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Always a Bridesmaid: The Six Best UFC Fighters Who May Never Taste UFC Gold

(Look into my crystal ball Kenny, and ye shall see thine future.)

There is a lot on the line at UFC 136. Not just the two titles and the future title match implications, but a chance for two men to finally capture the gold that has long eluded them. I’m speaking of Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard of course, who’ve both been chasing UFC gold for the better part of their careers, only to fall inches short of the finish line. For Gray, who many people felt deserved a title shot over current champion Frankie Edgar in the first place, it was the resilience of the champ that proved to be his undoing. And for Florian, it was just a terribly unlucky spell when it came to title fights. But come Saturday, both men will have a chance to erase our doubts and finally move up to that deluxe apartment in the sky.

Unfortunately, Florian and Maynard are not the only men who have felt the repercussions of looking directly into the belt. There are a few guys out there who just seem destined to be number 2 in a company that loves to fuck with the number 2. Anyway, we thought we would awkwardly point out six of them, excluding “Kenflo” and “The Bully,” from across the room for your reading pleasure. And we’re going by Brock Lesnar rules here, so interim belts don’t count. Enjoy.

(Look into my crystal ball Kenny, and ye shall see thine future.)

6. Jon Fitch

Poor Jon Fitch. Not only did it take the man 8 straight UFC wins to earn his first title shot, but when he finally got there, it got really, really ugly. Following his unanimous decision loss to George St. Pierre at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, Fitch went on a five fight win streak, scoring wins over Paulo Thiago, Ben Saunders, and Thiago Alves, the latter of which was originally slated to be a number one contender match. After Fitch picked up another lackluster victory, Dana White changed his mind, proving the theory that he is truly a man of smoke and mirrors when it comes to title shots. Fitch’s hopes for another go at GSP were further crushed at UFC 127, when his fight with B.J. Penn went on to a majority draw. A rematch was originally planned to be rescheduled, but instead a match between Penn and Nick Diaz was put together, most likely for a number one contender spot. But if Fitch can impressively (re: finish) get past Johny Hendricks at UFC 141 in December, maybe he’ll finally earn the chance at redemption he deserves. But we won’t be holding our breath, because 15 minutes is an awfully long time to do so.

5. Jim Miller

The story of Jim Miller is not unlike that of Fitch. After dropping a unanimous decision to Gray Maynard at UFC 96, Miller went on a seven fight killing spree, scoring wins over Mark Bocek, Duane Ludwig, and Gleison Tibau, among others. But with the clusterfuck of contendership that is the lightweight division, it seemed that Miller would be passed over due to his lack of name power, despite the fact that he was knocking off every fighter before him in increasingly impressive fashion. It was finally at UFC Live: Lytle vs. Hardy that Miller was given a legit contender in former WEC lightweight champ Ben Henderson, in a bout that had title implications written all over it. Miller came up short however, dropping a bloody unanimous decision to “Smooth” and likely erasing his streak in the eyes of the UFC’s head honchos. Let’s just hope he doesn’t have to win another seven before he’s given another top contender.

4. Joseph Benavidez

Joseph Benavidez is in a tough spot a this point. Both losses in his seventeen fight career have come at the hands of current champ Dominick Cruz, and though he continues to knock off top contenders, it’s hard to believe he’ll be given another shot at the “The Dominator” anytime soon. And it’s a shame, because he arguably gave Cruz his toughest test to date in their battle back at WEC 50, which he lost by split decision. His refusal to fight teammate Urijah Faber only further eliminates any hopes of a clear cut number one contender, so where does Benavidez go from here? The biggest factor in Benavidez’s title hopes is that of his size, and until the UFC decides to add a flyweight class to their roster, Benavidez seems destined to be Team Alpha Male’s other number 2 man. Speaking of which…

3. Urijah Faber

At one point in time, Urijah Faber seemed so beyond the abilities of the challengers he was facing as the WEC featherweight champion that people were clamoring for “The California Kid” to change divisions and seek another title. He was even given his own day for Christ’s sake. But then, Faber ran face first into the fist of Mike Brown, the impact of which was so devastating that it may have cursed him forever. His rematch against Brown was perhaps even more unsuccessful; not only did he break both his hands in the unanimous decision loss, but in doing so he ended the rumors that Brown’s original victory was a fluke. Things would only get worse, as Jose Aldo would soon become the featherweight champ and inflict the above damage to Urijah’s leg in his second failed attempt to reclaim his title. Faber soon found himself doing the only thing he could do, making the drop to bantamweight. And after a couple nice wins over Takeya Mizugaki and Eddie Wineland, he again found himself running face first into the frail but deadly hands of Dominick Cruz, dropping his third straight unanimous decision title bout. Though Faber (and a lot of us) rallied for an immediate rematch, it looks like Faber will have to get another couple wins before he can give the title another go. Fourth time’s the charm, Urijah.

2. Diego Sanchez

Diego Sanchez is probably in the worst position of any fighter on this list. For a while, he was the assassin of the welterweight division, dismantling the likes of Joe Riggs and Karo Paryisyan. Consecutive losses to Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch effectively killed most of his hype, so after a couple wins against lesser opponents, Diego decided to drop to lightweight, where he picked up quality wins over Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida. The bout with Guida was so epic that Sanzchez was given a shot against B.J. Penn for the title. Sanchez was simply outclassed from the very beginning by Penn, who after dropping “The Dream” in the opening minute, went on to inflict the pictured cut on Sanchez and scare him out of the lightweight division for good. Sanchez packed the pounds back on for his return to welterweight, where he again found himself on the receiving end of a beatdown, this time compliments of John Hathaway. Luckily, Sanchez was able to rebound with victories over top contenders Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann, and again finds himself on the cusp of title-hood when he faces Jake Ellenberger at UFC 141. If he is unable to best “The Juggernaut,” then we could be looking at Sanchez’s long awaited return to middleweight in the near future.

