Pound-for-pound rankings are things that change wildly after every event. This is no truer than after UFC 136, where UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar took a tremendous leap up the rankings.But is this deserved? Does Edgar truly deserve to be rank…
Pound-for-pound rankings are things that change wildly after every event. This is no truer than after UFC 136, where UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar took a tremendous leap up the rankings.
But is this deserved? Does Edgar truly deserve to be ranked higher than the other champions?
It’s not a question that can be answered easily; an entire slideshow needs to be dedicated to figuring out “The Answer” and how he matches up against each of the other six UFC champions.
Frankie Edgar, despite being a champion, is the perennial underdog due to his small stature and humble demeanor. However, this is undeserved because his skills are definitely on par with those of the other UFC champions (if not exceeding them).Even UFC…
Frankie Edgar, despite being a champion, is the perennial underdog due to his small stature and humble demeanor. However, this is undeserved because his skills are definitely on par with those of the other UFC champions (if not exceeding them).
Even UFC president Dana Whitesaid that Edgar was the number two pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Where do Edgar’s skills rank among those of the other six champions? Read and find out.
The stacked card that was UFC 136 is finally in the history books. A multitude of questions were answered and several lessons were learned.Frankie Edgar proved too much for Gray Maynard, winning by stunning TKO victory and bringing their series to 1-1-…
The stacked card that was UFC 136 is finally in the history books. A multitude of questions were answered and several lessons were learned.
Frankie Edgar proved too much for Gray Maynard, winning by stunning TKO victory and bringing their series to 1-1-1, and Kenny Florian again proved that he can’t win in big situations, dropping a decision to Jose Aldo.
However, there were many other fights that taught the MMA community lessons. What were they and what lessons did they teach? Read and find out!
There are a great many things that MMA fans will see throughout the duration of UFC 136, but there are also some things that fans will not see.Fortunately for those who shelled out the money to watch (be it in person or on pay-per-view), the things tha…
There are a great many things that MMA fans will see throughout the duration of UFC 136, but there are also some things that fans will not see.
Fortunately for those who shelled out the money to watch (be it in person or on pay-per-view), the things that won’t be seen aren’t essential to having a good event; we will still see some great stuff!
So what will we definitely NOT be talking about at the water cooler Monday morning (or Tuesday morning if you have Columbus Day off)? Read and find out!
UFC 136 will soon be upon us, but what matters most isn’t the lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard. Instead, what matters most is the legacy Jose Aldo and the fate of the featherweight division.World Extrem…
UFC 136 will soon be upon us, but what matters most isn’t the lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard. Instead, what matters most is the legacy Jose Aldo and the fate of the featherweight division.
World Extreme Cagefighting was formed in 2001 and lived a mediocre existence until it was purchased by Zuffa—the company that owns the UFC—in 2006.
Soon after that point, the WEC underwent a renaissance. Zuffa shifted the promotion’s focus to the lighter weight classes, specifically the featherweight and bantamweight divisions, which were absent in the UFC.
These weight classes and the fighters in them put on amazing fights for fans and their popularity soared. The peak of this was Anthony Pettis’ “showtime kick” against Ben Henderson for the WEC lightweight title.
Zuffa eventually determined that the time was right to merge the WEC lightweight roster with that of the UFC and bring on the two new weight classes: the bantamweights and featherweights were UFC-bound and the champions of the corresponding divisions were essentially rebranded to UFC champions.
Fans were thrilled to see the first title defense of one former WEC champion in particular—the Brazilian terror that was Jose Aldo.
Aldo made quite a name for himself in the WEC by going undefeated in his run with the organization, as well as capturing their featherweight title and outclassing all of his opponents, even the highly-touted Urijah Faber.
Surely, Aldo would be able to make short work of unheralded challenger Mark Hominick, or so the community’s “wisdom” dictated.
Aldo performed well against Hominick, but he was not the phenom he was made out to be: he was even almost finished in the last round!
Perhaps the champ had one bad night, but when the history (albeit brief) of the featherweight division is examined, a disturbing trend emerges: The champion, who everyone thinks is unbeatable, is only unbeatable as long as the weight class doesn’t undergo significant growth.
For example, Urijah Faber was a god among men at featherweight for quite some time. However, once the weight class became popular and more fighters entered it, his stranglehold over the division evaporated.
Simply put, a journeyman and UFC washout in Mike Brown was able to convincingly beat Faber. How could this be? Because Brown was fighting in a division (lightweight) that had a much deeper talent pool and was therefore fighting better fighters.
