UFC Superfights: No Thanks
Posted by Marc Staehling on June 17th, 2008
The issue of champion vs. champion “Superfights” has been a major talking point as of late in MMA circles. Matchups like BJ Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre, St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva, and Silva vs. Chuck Liddell have been talked about by pundits and fighters alike. But the thing is, at all three weight classes in question: 155, 170 and 185, there is no shortage of excellent match-ups. Rushing in to inter-division “Superfights” now is an ill-advised move, and would be a major slight to all the title contenders in those weight classes
While B.J. Penn is undoubtedly the best lightweight on the planet, since moving back to the weight in 2007 he has only fought three men: Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson and Sean Sherk. While much of the top lightweight talent is locked up in Japanese promotions, there are several worthy challengers in the UFC that will be emerging over the next year or so.
The winner of the August Roger Huerta/Kenny Florian bout appears to be the next in line to challenge Penn. The winner of Tyson Griffin/Marcus Aurelio in July will immediately jump into contention, and in September fast-rising Nate Diaz looks for his fourth straight UFC submission victory. It’s far from a barren wasteland at 155, and I for one would like to see B.J. Penn fight some of these young up and comers. If he demolishes them with ease, then so be it, but those fights need to happen.
At 170, the situation is even more stacked. The UFC has every top welterweight in the world under contract except Jake Shields, Shinya Aoki(who appears to have gone to lightweight full time), and WEC champ Carlos Condit(you could arguably put Nick Thompson or Drew Fickett in there), yet there has been tons of talk about GSP fighting Penn or Silva. This is the same GSP, that lucky punch or not, got knocked out by Matt Serra a little over a year ago. So despite St. Pierre’s devastating arsenal of skills he is far from unbeatable.
GSP faces arguably the stiffest test of his career on August 9th against Jon Fitch. Waiting in the wings, if he beats Fitch, are Thiago Alves, the ever-improving Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, and newcomer Yoshiyuki Yoshida. There is no shortage of big welterweight match-ups for GSP down the road.
While middleweight doesn’t have the same wealth of highly ranked fighters that are present at welter and light heavy, this oft-maligned division has plenty to offer kingpin Anderson Silva. First and foremost, Yushin Okami deserves a title shot. He’s 6-1 in the UFC, having dominated all his opponents save the Rich Franklin bout, a fight that easily could have been a draw, and that Okami nearly ended in the third round. Whether Okami gets the bout though is the question. While a title challenge vs. Silva has been rumoured for an October UK show, recent UFC promos hint that the winner of Cote-Almeida will be the one to step up to the plate. The 30-second spot says they “battle for a title shot”, whereas the 60-second spot says “with the winner moving up the ranks towards a middleweight title shot”, so who knows.
Beyond Okami, and the winner of Almeida/Cote. 185 is far from the barren wasteland it is often made out to be. Along with Almeida, the middleweight division has three other dangerous Brazilian grapplers in Demian Maia, Rousimar Palhares and Thales Leites, all of whom, especially the incredibly slick Maia are rapidly moving up the ranks.
After the Brazilians, there’s Martin Kampmann who showed little octagon-rust in dominating Jorge Rivera. Mike Bisping already has two wins at middleweight and will hopefully throw bolos with Chris Leben before the end of the year. Also, don’t be surprised if by this time next year, Paulo Filho and Chael Sonnen are in the UFC, after the WEC abandons those weight classes.
Right now, the divisions are simply too stacked to start putting together catchweight fights between champions. Are their economic benefits? Maybe. Would Chuck Lidell vs. Anderson Silva in Atlanta draw that much more than Liddell vs. Evans? I doubt it. Would GSP vs. Silva draw a bigger crowd in Montreal than GSP vs. Alves? Probably not. Lets have these guys fight in their own weight classes for now, a time for “Superfights” will come in time.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:02 am
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June 17th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I completely agree with this article and the need for dominant champions.
Penn may be a slight exeption though as he has said, and shown previously, that he only wants fight that he feels will test him and force him to train hard for. You and I probably think that is arrogant to write off people like Tyson Griffin or Kenny Florian but that’s his mindset.
It could be a situation where the UFC gives in and lets him fight GSP or risks him walking away again.
June 17th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
BJ Penn is a spoiled brat, not a true prodigy. If that is the way he feels about it, let him walk. Buh bye.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Eh, Penn isn’t in MMA for some romanticized view of the sport or to help the industry prosper, he is there to challenge himself. He really doesn’t seem to care about his legacy in one weight division as some dominant champion as much as he cares about testing himself. I don’t see the big problem in that.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:27 am
I see the problem as it creates precedent that they shouldn’t really be setting if they wish to establish strong champions.
With the news that Silva is moving to 205 to face the fucking Sandman though then I guess none of this matters to Zuffa.