Holiday Mailbag: Which fighters best embody key Christmas characters?

Merry Christmas, y’all!

We’re in the middle of six weeks of no UFC action, but this week was Christmas, and as a result, I asked for holiday-specific questions this week. If you know my work, you know there are few things I like more than gimmicks where I get to set aside rationality — speaking of which, go read this — and y’all did not disappoint, so let’s get into it.

MMA Santa, Grinch, and Krampus

Who in MMA this year best fits the bill for these 3 Christmas characters?

Who is Santa and has given the most gifts?

Who is the Grinch and has done their best to ruin it?

Who is Krampus and has punished the naughty?

The most generous person in MMA this year was pretty obviously Merab Dvalishvili. Four title fights in one year is an insane workload, regardless of the fact that he lost the final one. The man had a Fight of the Year candidate against Umar Nurmagomedov in January, tapped out Sean O’Malley in June, beat the brakes off Cory Sandhagen in October, and then had another Fight of the Year candidate with Petr Yan in December. That’s quite the year for Santa Merab.

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As for The Grinch, I think there are two good answers. The first is Ilia Topuria, who spent most of the year coming off as more entitled and arrogant than Arman Tsarukyan’s haters he is. People forget that Topuria ended last year by saying he didn’t need to fight Islam Makhachev to move up to 155, but that quickly became “Islam is ducking me for doing the same thing I’m trying to do, only having accomplished more before he did it.”

He then briefly tried to give himself the cringiest nickname of all time, brutally knocked out Charles Oliveira, and started talking about moving to welterweight without even pretending to defend his new belt. Then he said he’s probably leaving MMA for boxing soon, before announcing he won’t be competing because of personal issues. But those personal issues didn’t prevent him from immediately talking shit about Islam and Khabib Nurmagomedov, making it seem like maybe Ilia isn’t not fighting because of his home life, but because he only wants to fight specific, high-reward battles. If it weren’t for the Charles Oliveira KO — sensational — he’d have walked to the victory here.

Fortunately for Topuria, there’s also a man by the name of Jon Jones involved in MMA.

Jones started the year off by promising a fight with Tom Aspinall, only to retire despite having all his demands met, and prolonging his fraudulent title reign for as long as possible. Then he “unretired” for the UFC White House card before the Tom Aspinall fiasco happened, where Jones claimed some sort of moral victory over Aspinall for reasons that only make sense to him and his fans, before immediately pivoting to the fight he’s always wanted: Alex Pereira. In a perfect world, Jones would have some crystallizing event that would grow his heart three sizes, but instead, I’m pretty sure this is just the Jones we will have until old age finally drags him from the sport.

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As for Krampus, this was the easiest one of them all. Remember when Bryce Mitchell came out as a Nazi apologist, disputed the Holocaust, and said Hitler was a good guy? Well, Jean Silva Krampus-slapped him for it.

MMA Christmas Gift

So here I am, Santa Jed, asking you this; if the UFC matchmakers could grant you the wish of making your three (somewhat realistic) dream fights of 2026 (can’t be fights which are already confirmed, so no Kayla vs Amanda), or more than likely to be made (so Topuria vs Paddy or Gaethje is a no go, too) which three fights would it then be and why?

OK, so, if I’m reading this right, we’re looking for dream MMA fights that are neither booked nor likely to be booked next year, but are at least somewhat realistic? That’s a pretty narrow needle to thread, but I’ll try.

First, let me throw out two answers that I think technically fall into the parameters here, but you could argue they don’t. But these are, to me, the best fights that can be made in the sport right now, and neither seems likely to happen next year, which sucks: Islam Makhachev vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ilia Topuria vs. Arman Tsarukyan. Both of those should be next; both are incredible matchups, and if I had to bet right now, I’d say we see neither in 2026.

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So, with that out of the way, let’s get to it.

