okay so with the influx of Pride fighters, the UFC's LHW division is very good again as is their Welter Weight divison that is stacked even if it looks to be GSP's division to run for a while. The Lightweight division is emerging but there are so many new guys all of the time it's hard to give an accurate top 10 but with BJ Penn there, along with Sherk, Florian, Huerta, Tyson Griffith and an influx of TUF members, not to forget the always entertaining Clay Guida the LW division is exciting and on the rise to say the least. That leaves the Heavyweight division and the Middle Weight Division. So, which division needs the most help? Let's look Heavyweights What's going on: The HW division is a mess thanks to Randy pouting over the UFC not signing Fedor and supposedly 'money' issue which were quickly refuted by Dana and the feretta brothers. Tim Sylvia is the default guy to choose for championship matches.. problem is he's boring with his 'fight not to lose' style. Andrei Arlovski is 1/2 the fighter he once was after losing twice to Tim Syliva in the span of 3 months. Gonzaga lost his title shot with Randy and then recently got stopped by and improved Fabrico Werdum who looked like the Pride version of himself rather than the timid version that lost a borefest with AA. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, aka Big Nog won a tougher than expected and more dull than expected fight vs Heath Hearing.. a man he'd beaten twice in Pride. Next months title fight should tell us if he's gonna be the alpha male of the division or not. Cro Cop... well it's hard to tell if he really wants to fight anymore and he's recently mentioned that he's not sure what he's gonna do. I think the strong wrestlers and the cage has him miffed. Chieck Kongo is an exciting fighter at times.. so long as he isn't facing a strong wrestler/BJJ fighter because he's like a turtle on the ground. Brandon Vera is just too small to be a strong HW and will struggle when he has to face the top tier HW's. Here's hoping he's dropping to 205.. where his speed advantage will be gone... gulp. What's the UFC doing about it: With top ten ranked Josh Barnett and Fedor fighting outside of the UFC it's hard to get excited about what the UFC is offering in their HW division as so many HW fights of late have been boring to say the least. Now they're hoping the novelty of a former WWE wrestler who has legit NCAA experience will get ppl interested in the UFC and perhaps the HW division... sounds kinda weak. There isn't much in the way of young talent out there either. How do I know? there have been 7 seasons of TUF, only 1 has had HW's.. why? Because the minute the UFC finds a HW they have to throw him in to the division in hopes of finding their next big HW star. Right now no one is in charge of the division. Solutions: Sign Josh Barnett, it's at least a step in the right direction. Might as well try and sign Fedor's brother Aleksander Emelianenko and maybe even Sergi Kharitonov. Heck if Alistar Overeem has made the switch to HW sign him too. Sure Pride fighters have delivered mixed results but these are the best of what's out there besides Fedor and they give exciting fights.. okay Josh may lay and pray at times but he does at least like to strike. Sign any 2 of those 4, this division becomes interesting again. Middleweights What's going on: Anderson Silva has decimated the best of the division save for Yushin Okami.. someone he was DQ'd against when they faced off in the Rumble on the Rock tournament for kicks to the head of a downed opponent. I'm sure Silva would love to correct that mistake on his record. Okami is a strong 185'er but Silva has barely been tested and part of the issue that 1/2 of the best 185'ers are not in the UFC. The UFC tried to make Rich Franklin one of their face guys but his striking is miles behind Silva and it's been proven twice. Problem is Franklin is too good for any other fighter in the division.. so where does that leave him? Gatekeeper to the title is where. Mike Swick was looking good, then he faced Okami and got overpowered and knocked into the already stacked WW division. Nate Marquart is an interesting prospect who has some good wins.. oh and he almost lasted a full round with Silva when he got cleaned out by the champ. Martin Kampmann is an intriguing prospect but is he ready for someone like Anderson Silva? Maybe in a year and a couple of more fights he will be. The rest of the division is TUF hopefuls who are not ready and thus therein lies the problem. The best challenges for Silva are fighting outside the UFC. Guys like Matt Lihnland who some ppl think Dana dropped from the UFC over a technicality because of personal/money issues, Paulo Filho who the WEC has signed but is owned by the UFC. It makes you wonder if the UFC wants to keep an exciting striker like Anderson as the champ and a BJJ wizard like Filho who may not be as exciting in the WEC for promotion purposes. Another good fighter who would have been interesting is Dennis Kang who is young and experienced having fought a lot in Pride and almost won the Pride Grand Prix. Yet he didn't sign because he got offered more $$ to fight elsewhere. What's the UFC doing about it: The next TUF is for 185ers, even if LHW champ Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffith are the coaches. WIth the lower weight classes being more talent rich, this seems to be the way they plan on building up this division. The UFC lucked out when they got Dan Henderson. He was the reigning Pride 185 and 205 champ and he looks great at either weight. Were it not for this, Anderson Silva's next 3-5 title defenses would have been without suspense. Now they have a guy who has onlyh 4 losses in the last 5 years. 2 via decision and 2 submission losses to the Nogeuira brothers. He'll give Silva all he can handle and then some. They are also fortunate enough to having charismatic Michael 'the count' Bisping dropping from 205 to 185 and he's another strong fighter who has had some success and should have a shot at the title within 2-3 fights depending on how quickly silva tears through the competition. Solutions: Well signing Matt Lihnland or Dennis Kang would be nice but most likely ain't happening. It would be interesting to see Silva run the table and GSP has suggested if he's able to do the same at 170 he would consider moving up. Now that would make this divsion interesting for sure! I think due to the difficulty at finding good and exciting HW's it's the weakest and bleakest division the UFC has. At least Anderson Silva's dominance of the 185 division is fun to watch! tomorrow, looking for the best division in the UFC
Great write-up. I agree the Heavy Weight division is thin. I'm not sure this sport caters to the big men because they don't have the quickness and agility of the smaller guys. The lighter weight fighters are far more entertaining to watch.
