Before I get into my fantasy matchmaking (that sounds oddly kinky, doesn’t it?) I want to talk about a few things I’m thankful for coming off last week’s “UFC on Fuel”, since my original post-event article got destroyed by some intervention of the spiteful internet gods. In brief, and in no particular order:
1) I’m thankful no one seems to be getting too bent out of shape about the Sanchez/Ellenberger decision, and adopting a “both guys came off as winners” type of mentality. This is a refreshing change of pace, and hopefully an indicator of things to come. Basically, I’m thankful Diego Sanchez doesn’t have Nick Diaz’s fans. OH NO HE DIDN’T. Seriously though, good job everyone.
2) I’m thankful for Greg Jackson, who coached yet another fighter to a boring, points oriented gameplan that resulted in a dreadful fight that you’d NEVER want to see go all five. Oh wait, what I actually mean is the exact opposite of that.
3) And speaking of going all five, I’m thankful we finally got a firm commitment from the UFC that ALL main events will be five-rounders from here on out. This is great news for all future events on Fuel TV and elsewhere, and comes just late enough to avoid Jake Ellenberger’s cardio getting exposed by Diego Sanchez. OH NO HE DOES IT AGAIN! Yes I realize it’s lame to shout out your own trash talk, but I wasn’t working with much to begin with.
So with that out of the way, it’s time to look forward—to the future, the undiscovered country, the last, great, frontier of…oops, you caught me Shatner-ing. OK, enough with the preamble—let’s talk about what fights I would make if I were Joe Silva, matchmaker extraordinaire.