UFC middleweight contender Tim Kennedy knows that Greg Jackson’s MMA, his home away from home, gets a bad rep for teaching fighters how to fight safe and outpoint their opponents in the cage. In a recent interview with MMA Mania, the respected United States Army veteran did everything he could to dispel this notion. […]
UFC middleweight contender Tim Kennedy knows that Greg Jackson’s MMA, his home away from home, gets a bad rep for teaching fighters how to fight safe and outpoint their opponents in the cage. In a recent interview with MMA Mania, the respected United States Army veteran did everything he could to dispel this notion. […]
UFC 167 headliner Georges St-Pierre knows what fans are thinking. That he’s gone soft. That he fights safe. That he’s willing to trade excitement for routine. That the man once known as “Rush” never bothers to shift out of second gear anymore. That he never finishes a fight. He’s heard all the whispers. And the […]
UFC 167 headliner Georges St-Pierre knows what fans are thinking. That he’s gone soft. That he fights safe. That he’s willing to trade excitement for routine. That the man once known as “Rush” never bothers to shift out of second gear anymore. That he never finishes a fight. He’s heard all the whispers. And the […]
(Cain Velasquez may not kick like Anderson Silva, but his dominance over heavyweight will parallel Silva’s period of dominance over middleweight. / Photo via Getty)
After the events of UFC 166, the heavyweight division is now the UFC’s least thrilling.
Heavyweight is the new middleweight. That is to say that the heavyweight division under Cain Velasquez‘s brutal, face-rearranging reign will resemble the middleweight division under Anderson Silva during his peak — a boring division where no fighter is a threat to the champ. A division where everybody says, “Meh, who cares about who’s challenging for the heavyweight title? Cain is going to destroy him anyway.”
The only fighter to ever humble Cain Velasquez was Junior Dos Santos. But Dos Santos couldn’t repeat his success. Velasquez wrought terrible vengeance on the Brazilian in the rematch at UFC 155, and then again in the rubber match at UFC 166.
Earlier this year, I predicted that the UFC heavyweight division would become stagnant and dull:
Both men are insanely talented. But that’s the problem — they’re both so talented that the rest of the fighters in the division aren’t a match for them. The only challenge to Velasquez is Dos Santos. The only challenge to Dos Santos is Velasquez.
I was right and wrong.
(Cain Velasquez may not kick like Anderson Silva, but his dominance over heavyweight will parallel Silva’s period of dominance over middleweight. / Photo via Getty)
After the events of UFC 166, the heavyweight division is now the UFC’s least thrilling.
Heavyweight is the new middleweight. That is to say that the heavyweight division under Cain Velasquez‘s brutal, face-rearranging reign will resemble the middleweight division under Anderson Silva during his peak — a boring division where no fighter is a threat to the champ. A division where everybody says, “Meh, who cares about who’s challenging for the heavyweight title? Cain is going to destroy them anyway.”
The only fighter to ever humble Cain Velasquez was Junior Dos Santos. But Dos Santos couldn’t repeat his success. Velasquez wrought terrible vengeance on the Brazilian in the rematch at UFC 155, and then again in the rubber match at UFC 166.
Earlier this year, I predicted that the UFC heavyweight division would become stagnant and dull:
Both men are insanely talented. But that’s the problem — they’re both so talented that the rest of the fighters in the division aren’t a match for them. The only challenge to Velasquez is Dos Santos. The only challenge to Dos Santos is Velasquez.
I was right and wrong. Both men are talented. The rest of the division is no match for Dos Santos, but Dos Santos is clearly no match for Velasquez, their first fight notwithstanding. Thus, the future of the UFC heavyweight division is grim. Here’s how it’ll look:
Cain Velasquez destroys all comers — even Fabricio Werdum who, for some reason, people think is now a legitimate title contender. Velasquez will reduce Werdum to awkward, frustrated butt-scooting. The champ likely won’t have much of a problem with the other heavyweight hopefuls; none of them have answers for Velasquez’s wrestling, striking, and conditioning. Unfortunately, those same men probably don’t have an answer for Junior Dos Santos’ boxing acumen and power either.
The UFC heavyweight division in 2013 is analogous to the UFC middleweight division in 2006-7. Anderson Silva was the best guy. Rich Franklin was the next best guy and was better than everyone else besides Silva. The only problem? Silva brutalized Franklin so badly that discussing a rematch was asinine.
Now, just swap out Silva with Velasquez and Franklin with Dos Santos and you’ve got the post-UFC 166 heavyweight division. The excitement is gone. Everyone not named Junior Dos Santos will be fighting for the honor of being third-best, while Dos Santos himself will be fighting for the privilege of being Cain Velasquez’s eternal understudy.
At first glance when looking at John Albert’s recent record, there’s a hard fact to ignore: He enters his fight at UFC on Fox 8 coming off of three straight losses. Now for most fighters this might signal a change in attitude or demeanor when approaching their next bout. Some fighters readily admit that when […]
At first glance when looking at John Albert’s recent record, there’s a hard fact to ignore: He enters his fight at UFC on Fox 8 coming off of three straight losses. Now for most fighters this might signal a change in attitude or demeanor when approaching their next bout. Some fighters readily admit that when […]
Fighter pay in the Ultimate Fighting Championship is always a hot topic. It always will be. People want to get paid more money. That doesn’t solely apply to fighters; we’d all like to make more. We all believe we’re underpaid, that we’re worth more and that if someone will just recognize our talents, we’ll finally […]
Fighter pay in the Ultimate Fighting Championship is always a hot topic. It always will be. People want to get paid more money. That doesn’t solely apply to fighters; we’d all like to make more. We all believe we’re underpaid, that we’re worth more and that if someone will just recognize our talents, we’ll finally […]
I may not be a jiu-jitsu black belt. I may not have traveled to Thailand to train in Muay Thai. But I watch a lot of fights and am easily bored. That qualifies me—overqualifies me, in fact—to bring you this, the five most boring UFC fights so far in the year 2013. Maybe it’s the diluted […]
I may not be a jiu-jitsu black belt. I may not have traveled to Thailand to train in Muay Thai. But I watch a lot of fights and am easily bored. That qualifies me—overqualifies me, in fact—to bring you this, the five most boring UFC fights so far in the year 2013. Maybe it’s the diluted […]