Anyway another guy I'd throw into the conversation competing in the HW div is Brock Lesnar, I have no idea how he'll be in MMA, WWE doesn't count for much, but he was good in College Wrestling. From Wiki: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Lesnar wrestled at Webster High School in Webster, South Dakota where he managed to have a 33-0 record in his senior year. [6] Lesnar later attended the University of Minnesota on a full wrestling scholarship for his junior and senior years of college; his roommate was fellow professional wrestler Shelton Benjamin who also served as Lesnar's assistant coach.[7] Lesnar won the 2000 NCAA wrestling championship as a heavyweight after placing second in 1999. Prior to joining the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Lesnar also wrestled at Bismarck State College in Bismarck, North Dakota.[3] Lesnar finished his amateur career as a two-time NJCAA All-American, two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Champion, and the 2000 NCAA heavyweight champion with a record of 106-5 overall in four years of college.[8][9]</div> The problem with UFC's heavyweight division, is that there seems to be a need for a champ, and no clear-cut guy who is champ. UFC's Heavyweight Division: The HW div seems to be Paper beats Rock, Rock beats Scissors, Scissors beats Paper. Randy beats Tim and Gonzaga. Tim beats Arlovski Arlovski beats Werdum Werdum beats Gonzaga Gonzaga beats Crocop Also obviously in any rematch things can go differently, but I think Arlovski, Werdum, Gonzaga (even though he lost the first match up), and Crocop if Randy decides to be a striker. While I think Randy would beat Tim again and again, and Kongo (if he fought him). While I think Kongo would have an edge against Gonzaga, Crocop, and Tim Silvia. If Kongo can get better takedown defense, the guy would be really hard to beat. He is such a great physical specimen, and has stamina and mad power. Sidenote: I think Crocop should drop a weightclass, he seems to small. Oh and I forgot about Big Nog.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lavalamp @ Jan 22 2008, 07:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Anyway another guy I'd throw into the conversation competing in the HW div is Brock Lesnar, I have no idea how he'll be in MMA, WWE doesn't count for much, but he was good in College Wrestling.</div> I did mention him "Now they're hoping the novelty of a former WWE wrestler who has legit NCAA experience will get ppl interested in the UFC and perhaps the HW division... sounds kinda weak" my big question is can he take a punch? great wrestlers and BBJ practioners can be tough, strong etc etc, but betting punched in the face doesn't happen in those sports and it does in MMA and some of these guys don't adjust to that aspect of the sport well. If he can take getting punched and is comfortable with being on his back, he should do alright. Mir is a safe test for Brock because Mir is a known fighter, but he's just not that good anymore and is known to be lazy about his training.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Celtic Fan @ Jan 23 2008, 07:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lavalamp @ Jan 22 2008, 07:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Anyway another guy I'd throw into the conversation competing in the HW div is Brock Lesnar, I have no idea how he'll be in MMA, WWE doesn't count for much, but he was good in College Wrestling.</div> I did mention him "Now they're hoping the novelty of a former WWE wrestler who has legit NCAA experience will get ppl interested in the UFC and perhaps the HW division... sounds kinda weak" my big question is can he take a punch? great wrestlers and BBJ practioners can be tough, strong etc etc, but betting punched in the face doesn't happen in those sports and it does in MMA and some of these guys don't adjust to that aspect of the sport well. If he can take getting punched and is comfortable with being on his back, he should do alright. Mir is a safe test for Brock because Mir is a known fighter, but he's just not that good anymore and is known to be lazy about his training. </div> Oh sorry, I missed that. Well I'm interested in seeing how he does.
oh he's a curiosity for sure. if he wins, I wonder who he'll get next? Hardonk? Kongo? and if he loses I'm betting he gets a non-striker whom he can rag doll around on the ground. The UFC has paid more money than usual to see if he's the real deal, unlike the Pride fighters, here's betting they want him to succeed.
