Twitter Mailbag: On UFC fighter pay, Gilbert Burns a bigger threat than Jorge Masvidal?, and more

Questions on your mind about recent happenings in MMA or the sport in general? MMA Junkie’s Twitter Mailbag is here – and this week it’s @DannySeguraTV to answer:

• What’s your opinion on fighters wanting more money?
• Is Gilbert Burns a tougher matchup for welterweight champion Kamaru Usman than Jorge Masvidal?
• Can gaming improve your MMA skills?

Those are answered in the video above. You can also read on a few more topics below.

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What is Daniel Cormier’s biggest concern heading into the Stipe Miocic trilogy?

Body shots, body shots, and body shots.

Daniel Cormier is a great fighter with basically no huge holes in his skillset. The only thing you can nitpick about his game is that he might not take body shots as well as some other world-class fighters. Now, let’s make this clear: Body shots suck, and they can take a toll on anyone.

With Cormier, we saw it briefly in the Anderson Silva fight, and we definitely got a good look of it in the rematch with Miocic.

Cormier can’t let Stipe Miocic add up those body shots. If so, that can slow down Cormier and zap his gas tank. Henry Cejudo made an excellent point once when analyzing the Miocic-Cormier rematch. “Triple C” said Cormier needs to learn when to compete and when to fight. To give you some context, Cejudo said he competed in the first round with Marlon Moraes, but he fought in the second and third.

It felt like Cormier fought the entire rematch with Miocic. In my opinion, I think if he can manage those two gears better and also spend more time worrying about defending and not always attacking, Cormier could do a lot better in the course of a five-round fight. Maybe the first-round knockout in the first fight gave him too much confidence on his finishing ability, I don’t know. But hopefully Cormier expects an outcome where Miocic takes his shots and is in the cage until the final bell.

Why isn’t Yair Rodriguez talked about as a UFC title contender?

I don’t agree with the sentiment of this question, but I do think there’s a little truth to it.

When you talk about the top five of the UFC featherweight division, you have to include Yair Rodriguez in there – most knowledgeable fans would agree. However, I don’t think people are pitching his name for the next title shot. The truths is, Rodriguez is super talented, exciting, and has big wins. His only problem is that he’s a little inactive on one front that often drives title discussion fighters’ way – fight frequency

“El Pantera” has fought three times in the last three years. And, yes, he’s done memorable things in those three bouts, but the best way to stay in the conversation is to be winning often. The more recent your wins are, the more relevant you are. The fight game has a short memory, and unfortunately for Rodriguez, he doesn’t log as many fights as the other top contenders in the division.

Is the Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway rematch happening too close to their first bout?Will much change?

I’m never a fan of immediate rematches, as they’re often repetitive and unnecessary.

I see the case for an immediate rematch when the outcome is controversial and unjust, or when the champion has longevity at the top and is too deep into his/her prime to the point there’s not much time left at the world-class level.

Max Holloway’s loss to Alexander Volkanovski was clean and free of controversy. He’s also young enough to address the holes in his game, take a break from fighting the other best guy in the division, and focus on improving his craft. Thinking long term, the Volkanovski-Holloway rematch could’ve used a little more cooking. But who knows? Maybe Holloway proves me wrong and is able to make the necessary improvements to beat Volkanovski.