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To your questions …
Q: What are your predictions for the HWC Showdown Open main card?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Predictions below.
Spencer Lee df. Zach Sanders, 11-0
Sarah Hildebrandt df. Erin Golston, 8-2
Austin DeSanto df. Bryce Meredith, 13-11
Vladimer Khinchegashvili df. Jaydin Eierman, 9-3
Pat Lugo df. Matthew Kolodzik, 4-2
Jordan Nelson df. Precious Bell, 3-1
James Green df. Alex Marinelli, 4-3
Michael Kemerer df. Tommy Gantt, 8-0
Nick Gwiazdowski df. Tony Cassioppi, 6-2
Q: Khabib announced his retirement after beating Justin Gaethje. Do you view Khabib as the GOAT?
-- Mike C.
Foley: I do. After 29 fights he'd never been cut, taken down, or otherwise damaged. He fought at the very highest levels, overcame a number of personal issues, and maintained a level of fighting we've never seen before.
Compare his accomplishments to the two names most commonly associated with GOAT in MMA. GSP took losses and a lot of damage throughout his career, including in fights where he won but probably should have been declared the loser. The counterpoint is that GSP was the first true MMA fighter with a long-standing record of accomplishment based on unique training, innovative game plans, and success in his non-specialty areas (e.g. wrestling).
Jon Jones has a loss from throwing a bad elbow, but that doesn't really impact the way his career is viewed. Jones took an absolute beating by Alexander Gustafsson and then again with Dominick Reyes (who also probably won the fight). The counterpoint supporting Jones as GOAT is the way he elevated the sport and uses distance and creative striking to create finishing opportunities. However, he's also a proven drug cheat and has been arrested for a variety of reasons over the course of his career, both altering the consistency of his in-cage appearances and making him a somewhat unreliable title holder.
Khabib hasn't been cut. Look at the photos of GSP and Jones after fights. They are a mess. To not take damage, while also simultaneously inflicting enough on your opponent to end the fight is the point of MMA and NOBODY has ever done that better than Khabib.
Q: In the Oct. 2 mailbag you predicted Gabe Dean to place fifth in the Flo 8-Man Challenge. Dean has won Senior Nationals since then. Have you changed your prediction after seeing Dean win Senior Nationals?
-- Mike C.
Pitt coach Keith Gavin (right) coaching with Jordan Leen at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Foley: Updated predictions …
Keith Gavin df. Shakur Rasheed
Gabe Dean df. Taylor Lujan
Sammy Brooks df. Nate Jackson
Myles Martin df. Drew Foster
Keith Gavin df. Gabe Dean
Myles Martin df. Sammy Brooks
Myles Martin df. Keith Gavin
I'm just now grasping that a Division I head wrestling coach, whose team was recently ranked in the top ten, is competing in a legit wrestling competition. Coaches are strapped for time so for Gavin to feel like he can go out there and compete means he has an incredible work ethic and Tim Ferriss-like time management skills. I'm 39 and speeding towards 40. If I abandon Keith and his dream then I can't believe in my dream to run a marathon next year, or cycle 200 miles.
I suggest that all former wrestlers and out-of-shape dads with pandemic bods unite in support of our new light of inspiration, Keith Gavin.
Q: When will a final determination be made on the 2020 World Championships? What's the process? With COVID cases surging around the world, it seems more and more unlikely.
-- Mike C.
Foley: The final decision will be made on Nov. 5 or Nov. 6 following the final registration deadline and a meeting of the United World Wrestling executive board. The decision will focus on the number of entries, the nations who choose to enter, and any additional information being presented by health officials prior to the meeting.
I can't tell you how that meeting will play out, but I would agree with your assessment that nations around the world have already started shutdowns with more to come in the next few days and weeks.
The conclusions should be out by next Friday.
Q: The Michigan High School Athletic Association announced that wrestlers must wear masks to practice or compete. I read there was some uproar about this. Do you see it as an issue?
-- Mike C.
Foley: I'm not sure that a mask will be the most effective at that distance, but I also don't think it will hurt any of the athletes. There will need to be specific guidance on the types of mask and how much air is allowed to pass through, but in the meantime, I think it's nice that they have a solution for wrestling as part of their overall plan.
We shouldn't take for granted that we've already seen the worst of this disease. There are STILL more than 900 people dying per day with a huge increase expected in the next two weeks as the rise in cases precedes death tolls. There is a lot of soul searching we all need to do about what risks we can and cannot manage and I would warn that there is a very strong likelihood that if cases continue to spike through the winter we will see a total abandonment of close contact sports like wrestling in the United States.
I know that's a tough image to conjure up, but this is a worldwide pandemic and we need to show strength and resilience like generations before have done through war and famine. This is something we know how to beat. We just need to do the right things and follow the advice of medical professionals.
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