Ever since the WEC merged with the UFC in 2011, the featherweight and bantamweight fighters have been stealing show after show with their fast-paced and exciting fights.
Guys like Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz, Urijah Faber, and countless others have put on some of the best fights in the past 12 months, yet the little guys still seem to get overlooked by casual fans and are buried on UFC fight cards.
Case in point, this weekend’s huge bantamweight fight between Scott Jorgensen and Renan Barao.
The battle between Jorgensen and Barao is a match up between two of the top five bantamweights in the world, and the winner will likely be a win away from a UFC title shot.
However, the fight is being completely overlooked by the general public and is stuck as one of the unadvertised main card bouts.
If this was a card that had a ton of star power, overlooking Jorgensen and Barao would be acceptable as the two aren’t exactly household names and won’t draw any PPV buys, but UFC 143 is basically the Nick Diaz show and other than the UFC’s resident anti-hero, the card has pretty much no one who can draw fans.
This would be a fantastic opportunity for the UFC to let two unknown bantamweights gain some star power and give a bump in popularity to the lower weight classes.
This fight is guaranteed to be entertaining and has tremendous potential to win fight of the night honors, even with a main event involving Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit on the card.
Both of these young fighters have the potential to challenge for the bantamweight crown numerous times in their careers (Jorgensen fought for the belt once already), and with top names like Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson dropping to the newly created flyweight division, Jorgensen and Barao now represent the future of one if the UFC’s best divisions.
Jorgensen is riding a two-fight win streak since losing a bantamweight title fight to Dominick Cruz back in December 2010 and is widely regarded as one of the best 135-lbs fighters in the sport.
His knockout win over Ken Stone featured some of the most impressive ground and pound from the guard that has been seen in the UFC since the days of Tito Ortiz’s title run, and his win over Jeff Curran at UFC 137 was a tough and gritty victory to say the least.
Barao is on one of the most impressive streaks in MMA, as he has not lost in his last 28 professional fights and has finished the vast majority of those opponents, something that the UFC has made it clear is important if you want to be anywhere near a title shot (just ask Jon Fitch).
After smashing Brad Pickett at UFC 138, winning Fight of the Night honors in the process, Barao is now just inches away from getting a crack at the belt.
The current co-main event between Roy Nelson and Fabricio Werdum is a decent enough fight, and Nelson has a bit of a following due to his stint on The Ultimate Fighter and his “average fat guy” persona, but should these two really get priority over two of the best young fighters in the world?
The answer is no, and the UFC has made a huge mistake in burying Jorgensen and Barao on the card.
Hopefully after these two put on a fight that is sure to be one of the most entertaining of the night, it opens the door for other lighter-weight fighters to get the opportunity to be promoted and hyped like the big guys are.
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