1. Dricus du Plessis vs. Reinier de Ridder. Longtime readers of my work will know that this has been my most wanted fight basically since the day RDR signed with the UFC. These are two of my boys, they’re both incredibly goofy, and I think it would be both a fun fight and a funny fight. I do think they will fight one day, but I’d like that day to be sometime in June.

2. Justin Gaethje vs. Benoit Saint Denis. I’m absolutely cheating here, and I don’t care. But in a world where Gaethje either loses to Paddy Pimblett and doesn’t retire, or beats Pimblett and Topuria vacates the belt, I want to see these two dudes fight each other. Gaethje is the most exciting fighter in the history of the sport, and BSD appears to be cut from the same cloth. We were lucky enough to get BSD vs. Poirier, and I don’t want to miss the small window we have for this one.

3. Valentina Shevchenko vs. whoever has the bantamweight title. In my opinion, Shevchenko is the WMMA GOAT (also the Fighter of the Year this year), and it’s time for the GOAT to get her due. This year, she gave Zhang Weili the opportunity to move up and pursue a second title. I want the same for her. And yes, I know she fought for the bantamweight belt already, but that was before she became unquestionably one of the three greatest women’s fighters of all time. I’ll be happy to watch her continue defending the flyweight belt, but book her vs. the winner of Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes.

I’ll also add that I very much want to see both DDP and RDR fight Jiri Prochazka someday, and I think RDR should abandon middleweight in general and move up to 205, where he should fight Dominick Reyes.

Reliable Action Fighters

Rudolph, Dasher, and the other reindeer drank too much eggnog and are too hungover to pull the UFC sleigh into the Paramount+ era. Which UFC fighters do you call upon to dependably deliver the most entertaining fights to households worldwide in 2026 and beyond? Which of these substitute reindeer fighters will be most likely to have a song written about them?

I love the framing of this question. Terrific work. So, in the spirit of this, I’m going to give you nine reindeer fighters. Spoiler alert: Several of the fighters mentioned in the previous answer will be included here. And because it’s too hard, I’m not going to give each fighter a specific reindeer comp. Just eight fighters, and one Rudolph.

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1. Justin Gaethje. The most exciting fighter of all time. He is close to retirement, but there’s a reason the UFC picked him to headline the first Paramount card.

2. Jiri Prochazka. Like Justin Gaethje, if he was a light heavyweight and also a Nordic samurai spirit warrior.

3. Max Holloway. Do I need to explain this one? The only reason he’s not Rudolph is that he was already getting songs written about him before, not for what comes next.

4. Charles Oliveira. Same as with Max.

5. Benoit Saint. The best prospect to take the “most exciting fighter alive” crown when Gaethje retires.

6. Dakota Ditcheva. The best thing PFL has going for it and the great hope for the future of the flyweight division.

7. Diego Lopes. You can dislike that he’s getting another title fight (I hate it), but it’s obvious why he’s getting it. The man is all gas, no breaks.

8. Carlos Prates. Definitely one of the top 8 most exciting fighters competing these days.

And it should come as no surprise who my Rudolph will be: Joshua Van.

Yes, Van’s title win over Alexandre Pantoja was a bit wonky, but setting aside the awkwardness of that, Van is basically guaranteed to be fun for the next decade. He’s basically a young Max Holloway, and that makes him perfect to fill the role of Rudolph as the vanguard of this next generation.

SANTA CLAUS

Which fighter(s) dressed as Santa would you most like to be visited by and what gifts would they bring?

If we’re talking all-time, the answer is obviously Roy Nelson, as the most Santa a fighter has ever been.

If we’re talking current UFC fighters, the only acceptable answer is Derrick Lewis. Who doesn’t want to see Santa rolling up in a candy paint slab, bumping Fat Pat with a big bag of gifts?

As for a gift, what do you get the man who has everything? My life is full and wonderful, and needs nothing. But, if you insist, I guess with will suffice.

Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who sent in questions. Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send them to me. Every Sunday (sometimes I forget and it happens on Monday), I’ll put out a call for questions on The Feed. Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane; just drop your questions there, and I’ll answer the best ones. Thanks again, and see y’all next week.