Mailbag: Is Rousey vs. Carano a sideshow novelty or a genuine MMA att… — and more

What should we expect when Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano bring MMA to Netflix in May? How is Paramount feeling about the UFC partnership after Sean Strickland’s latest rant? And is the solution for heavyweights as simple as not asking them to fight three full rounds?

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.

@ewillcock: In Carano vs Rousey, I expect people will tune in, not to see who wins, but to see what happens.

I think I'm one of those people, and I'm excited at the potential for an exciting under card. Is there anything else to see here?

I expect there will be a lot of people who tune in based on two main factors: 1) They already have a Netflix subscription, and 2) They have at least heard of Ronda Rousey and/or Gina Carano. That’s enough right there. The fact that we might see something weird or memorable or just big and loud and dumb? That’s icing on the cake.

I don’t expect this to be all that competitive of a fight. I don’t think it would have been competitive even if they were both still in their respective primes. Rousey is the better fighter, the better athlete, and the far superior finisher.

She’s also probably a lot closer to something resembling fighting shape. Rousey herself suggested as much when she said one of the reasons she wanted to fight Carano was because she’d seen a recent interview in which Carano appeared to have gained a lot of weight. This fight, Rousey said, might give her a goal to work toward and a reason to get herself back in shape. (Side note: If any of you ever decide to help me solely because you see me and think I look really bad, feel free to keep that part to yourself.)

As for the undercard, I think we’ll probably see some familiar names long past their expiration dates as top fighters. There are at least a few fun fights that could be made from the available pool. But other than that? The UFC has most of the relevant talent locked up, and PFL has the rest. Who else would you even get other than known old-timers or totally unknown youngsters?

@Beastin364: Sean Strickland is back at it. Do you think Paramount regrets getting into business with the UFC when they see stuff or like that or did they know this ws part of the deal

They had to know. Right? I don’t see how any major company does any deal with the UFC and there’s not at least one conversation about the UFC’s, shall we say, permissive policies on fighter speech. It doesn’t take a crystal ball to know that, sooner or later, your communications department is going to be asked for a comment on the latest nonsense some UFC fighter uttered into a microphone on purpose. It also doesn’t take a fortune teller to guess that the fighter most likely to be the source of this specific variety of headache is Sean Strickland.

Am I the only one who sees this as a desperate grasp for relevance by him? This is his gimmick, and it has mostly stopped working. If he wants to keep getting attention for it, he has to keep ratcheting it up. Casual racism isn’t bringing the likes and the views anymore? Toss a few slurs in there. Take some shots at women while you’re at it. Maybe demeaning half the world’s population will result in another hit of attention.

At this point, it’s like he’s a kid jumping up and down and shouting for us to please, please look at him. Meanwhile, he’s a +220 underdog at BetMGM in a fight with one of the division’s rising contenders. This is a man on the brink. He wants to stay in the headlines and, with mixed results inside the cage lately, he only knows one reliable way to do it.

@KneebarNewsMMA: We shouldn’t expect heavyweights and bantamweights to have equal cardio. Why not reduce the cage time for heavyweight fights, perhaps to three 3-minute rounds?

I say we go the other direction. Everyone knows that the best heavyweight fights are the ones that end quickly and violently, usually in the first round. So why not see what we can do to discourage any of the big guys from even thinking about a second or third round?

I say bring back the 10-minute first round, but only for heavyweights. Let them know that they can either go out there and try to get it done quick or else become completely exhausted before they even get a chance to see the stool. You know these guys don’t want to fight for 10 minutes. They’ll see that and be motivated to take some chances and get out of there early. If somehow we get a Round 2? Then I’m fully in support of giving the referee permission to end any heavyweight fight at any time and declare it a draw if he concludes that no one needs to see these guys lean on each other any longer.

@VoiceofGarcia: Would you say the pressure on Dana and Paramount is added more to make the "best" White House card, thanks to MVP's announcement of Rousey vs Carano?

If they weren’t already feeling that pressure, they should have been. This White House event has been talked about to death already, and we’re still four months away, so it really has to deliver in order to feel like anything other than a letdown. The fact that Rousey and Carano will fight a month prior might turn the screws a little bit, but I’d hope Dana White and the UFC have enough awareness to see they’ve created a monster here already, and monstrous expectations will come with it.

@SLedkaditis: An undeserved Interim title fight, a rematch no one wanted and a BMF fight.

What's the UFC's title landscape going into the White House event?

The good news about having so few titles up for grabs in the months before this June event is that it ought to leave a lot to choose from.

I think a lightweight title fight between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje is an easy choice. Heavyweight (unless it’s an interim belt) is probably off the table, just based on how Tom Aspinall’s recovery is going. At light heavyweight, Alex Pereira would be a great choice to lend some star power. At middleweight, I don’t know if it would be a great look to have a Chechen warlord’s favorite fighter defending his title at the White House right now.

The other big one I think we could reasonably hope for is Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes. It would be a tight turnaround after neck surgery for Harrison, but I think she’s motivated to get back in time to fight on this card.

@OnAirMafia: Part 1 - with the talk late last year about Eddie Hearn maybe getting into MMA with Turki and his recent collab with MVP in the Joshua/Paul fight...what are the odds about them all hooking up in this possible MVP MMA venture to try to challenge Dana & UFC?

There’s no serious chance for anyone to challenge the UFC in a real way. Not right now. It has almost all the top fighters under contract. It’s constantly funneling developing talent through the Contender Series and onto the main roster (at budget prices). The brand name is the sport in the mind of the public. There’s just no current way to create a new MMA competitor and keep it going in any way that would threaten the UFC at all.

What there might be room for is a hybrid fight promotion, something with boxing and MMA — plus maybe even kickboxing and bare-knuckle — all on the same fight card. That comes with challenges of its own, but at least it would offer some flexibility. It might also be just novel and weird enough to sustain our attention.

