Three years ago, Ian McCall was fresh off a loss to an up-and-coming bantamweight by the name of Dominick Cruz. He was dropped from the WEC roster, and went off to find his own path on smaller shows against smaller opponents.
Since that time, Cruz has taken UFC gold and a spot as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in mixed martial arts. McCall hopes to do the same this weekend in Australia, where he competes in the opening round of the promotion’s inaugural flyweight tournament.
As a 125-pounder, McCall has become one of the best in the world. Casual fans aren’t familiar with his work, but he’s undefeated since 2010 and campaigned aggressively for a chance to fight in the UFC.
He now has that chance and stands to gain more than anyone on the UFC on FX 2 card as a result.
It could be argued that Yasuhiro Urushitani is in a similar position, an unknown commodity to the casual fan who now has a shot to become a UFC champion, but McCall is a guy that people are going to take to quickly.
He’s incredibly talented and exciting, and he has the type of personality that people will enjoy seeing in the octagon. Exposure is all that stood in the way of him becoming a superstar, and now he’s going to get that on the biggest stage in the sport.
He’s something everyone can get behind: an entertaining winner with a good personality. If he’s able to become the first flyweight champion in the history of the UFC, the promotion should be jumping for joy.
Looking at his competition in the flyweight tournament, it’s as bland as it is stiff. Demetrious Johnson is rugged, but no one is hanging on what he has to say in an interview.
Joseph Benavidez is a little better, but still doesn’t really stand out. As mentioned, Urushitani is basically in the same boat as McCall, with the exception that he has a language barrier to overcome as well.
One of those four guys is going to be the champion. Sure, there are guys like John Dodson and Louis Gaudinot who have some flair, and you’d have to think the UFC is eyeing Jussier da Silva to join the ranks pretty soon, but someone in this flyweight tournament is coming out with a title.
If McCall is that man, he will gain more than any of his adversaries.
Benavidez and Johnson are already established as bantamweights, and have become reasonably well-known between the UFC and WEC. Worst case scenario for Urushitani is that he loses goes back to Shooto as a footnote in North American MMA history.
But for the man they call Uncle Creepy, a man with a legion of loyal underground followers and all the tools to become a huge star, the sky is the limit. The gains are there to be made, UFC on FX 2 is his chance to make them.
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