For too long, our writers’ hyper-specific arguments have been confined to the private corridors of the Internet. Welcome to The List, where we take their instant message bickerings, add a little polish, and make them public.

Today, with Santa Claus just hours away from spreading his Christmas offerings, which MMA notables find themselves on the naughty list?

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‘Solvers’ of MMA’s weight-cutting problem

Dann Stupp: Although it’s perhaps unfair to give everyone in the MMA industry a big chunk of coal this Christmas, the state of weight-cutting in the sport could justify it.

I suppose, though, if want to whittle down this list, we could start with the folks who think they can easily solve the problem. After all, there’s no simple, one-size-fits-all solution to avoid frightening scenes like this one with Mizuto Hirota earlier this year:

How do we stop fighters from making dangerous weight cuts – ones that have already cost us lives or at least contributed to the deaths? We’ve heard the supposed solutions: steep fines, lengthy suspensions, same-day weigh-ins, year-round weight checks, forced weight-class moves and every other well-meaning-but-doomed-to-fail “solution.”

None of them will stamp out the problem – and some (looking at you, same-day weigh-ins) would likely only compound the dangers.

Here’s the actual solution – and fighters, coaches, trainers, promoters, nutritionists, “weight-cutting gurus” and others don’t want to hear it: public shaming.

And I’m not talking about shaming in the way you probably think – you know, wagging your finger at fighters who come in heavy and putting them on blast. No, instead, what MMA needs is a massive, wide-reaching and probably near-impossible shift in culture.

The only way for that to happen is for the fighters themselves to lead the charge. When we marvel at a fighter’s ability to drastically cut and make weight, when we encourage down-on-their luck competitors to move down a weight class, and when we don’t think twice about sending a near-death fighter into a bout (whether he/she makes weight or not), we all contribute to the problem.

But until fighters speak out against the weight cuts, until they lead by example and move to an appropriate division, and until they call out their fellow fighters for gambling with their health, nothing is going to change.

It’s going to take big names with major influence to change the tide of public opinion. Until that happens – and it could take years for the cultural shift to succeed in any measurable way – there’s no easy fix to the problem, no matter how much we want there to be one.

Gay slurs, not even once

Fabricio Werdum

Fernanda Prates: Let’s start with the bright side here: Most of the fighters who used offensive language in 2017 ended up apologizing – or at least trying to – afterward. And I, for one, am glad to hear that both Conor McGregor and Fabricio Werdum are supportive of the LGBTQ community.

But, on the other hand, isn’t that the bare minimum?

Fact is: It’s almost 2018, and we can’t keep pleading ignorance as to what some words mean. Or, most importantly, as to how they are heard and received by the people who are directly affected by them. While I’m sure the fighters don’t mean to attack gay people by calling their colleagues the F-word, there’s a historical reason why their choice of words to get to someone is to equate them with being gay.

Of course, they’re not thinking about this at the time. Sure, often it’s just “in the heat of the moment” or they’re just “drunk.” But words don’t exist in a vacuum. They exist within a historical and social context, and there is enough context here for one to refrain from using these words. If they say it in a moment of passion, that’s because it was in the back of their minds to start with.

Now, I know that many people will say this is an overreaction. After all, there’s a curious phenomenon that happens whenever you point out that something is offensive to an oppressed segment of the population: A lot of people who have never suffered that oppression don’t seem to have a problem with it.

But here’s the thing: Even if you don’t feel personally offended or attacked by a word, it’s worth paying attention to why someone would.

MMA vs. boxing, whether for love or money

Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor and Dana White

Ben Fowlkes: What is it about the mere mention of Floyd Mayweather’s name – or Manny Pacquiao’s, or Anthony Joshua’s, or even (blech) Paulie Malignaggi’s – that makes the entire sport of MMA lose its damn mind?

Scratch that. I already know the answer. It’s the promise of untold riches that does it, the same way even the whiff of the color would drive miners crazy back in the Gold Rush days. But just because I understand it, that doesn’t make it any less annoying in action.

Consider the most recent incident. Mayweather chums the waters with loose talk of making a billion dollars in the UFC – a clear example of the practice known as “just saying stuff.” Then, almost immediately, you’ve got UFC President Dana White insisting “it’s real,” while everyone from the flyweight champ to the welterweight champ is jumping up and down trying to get a piece as either an opponent or a trainer.

It’s undignified, is what it is. It’s a bunch of grown men playing themselves, all because they thought they saw a chance to make a quick buck. In reality, they’re like the cartoon character chasing after a $20 bill that’s being reeled in on fishing line. The money is right there, but always just out of reach. Meanwhile, everyone else gets a good laugh out of watching you chase it like an idiot.

We need to stop this. Not only is it just stupid and pointless, considering the current ratio of talk to action, but it’s also counterproductive. It reinforces the idea that, to make real money in big fights, MMA fighters need outside help. As if simply putting two great MMA fighters together in an MMA cage isn’t enough.

And it is. Or, rather, it could be. But when everyone’s willing to drop their four-ounce gloves and chase the mirage of the boxing payday the minute there’s even a whisper of opportunity, it makes MMA seem like the desperate little brother of the combat sports world. In the end, it gets us nowhere. With one notable exception, it usually doesn’t even get us an actual fight in the end. So knock it off. Please?

Jon Jones, because, well …

Jon Jones

Matt Erickson: I would love to not have to write a little thing about how Jon Jones is on Santa’s naughty list, all primed for a lump of proverbial coal. Really and truly – I take no pleasure in it.

But let’s be honest: Most years, he makes it too damn easy to put him on the list. That’s a shame, regardless of what the circumstances are and the excuses behind them, because once is happenstance, twice is coincidence and three times is enemy action – and Jon Jones is his own worst one when it comes to leaving a legacy in the sport.

So what did Jones do to get on Kris Kringle’s ish list this time? Things started out good enough, but went typically south in a hurry. Jones (22-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) returned from a yearlong suspension in July and fought arch rival Daniel Cormier to try to get the light heavyweight title back. He did with a third-round TKO.

But his trip back to glory was short and not-so-sweet. Less than a month after winning the title at UFC 214, he tested positive for a banned steroid. Jones and his team claimed innocence, but his B sample came back positive for Turinabol, as well.

We don’t yet know what the length of his potential suspension will be, but that test failure was enough for the UFC to strip his title … for a third time. Think about that: Jones has had three titles stripped – once for a hit-and-run accident, and twice now for failed drug tests.

Jones fought just one time each in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. It would take something of a Christmas (or any other time) miracle for him to dodge a lengthy suspension to allow him to fight in 2018. Depending on the severity of a potential suspension, it’s possible he might not fight in 2019 or 2020, either.

At the very least, if he’s forced out of the MMA spotlight with a suspension, he probably could stay off this particular list.

It would be amazing to just hope against hope that Jones was just a victim of bad luck from a tainted supplement this time, but at some point your reputation precedes you. There’s a boy-who-cried-wolf problem when history says you’re going to consistently run afoul of the law or the rules. When it happens again, Santa just throws you on the bad list and no amount of explaining to his elves is gonna get you off that list.

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