.
So even if Rousey was willing to go up in weight to fight Carano, I don't see Carano returning to the sport at this stage. It would take a lot to get back into fight shape, and she'd be coming in against the top fighter in the sport right now. There's just a lot working against it coming together, and I don't think it's a fight we'll see.
Tanar writes: Straight up, how do you write and watch a fight at the same time? I tried doing it, just to see what would happen, and here's what I figured.
A) You edit during the commercials or slow parts.
B) You have macros for the fighters names or...
C) You have excellent Home Row finger placement?
Any advice for a budding MMA journalist? Thanks again as always.
MMATorch Editor Jamie Penick Answers: Admittedly this is less an MMA question and more a technical question behind what we do here come fight night, but it's a subject I've been asked about a number of times before. Of the three you listed, for me at least, it's a combination of A and B. Crazily enough, one of the most beneficial high school courses I took that has remained relevant to my work life today was keyboarding. Learning to type sight unseen is a skill that's heavily suited to covering a live sporting event.
So during fight night, my routine consists of simply typing away as the fights are taking place with my eyes on the HD screen as opposed to the laptop. Now, in this, there's bound to be small errors in formatting, spelling, etc. Sometimes you get a name wrong and it needs to be adjusted. All of that quick editing gets done during lulls in a broadcast - whether that's between fights, between rounds, during commercial breaks for a TV fight, or what have you.
It takes practice, practice, practice. The more often you type without looking at your screen, the easier it becomes to do so when you're covering something live like an MMA fight. And the more you practice, the faster you get, and the quicker you're able to get your thoughts onto the page. Again, it's all about repetition and practice, and eventually it becomes second nature.
It's a part of my daily routine in writing, and when we get to fight night it's something that gets dialed in to put together as much as we can during that six-to-eight hour stretch.
(Once again, send in your own questions to askmmatorch@gmail.com! We hope to hear from you, and we'll try to address as many of your questions as possible going forward.)
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
