Is Francis Ngannou going to face a repeat of his unsuccessful title bid when he goes up against another good wrestler in Cain Velasquez? Did Bellator choose the right timing and placement for MVP vs. Daley? If you could make any current fighter 10 years younger, who would you dip into that fountain of youth?

That and other pressing questions in this week’s Twitter Mailbag. To ask a question of your own, tweet to @BenFowlkesMMA.

* * * *

I see where you’re coming from with this, but I’d also like to know just what else you think the UFC should be doing with Francis Ngannou right now.

Look at the heavyweight rankings. Look at who’s available and who he’s already fought. Who else could the UFC book him against without reaching way down to the bottom section of the top 15, which wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense after Ngannou’s knockout of Curtis Blaydes.

Plus, if your big problem is that you can’t stop a well-timed takedown from a skilled wrestler, that’s an issue you’re going to end up facing again and again at the top of this division. The current champ was the Olympic wrestling team captain, for crying out loud.

If you can’t stay upright long enough to land those decapitating blows, your future in this weight class is limited. And if that’s Ngannou’s situation, the UFC isn’t obligated to work around his weaknesses in its matchmaking. He’s got to prove that he can close the holes in his game. Taking on a Cain Velasquez who’s coming off another long hiatus might be his best chance to do it, too.

Frank Mir was sidelined for about 14 months following his motorcycle accident before the UFC stripped him of the heavyweight title. Of course, those were different times, and the UFC was a lot less belt-happy back then.

Conor McGregor held onto the lightweight strap for about a year-and-a-half before being officially stripped, and he didn’t even have a debilitating injury to blame. But then, he was also the biggest superstar in the sport. So there’s that.

In the case of Robert Whittaker, yeah, I’d say he probably needs to fight some time in 2019 if he wants to keep that belt around his waist. You hate to see a great fighter in his prime lose his title just because he’s unlucky with injuries, but at a certain point it’s just not fair to the other guys in the division to keep it out of circulation while he heals up.

And, most importantly, I do hope he takes the time to heal up. I’m not a doctor (shocking, right?) but I don’t think collapsed bowels or various other gut ruptures are the kinds of things you want to rush back from. Especially not in a sport where people are paid to kick you in the stomach, among other things.

You could see how the pressure to defend the title might encourage a man in Mr. Knuckles’ situation to rush his recovery. You could also see how that might be a very, very bad idea.

Bellator had a bit of a dilemma here. Paul Daley vs. Michael Page is a big fight. It’s a welterweight grand prix bout. It’s an interesting stylistic matchup. It’s also a grudge match.

You want to make the most of a fight like that. But if you do it in England you face certain time zone challenges, especially if you’re also trying to use it to encourage DAZN subscriptions on this side of the Atlantic.

Bellator seems to have decided that subscriptions are more important than a pop from the local crowd, and that makes sense. This is exactly the kind of fight I’d sign up to see (if I weren’t signed up already).

How could you not? It’s two exciting, though very different strikers out there to settle a long-simmering feud in the first round of a legitimately compelling tournament. If you’re not going to use a fight like that to bait people into paying for your streaming service, why even have one?

First of all, I’m not sure I want to work for any company that’s dumb enough to hire me as CEO. Also, how much good is it really going to do me to get one great fighter in each weight class? If I only have one who matters, who are they going to fight?

Instead, maybe I’d spend my money on signing a few key fighters in a couple different weight classes. Like, for instance, lightweight (where there’s tons of talent just sitting around waiting for something to do) and maybe also heavyweight (because people love heavyweights even when they’re old and slow). Then I’d put together some tournaments, to give it all the instant feel of suddenly high stakes.

Wait a minute … I just reinvented Bellator, didn’t I? Well, fine. Just make sure to save me a suite fit for CEO down at the Mohegan Sun.

Like most early adopters, I was initially struck by Royce Gracie and the mysterious allure of jiu-jitsu. But the first fight that got me hooked as a fan of something resembling an actual sport was Frank Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz. Oh look, I even went back and watched that one with a tasty beverage not so long ago. It was … maybe not quite as great as I remembered it.

How could I not choose Daniel Cormier here? Taking the Daddest Man on the Planet and giving him a 29-year-old body, but with all the savvy and experience of his 39-year-old self, would be too intriguing to resist.

Just one rule, though: He’s got to stay at heavyweight. If he ventures back down to 205 pounds at any point the spell will be broken and he’ll immediately turn into a withered old man before our very eyes. Oddly, his pants will stay hiked up to his armpits either way.

I’d probably feel fine with it, mostly because I suspect that Japanese fighters go largely unappreciated in the UFC.

Just look at Kyoji Horiguchi. In the UFC he was just another guy in a division that the company didn’t really care about. Over in Rizin FF he is officially The Man, pulling off wins over Bellator champs in a rare cross-promotional venture.

Wouldn’t you say he’s better off over there? Wouldn’t you say they appreciate his talents more? Sure seems like it to me. And I can’t be too sad about that.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.