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ASK MMATORCH: Penick and Hansen answer reader questions on fighters and the IRS, GSP at lightweight, fights we'll never see
Feb 8, 2014 - 11:45:11 PM ASK MMATORCH: Penick and Hansen answer reader questions on fighters and the IRS, GSP at lightweight, fights we'll never see

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Welcome to another edition of "Ask MMATorch," where Torch Editor Jamie Penick and Torch Columnist Rich Hansen answer reader questions on the world of MMA. If you have a question you'd like addressed by either of them, make sure to send it in to askmmatorch@gmail.com. The more questions we receive, the more frequently we can run this feature!


Shawn H. Writes: Do you think it's odd that lately its come to light that numerous fighters owe the IRS serious money after not paying taxes? Starting with Nick Diaz bragging about it, then Chris Leben and now Thiago Silva along with his other serious charges also owes the IRS, causing a lien to be put on his home. I mean these fighters in particular made a lot of money fighting for a long time, and it's not like they owe a little bit of money all three of them claim they have never paid taxes since they started fighting. Does this reflect bad on the UFC and is this something a lot of other fighters are doing?

MMATorch Editor Jamie Penick Answers: It's not entirely odd, and I don't think it reflects on the UFC. There's not much more they can do to ensure their fighters are taking care of their taxes than informing them of what they have to do. And that's something they discuss with the fighters during their yearly fighter summit in Las Vegas.

For anyone who isn't working a typical job where you have your taxes automatically deducted from a paycheck, it's then something you need to take care of during the year, and certainly at tax time every year. It's another expense fighters must prepare for out of their earnings from the UFC, on top of training expenses, nutrition, etc.

Of course, fighters can offset some of their tax responsibility by writing off training expenses, but a big issue for some fighters is not working with an accountant. Working with an accountant to figure out what they need to do to prepare for tax time is an essential thing in their line of work, and many simply just aren't thinking enough ahead to deal with it. This is all a reflection on the fighters themselves, because it's their responsibility to get their tax obligations figured out each year.


Charles M. Writes: Should GSP return, is there a chance he drops down to 155 as he's mentioned in the past?

MMATorch Columnist Rich Hansen Answers: Not that I think he ever would have dropped to lightweight while he was an active fighter, but now that he has passed on to the next phase of his life, I'm pretty sure that, unfortunately, that ship done sailed. I would guess that of all the motivations that might get him to return to fighting, capturing the lightweight title (a division that generally sells fewer PPVs than welterweight or middleweight) is probably last on his list of reasons to return. Plus, athletes generally get bigger as they age, not smaller, so it seems that with every passing day the odds of him getting to 155 reduce.


Justin B. Writes: I started watching MMA with the start of the Liddell-Ortiz TUF season (due to it being heavily promoted on Spike). Most of my knowledge of the sport beforehand is UFC video packages and YouTube. With that in mind, what is that one fight in history that never happened you always wanted to? I'm sure looking back 10 years from now we'll reminisce on the GSP-Silva-Jones superfights that never happened. Are there any of those I don't know about?.

MMATorch Columnist Rich Hansen Answers: Well, speaking for just myself, I never wanted to see GSP vs. Silva, and didn't want to see Silva vs. Jones all that much, either. I don't want to see Antonio Silva vs. Bec Hyatt, either, dig? I love what the champions were able to do in their own weight classes, so any dream fight that I missed out on would all be between two guys who were in the same weight class.

And before we go any further, yes, I know. Fedor vs. Brock and Fedor vs. Couture. Everyone wanted to see both of those fights, and everyone has (more importantly) written about those fights. I'm not ignoring them, I'm just not jazzed to rehash them ad nauseum. So, with that said, here are the best fights I wanted to see that never happened.

1.) Brock vs. Fedor. Just kidding.

1.) Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett - This fight was booked, and was like a week or two away from going down. then Barnett got popped (again) for steroids and the fight, along with the entire Affliction promotion, went belly up.

2.) Fedor Emelianenko vs. Alistair Overeem - Strikeforce actually had a heavyweight division that rivaled (or surpassed) that of the UFC, but instead of just making the best fights possible, they put together an 8-man tournament. Fedor lost in the first round, and this semi-final fight never happened as a result. Overeem shortly got himself fired (transferred?) from Strikeforce and wound up in the UFC shortly thereafter. I was so stoked for this fight, and Strikeforce got too cute with it.

3.) Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira - If just to hear the commentary team struggle.

4.) Muhammad Lawal vs. Atilla Vegh - F***ing Emanuel Newton, being all competent and feminine and s***.

5.) B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar - I remember that there was talk about this fight happening a few years ago in Abu Dhabi, but then it never materialized...


MMATorch Editor Jamie Penick Answers: There are a lot of fights that, for whatever reason, just never came to fruition, and many others which just couldn't happen because fighters were in different organizations with one another. Because of that, there are quite a few options to choose from, and there are several fights I would have loved to see that I'm not sure we'll ever get; some have been off the table for a while, others could theoretically materialize, but these are a few of my top choices (and I will also not be re-hashing Brock vs. Fedor, as that's the clear top choice):

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Josh Barnett - Like Rich commented, this fight was so close to actually happening it's a damn shame it didn't come to fruition. It could have been one of the best heavyweight fights outside of the UFC ever, and would have come at a time before Fedor's inevitable decline.

Georges St-Pierre vs. Ben Askren - I understand Askren hadn't worked his way to a title fight at this level, but more than any other matchup, this was stylistically one of the most intriguing for GSP. Askren's wrestling game is so dominant that it would have been a completely different game than St-Pierre has ever gone up against in his UFC run. Now, whether that meant a difficult fight or not is irrelevant, it would have been seeing that matchup play out that I'd have been intrigued by.

Chuck Liddell vs. Jon Jones - Ok, this doesn't really count, because we could have any number of fights between those in a different era. But of all those, I think this is the one matchup I'd have loved to see if they were fighting in their prime at the same time. Jones is just an incredible fighter to watch, and at his best, Chuck Liddell was fantastically entertaining. Again, many more fights in this vein could fit, but that's one matchup I'd have loved to see.