@ihab23: Why are we pretending UFC White House is a celebration of America when it’s really a birthday party for our dear leader? They blatantly changed the date from July 4 to Trump’s birthday.

Are we pretending that? I think we all know what this is going to be. The UFC has gone all-in for Trump and been rewarded for it. It’s definitely driven some fans away, but I also doubt the UFC would have gotten $1.1 billion from Paramount if it hadn’t positioned itself this way. There’s simply no way this broadcast doesn’t shower attention and praise on Trump at every opportunity. If he’s not awarded some kind of honorary gold belt at some point, I’ll be shocked. Some fans will probably love that and others will hold their noses through it, but we should all be prepared for it.

@LCombatsports: Am I wrong to think what could happen if the revival act passes is TKO spends money getting top or up and coming boxers, athletes & fans gravitate to Zuffa Boxing, the industry centralizes around them, & jobs are lost because companies arent interested in boxing unless it's TKO?

That’s looking way down the road. TKO is pretty far from anything resembling a boxing takeover right now. Its goal for now seems to be a weekly fight-night type of offering, populated mostly by boxers who are still far from the elite level. I can see that being profitable for TKO, but it’s nowhere close to being able to put on the big boxing events just yet. Which isn’t to say that couldn’t change. It just won’t change quickly.

Robert Woods signed a one-day contract with the Los Angeles Rams this week, announcing his retirement from the NFL. Though he played for four different teams, he wanted to retire as a member of the Rams.

His best years were in Los Angeles, pairing with Cooper Kupp to give the Rams one of the better receiver tandems in the league. After Woods shared the news of his retirement, Kupp posted a message of his own for the former Rams wideout.

He celebrated Woods’ “incredible career,” commending not only his production on the field, but also his leadership in guiding Kupp.

“Played the game the right way, whatever that means, but it means something to me because I just tried to do exactly what you do,” Kupp wrote.

Incredible career. Worth its weight in just sheer productivity, but holds its greatest value in the people that have benefited from being your teammate and learning the game from you.

Played the game the right way, whatever that means, but it means something to me because I… pic.twitter.com/ns9B01bN0I

— Cooper Kupp (@CooperKupp) February 18, 2026

Woods and Kupp were teammates for five years in Los Angeles from 2017-2021, winning a Super Bowl together in their final year together. Woods had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2018 and 2019, which were his only 1,000-yard seasons in the NFL, but he was a big piece of Los Angeles' offense as a receiver and blocker.

In 2019, Kupp and Woods both went over 1,000 yards receiving, helping the Rams rank fourth in passing offense with Jared Goff at quarterback. They were incredibly close teammates and Kupp's message is an indication of just how impactful Woods was on his career.

This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Cooper Kupp reacts to Robert Woods' retirement announcement

MADRID — Real Madrid has sent UEFA “all available evidence” of the alleged racist insult against Vinícius Júnior in the Champions League match against Benfica.

“Our club has actively collaborated with the investigation opened by UEFA following the unacceptable episodes of racism experienced during that match,” the club said on Thursday without elaborating on the evidence.

UEFA appointed a special investigator on Wednesday to gather evidence about what happened in Lisbon in Madrid’s 1-0 win over Benfica in the first leg of the knockout round of the Champions League.

Vinícius accused Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni of calling him “monkey” after the Brazilian scored the only goal. Prestianni was among the Benfica players upset with Vinícius after the forward celebrated by the Benfica corner flag.

Prestianni covered his mouth with his shirt when he allegedly spoke to the Brazilian player and denied racially abusing Vinícius, who is Black and has been subjected to repeated racist insults in Spain.

“Real Madrid appreciates the unanimous support, backing, and affection that our player Vinicius Jr. has received from all areas of the global football community,” the club said. “Real Madrid will continue working, in collaboration with all institutions, to eradicate racism, violence, and hate in sports and society.”

Benfica said Prestianni was the victim of a “defamation campaign” and welcomed the investigation opened by UEFA on Wednesday, saying it “fully supports and believes the version presented” by Prestianni.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday he was “shocked and saddened to see the incident of alleged racism” and praised the referee for activating the anti-racism protocol during the match, which was halted for nearly 10 minutes at the Stadium of Light.

Feb. 19—Buckets were just too hard to come by for Wisconsin-Superior women's basketball on Wednesday night, resulting in a 50-47 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference loss at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota.

UWS was just 18-for-60 (30%) from the field and 5-for-24 (21%) from 3-point land. The last of those attempts, a 3-pointer from Maddie Reott at the buzzer, missed to end the contest.

UWS led 22-20 at the break but gave up a 12-0 run coming out of halftime and spent the second half chasing the game. UWS closed the third quarter on a 9-0 run to cut a deficit from 34-24 to 34-33 and briefly led in the fourth quarter. Crown had another run, which UWS erased to tie the game on an Ella Olson free throw with 1:02 to play, but three Crown free throws in the final 15 seconds proved the difference.

Hope Carlson led UWS with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Yellowjackets (10-14, 7-4 UMAC) will close out the regular season with a Saturday, Feb. 21 home game vs. Minnesota Morris, who they may also play next week in the semifinals of the UMAC tournament.

The offensive end of the floor didn't go any better for the Wisconsin-Superior men's basketball team as their female counterparts on Wednesday.

The Yellowjackets were 19-for-66 (29%) from the floor in a 70-53 loss at Crown.

UWS fell behind 40-28 in the first half, a deficit that reached as much as 21 points down the stretch.

Gage Braiedy scored 13 points for UWS (6-18, 2-9 UMAC), which wraps up its season at home vs. Minnesota Morris on Saturday, Feb. 21.