In honor of Speeds top six rankings Who are the 6 non-UFC fighters you'd like to see join the organization? With the UFC still being the top org in the world, I'd like to see the best fighters all fighting under one promotion. The UFC is the obvious choice for this so I'd like to see them open the coffers a bit, have Dana bury personal issues with certain fighters and have these 6 guys in the mix. 1. Josh Barnett - He's lost close fights with Cro-Cop and Nogeuira, but he's also made the Pride HW grand prix finals. He's charismatic and can sell a fight through interviews. With the lack of depth at HW, Here's a guy who can compete and put on some good fights. He's also an ex-UFC HW Champ who beat Randy Couture. 2. Mark Hunt - sure he'd be in trouble with all the wrestlers trying to take him down in the UFC, but I'd love to see Kongo, Sylvia or Herring try and bang with the man who took multiple Cro-Cop high kicks and kept moving forward. He's probably not a title contender, but an entertaining fighter and would bolster the UFC's HW division. 3. Matt 'the Law' Lindland - He got let go from the UFC for a suspect reason, and it appears Dana has something against Lindland and won't even try to sign him. Matt's been unable to find worthy 185ers to face him and had to take Rampage to the distance and was holding his own vs the #1 HW and possibly the #1 P4P fighter Fedor Emelianenko. So why won't anyone sign this man? (save for a new, yet to be named promotion..) Well he once was the master of the lay and pray, being an Olympic Silver Medalist, he could take anyone down at will. Problem USED to be he was content doing that and throwing a few punches to keep it 'active' and get a decision. However his last few fights he's been standing up more and been more active on the ground. He's considered by many to be a top 5 middlerweights and could even give Anderson Silva trouble. The guy is a talent and should be fighting with the best fighters. 4. Dennis Kang - A well rounded welterweight, he made it to the Pride Welterweight Grand Prix finals, facing the best fighters at 185 Pride had to offer. He reminds me of GSP in that he's strong in all aspects of the game and is still very young. He'd be a great addition to the 185'ers and he generally puts on exciting fights. Gee add these 2 Middleweights and look at how interesting this division now becomes. 5. Joachim Hansen - A personal fav who puts on good fights and just comes across as a pretty cool guy. He's a win some, loss some fighter but he always puts on exciting fights. The thought of a Hansen/Clay Guida fight sounds really great IMO. 6. Takanori Gomi - He's the #1 Lightweight in the world, he has 3 losses in the last 5 years, one was called a no contest, one he avenged and the last one was a loss vs BJ Penn in 2003. (Youtube Penn vs Gomi if you wanna see it) Dana, you want BJ to clean out the 155 division and stay motivated? Sign the #1 Ranked LW in the world and watch him become motivated? Gomi lost 5 years ago to Penn, you think he hasn't improved or wouldn't be motivated by this chance?!? This would be phenomenal! So, there are my choices. Who do you want to see in the UFC?!
I'd love to see the UFC adopt a featherweight division. There are a lot of talented guys fighting in that weight class, and some guys fighting up at lightweight in the UFC who would be well-suited to a drop to 145.
so what 6 145ers would you like to see? anyone else you think is missing? I have about 4 more guys I though off after my post (Sergi Karhatonov for 1)