Spinning Back Clique: Diaz vs. Luque, strawweight title picture, domestic violence in MMA, more

Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.

This week, we cover the UFC’s strawweight title picture, a potential matchup between Nate Diaz and Vicente Luque, and the recent domestic violence incidents involving MMA fighters.

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Danny Segura, Matthew Wells, and “Gorgeous” George Garcia discuss these topics along with host John Morgan.

• This past weekend saw Marina Rodriguez announce herself as a contender in the UFC’s strawweight division with an impressive win over Mackenzie Dern at UFC Fight Night 194. Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili will fight on Nov. 6, and Carla Esparza is currently waiting to take on the winner – unless, of course, the UFC goes the trilogy route with Namajunas and Weili. So if you’re Rodriguez right now, what do you do? How should the UFC handle this division right now?

• Vicente Luque remains all-in on a potential fight with Nate Diaz. For his part, Diaz has taken to social media to express interest in this fight. It’s a big name for Luque, especially with Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal now booked for UFC 269. The fight doesn’t really make sense in terms of rankings for Luque who sits at No. 6 in the latest MMA Junkie welterweight rankings. Is this the fight to make, or should Luque set his sights elsewhere?

• We’ve had quite a few headlines lately that are unfortunately focused on domestic violence incidents. Chuck Liddell was the latest, but we’ve also seen Luis Pena and Jon Jones in the news in just the past few weeks. Do we have a domestic violence problem in MMA? If so, what can be done about it?

• UFC Fight Night 195 features Aspen Ladd stepping on short notice to headline an event just two weeks after missing weight for a fight with Macy Chiasson that was ultimately scrapped. She is moving up a division for this one, but should Ladd receive a main event slot after failing to make it to the cage for her previously scheduled bout? Is this a bad look for the UFC, or is it the right call with Ladd clearly needing to move up a division?

• Bellator 268 takes place this Saturday in Arizona, which includes the semifinals of the promotion’s ongoing light heavyweight grand prix. Vadim Nemkov faces Julius Anglickas, and Ryan Bader meets Corey Anderson, with the winners meeting in the finals. There have been some hurdles along the way in this tournament, but now that it’s getting down toward the end, what are the overall thoughts on the success of this grand prix?

“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Tuesday on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch the full episode in the video above.