Faber, on the other hand, was fighting in a much smaller talent pool; he was a big fish in a small pond while Brown was a big fish in an ocean.
What does this have to do with Jose Aldo?
Aldo is set to defend his title against perennial contender Kenny Florian, a man who tried and failed at weight classes from middleweight to lightweight (where he most notably lost to B.J. Penn, Gray Maynard and Sean Sherk in high-stakes fights) at UFC 136.
If Aldo suffers a loss to a fighter who is known to be only above average (and perhaps cynics would call him a glorified gatekeeper), then it proves that Aldo was not one of the pound for pound best at all; he was just an overrated fighter who was beating up on other overrated fighters in an overrated division.
His reputation will suffer and the Aldo hype-train will produce a wreck almost more spectacular than that of the former “greatest of all time,” Fedor Emelianenko.
If Florian wins, lightweight fighters will no doubt take note of his success and will begin flooding the division. Eventually, featherweight will be a home for second-rate lightweight fighters who couldn’t cut it against the elite lightweights.
Thus, not only is Aldo’s reputation and legacy at stake in his fight against Florian—so to is the very fate of the featherweight division.
UFC 136 will soon be upon us, but what matters most isn’t the lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard. Instead, what matters most is the legacy Jose Aldo and the fate of the featherweight division.World Extrem…
UFC 136 will soon be upon us, but what matters most isn’t the lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard. Instead, what matters most is the legacy Jose Aldo and the fate of the featherweight division.
World Extreme Cagefighting was formed in 2001 and lived a mediocre existence until it was purchased by Zuffa—the company that owns the UFC—in 2006.
Soon after that point, the WEC underwent a renaissance. Zuffa shifted the promotion’s focus to the lighter weight classes, specifically the featherweight and bantamweight divisions, which were absent in the UFC.
These weight classes and the fighters in them put on amazing fights for fans and their popularity soared. The peak of this was Anthony Pettis’ “showtime kick” against Ben Henderson for the WEC lightweight title.
Zuffa eventually determined that the time was right to merge the WEC lightweight roster with that of the UFC and bring on the two new weight classes: the bantamweights and featherweights were UFC-bound and the champions of the corresponding divisions were essentially rebranded to UFC champions.
Fans were thrilled to see the first title defense of one former WEC champion in particular—the Brazilian terror that was Jose Aldo.
Aldo made quite a name for himself in the WEC by going undefeated in his run with the organization, as well as capturing their featherweight title and outclassing all of his opponents, even the highly-touted Urijah Faber.
Surely, Aldo would be able to make short work of unheralded challenger Mark Hominick, or so the community’s “wisdom” dictated.
Aldo performed well against Hominick, but he was not the phenom he was made out to be: he was even almost finished in the last round!
Perhaps the champ had one bad night, but when the history (albeit brief) of the featherweight division is examined, a disturbing trend emerges: The champion, who everyone thinks is unbeatable, is only unbeatable as long as the weight class doesn’t undergo significant growth.
For example, Urijah Faber was a god among men at featherweight for quite some time. However, once the weight class became popular and more fighters entered it, his stranglehold over the division evaporated.
Simply put, a journeyman and UFC washout in Mike Brown was able to convincingly beat Faber. How could this be? Because Brown was fighting in a division (lightweight) that had a much deeper talent pool and was therefore fighting better fighters.
Faber, on the other hand, was fighting in a much smaller talent pool; he was a big fish in a small pond while Brown was a big fish in an ocean.
What does this have to do with Jose Aldo?
Aldo is set to defend his title against perennial contender Kenny Florian, a man who tried and failed at weight classes from middleweight to lightweight (where he most notably lost to B.J. Penn, Gray Maynard and Sean Sherk in high-stakes fights) at UFC 136.
If Aldo suffers a loss to a fighter who is known to be only above average (and perhaps cynics would call him a glorified gatekeeper), then it proves that Aldo was not one of the pound for pound best at all; he was just an overrated fighter who was beating up on other overrated fighters in an overrated division.
His reputation will suffer and the Aldo hype-train will produce a wreck almost more spectacular than that of the former “greatest of all time,” Fedor Emelianenko.
If Florian wins, lightweight fighters will no doubt take note of his success and will begin flooding the division. Eventually, featherweight will be a home for second-rate lightweight fighters who couldn’t cut it against the elite lightweights.
Thus, not only is Aldo’s reputation and legacy at stake in his fight against Florian—so to is the very fate of the featherweight division.