The UFC is plagued with a problem. There is only one champion and one top contender. How do you decide who that is? Take for instance the UFC welterweight division right now. With champion Georges St-Pierre sidelined and unable to fight current interim champion, Carlos Condit, who do you give the top contender spot to after the two finally fight? Is it the winner of Jake Ellenberger and Martin Kampmann? What about Johny Hendricks? Nick Diaz when he gets back from his suspension or the ever improving Rory MacDonald?
Enter the Bellator tournament format.
I’m a big fan of both the UFC and Bellator. I think the UFC could take a page from Bellator and implement a tournament format to determine who the top contender is. It’s an easy way to determine who has proven themselves worthy of getting the title shot against the champion.
Bjorn Rebney, Bellator’s CEO, has made a smart decision to put the tournament format in effect. In an interview, he states, “It’s real sports competition. It’s football, baseball, basketball, soccer—every sport we’ve watched since we were kids is competition. You start with a group and then at the end there’s one.”
That sounds like the perfect way to determine who gets a shot at the champ in the UFC. Put all the contenders together and match them up. Winners move on and losers work harder to improve next time. At the end of the tournament, there you have it—your top contender to fight the champion.
There have also been problems with the tournament format. Some fighters don’t like the idea. The champions are sometimes waiting around for a tournament to finish before they defend their title. If the UFC were to adopt this format there would be bugs to work out. It’s a work in progress but a positive one in my opinion.
Rebeny says that the tournament puts the focus where it counts. That is, on winning fights. Rebney states, “All that matters is when that cage door shuts, do you win? I think that’s the purest form of sports.”
I agree with Rebney 100% and I would love to see the UFC give this a try. It would be beneficial for the fans and for the fighters who would know exactly who the top contender is.
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