Here Comes the Pain... Again!!!

UFC 199 was an amazing event in the Octagon. Future Hall of Famer Dan "Hendo" Henderson left fans with an iconic lasting image of him, knocking Hector Lombard out in 1:27 of the second round. Dominick Cruz completed his over nine-year feud with Urijah Faber, which lasted through 3 ACL tears and the demise of the WEC. Michael Bisping, who debuted on the 3rd season of TUF also completed his ten-year journey toward Middleweight gold, defeating Luke Rockhold in 3:36 of the first round.

What transpired outside the cage could be what this event is more remembered for though. The much-anticipated rematch between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor was announced for UFC 202. The fight taken off of the UFC 200 card after Conor refused to fly to Vegas for a press conference. Both fighters wanted the fight to take place, and Dana White knew that it would make a lot of money for him, so this was a no-brainer.

Revered MMA analyst, Ariel Helwani was asked to leave his ringside seat right before the main event and had his press pass revoked indefinitely for breaking news that Zuffa wanted to break themselves. Countless journalists, even those outside of the MMA world, have sided with Helwani, who opened up on the UFC's hypocrisy on his MMA Hour podcast. It is a must-listen this week.

Then....

there was the news that broke the internet. The man who is mostly responsible for my love of MMA, the former WWE and UFC Champion, Brock Lesnar's return fight was announced for UFC 200. Until Ariel Helwani broke the news that Lesnar's return was imminent, it seemed unfathomable. Then, during the main card, they aired a UFC 200 promo, and at the very last second, The Beast appeared, confirming the news. 

Lesnar, who came back to WWE in 2012, following his loss to Alistair Overeem in 2011 at UFC 141, is still under contract with the pro wrestling company. WWE's website called this a "one-off" with the UFC. In an interview with SportsCenter this morning, Lesnar said "The haunting fact that I didn't really want it to be over, so here we are. I'm taking a leap and gonna get back in so that 20 years from now I can say I did it, [instead of saying], 'What if I would have just did it?' To get in there and prove to myself, more importantly, that I can. That's why."

Brock's opponent, Mark Hunt, is no tomato can. The Super-Samoan has walk-off knockout power, and Lesnar was prone to getting rocked in his fights even before his bout with diverticulitis. However, I'll analyze this fight more in depth as we get closer to the event. 

Lesnar's UFC return has many un-answered questions. If Brock looks impressive against Hunt, I highly doubt that this would be his last hurrah in the UFC. Vince McMahon would love to have one of his guys in a "fake" sport come in while still under contract with him, and make it to the top of the UFC's Heavyweight Division. The Heavyweight Title has been in limbo lately, and peak Lesnar could beat Stipe Miocic. I already could see Vince salivating at having his chosen man Roman Reigns beating UFC Champion Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 33 with 80,000 fans booing.

However, with the hope and promise of the old Lesnar coming back, you have to wonder what will happen if he's embarrassed and loses a one-sided fight. Lesnar has his amateur wrestling background, but after a five-year layoff how much will the rust effect his performance. Will a loss in real sport hurt Brock's drawing power in WWE in any way? Also, would Brock really want to have a Summerslam match a little over a month after his loss and will he walk away from his fight unscathed? 

In a span of 72 hours Brock Lesnar has turned UFC and WWE's world upside down. The addition of his fight to UFC 200 really makes the event seem special, and leaves the July 9th card looking like this:

Light Heavyweight Championship Jon Jones (IC) vs Daniel Cormier (C) 

Brock Lesnar vs Mark Hunt

Interim Featherweight Championship Frankie Edgar vs Jose Aldo

Women's Bantamweight Championsip Miesha Tate (C) vs Amanda Nunes

Cain Velasquez vs Travis Brown

The UFC is on roll right now, and with the return of it's biggest draw in history, it doesn't look like it slowing down anytime soon. 

Losing the Beard

There is no denying what Ryan Fitzpatrick did for the Jets last season, with 39 TDs and 3,900 yards, breaking Vinny Testaverde's franchise touchdown record. However, many fans last memories of Fitzy are his three interceptions in a win-and-in game against our former coach Rex Ryan. Now, Fitzpatrick is playing a game that he can't win.

Reports are that the Jets offered Fitzpatrick a front-loaded, incentive laden, 3-year $24 million contract, where he would earn $12 million the first year. Fitzpatrick countered, saying he would accept a 1-year $12 million deal. The biggest road block to that deal is that the Jets have the third-least remaining salary cap in the league, with just $2.95 million remaining, and none of their rookies signed yet. On Boomer and Carton this morning, Boomer Esiason who understands how the NFL's salary caps works a hell of a lot better than I can even pretend to, said that the numbers in a one-year deal are impossible to work out.

It is clear that both sides are at an impasse right now, and the mud-slinging between the two is guaranteed to ramp up as the season draws closer. Let's call a spade a spade here, Ryan Fitzpatrick is a journeyman quarterback, playing on six teams in eleven seasons in the league. Looking at this situation with 20-20 vision, the Jets could have avoided this situation by offering him a contract extension after trading with the Texans for him, but nobody expected him to be our starter, let alone a near Pro Bowler.  The quarterback market blew up this offseason with crazy contracts being offered to the likes of Chase Daniel, but no other team has even talked to Fitzy. 

The Jets quarterback situation without Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't all sunshine and daisies either. Geno Smith, entering his fourth season in the NFL, has always had the intangibles to be a good quarterback, but has never put it all together on the gridiron. While some of that may be due to lack of a supporting cast, which the Jets have now in Decker, Marshall, and Forte. After him are two guys who never played an NFL snap before, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg. That's not to say that neither of these three guys are going to be bad, but they are all huge question marks. 

Fitzy and the Jets are playing high stakes poker and bluffing with pocket deuces. 

With a brutal 6 game stretch to start the season (Cin, @Buf, @KC, Sea, @Pit, @Ari), it might not matter who our quarterback is, the season is more than likely going to be over before Columbus Day. 

The other albatross in all of this is Mo Wilkerson. The Jets offered Big Wilk the franchise tag, which would have him earn over $15 million this season. If there is any hope of signing the Pro Bowler long term, how much can we afford to pay Fitzpatrick? The spending spree Mike MacCagnan went on last season, that brought us to the brink of the playoffs, has hurt us this offseason. With "Snacks" Harrison wearing Big Blue this year, and Sheldon Richardson lucky not to be wearing Prison Orange, but likely to be suspended by Judge Goodell, Wilkerson knows he has leverage.

I believe that when all is said and done, barring an injury to another team's starting quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick will sign with us before training camp. However, will all the goodwill he made in his first season in New York be gone in the fanbase's eyes?