And that takes us to number 1…

1. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria

We all know the story of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria, so I’ll make this short. Since winning (and then losing) the very first Pride heavyweight championship, it pains me to say that Nogueria’s career has dwelled on the outskirts of contender-ship. Fedor Emelianenko took Nogueria’s belt in his first defense, and with it he took Big Nog’s thunder for the better part of his career. Nogueria would fall again to Emelianenko in their eventual rematch, and when he came to the UFC, the interim title he choked Tim Sylvia out for was quickly taken away compliments of Frank Mir. A follow up victory over Randy Couture was soundly eradicated by a brutal knockout loss to current champ Cain Velasquez, and it seemed as if we had seen the last of the legend known as “Minotauro.” Well, shame on us. Nogueria was given rising prospect Brendan Schuab for his next challenge, and knocked that sum’ bitch out faster than we could pick the color scheme for his retirement party. Could we be witnessing yet another resurgence of Big Nog, this time capped off with UFC gold? One can only hope.

-Danga

UFC 141: 3 Reasons Jon Fitch Should Not Overlook Johny Hendricks

Jon Fitch is arguably the No. 2 welterweight in the UFC. The Gray Maynard of the welterweight division, he’s fought some of the sport’s best, including B.J. Penn, Georges St-Pierre and Thiago Alves. He’s made it very clear to matchmaker Joe Silva and head man Dana White that he only wanted to fight either Penn or GSP. When that didn’t come to fruition, he opted to agree to what some saw as a tune-up fight versus Johny Hendricks at UFC 141.

One problem with that:

Hendricks is a hot welterweight looking for a three-fight win streak (including a knockout of the night win over TJ Waldburger at UFC Fight Night 24) to add to his fabulous record of 11-1. He’s not whom Fitch would want as a tune-up for a title shot.

With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Hendricks looks to move into contender status with an upset of Fitch. But how will he do it? Let’s take an in depth look at the man known as the “Happy Beard Guy.”

Begin Slideshow

What Your Least Favorite Fighter Says About You

(Indeed. Props: ahura)

Last night I had the misfortune of seeing about 30 seconds of the CW reality show H8R. (That’s pronounced “hater,” grandpa.) In this particular episode, Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis tried to convince some chick that he wasn’t in fact the greatest douchebag of our generation. His primary defense was that the girl didn’t know him personally, and was judging him based only on the “character” she knows from GGW — you know, the character he created. Awful. Just awful. And yet, I’d love to see an episode of that show starring UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

As soon as Jones won his belt, he immediately went from a widely beloved underdog story (“he learned his striking from YouTube videos, you guys!”) to a lightning rod for message-board criticism. Exactly why some fans seem to passionately dislike Bones is a topic that we’ll discuss more in depth on tomorrow’s episode of The Bum Rush. In the meantime, I decided to revive an old CagePotato feature — “What Your Favorite Fighter Says About You” and its sequel — and twist it to reflect today’s hate-crazed MMA climate. So, for example, if your least-favorite fighter is…

JON FITCH

(Indeed. Props: ahura)

JON FITCH

Let’s get one thing straight: Wrestling is not a martial art. It’s the opposite of a martial art. Wrestlers are the reason that you started taking Tae Kwon Do in the first place, when you were 12 years old. (Long story short: There were a couple of kids on the wrestling team that used to push you down and drag you around by your legs in front of everybody, and once you got your green belt in TKD they didn’t do it nearly as much.) Basically, you watch MMA for the action — more specifically the knockouts, though submissions can be cool too, sometimes. But watching a couple of dudes grab onto each other and hump on the mat for 15 minutes? That’s not fighting. That’s…you don’t know what it is, but it makes you uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. You clear your browser history every time you finish using your laptop.

CHAEL SONNEN

The only thing you hate worse than a liar is a thief. And the only thing you hate worse than a thief is a real-estate agent. While some UFC fans find Sonnen’s trash-talk hilarious, you see him for what he really is — a slimy, racist sociopath who probably has a few prostitutes buried in his basement. And is it true that his balls are tiny and sitting up in his stomach? Just thinking about it gives you chills. You have normal-sized balls, for the record. If Rick Perry gets elected next year, you’re moving to Canada, seriously, for real this time.

TIM KENNEDY

Let’s just say that there was recently a death in your family.

RASHAD EVANS

For a long time, Chuck Liddell was your favorite fighter. Then, that cocky son-of-a-bitch Rashad Evans stole his soul. You didn’t know what to do with yourself for a while. You tried to make Fedor Emelianenko your favorite fighter, but that didn’t work out either. Rashad ruined everything. It goes without saying that you’re a Caucasian dude, not that the color of your skin has anything to do with your hatred of Rashad Evans. I mean, you’ve been around plenty of black people. One of your old co-workers was black. Kind of an awful experience, but hey, you got through it.

FEDOR EMELIANENKO

You followed Dana White on Twitter before any of your friends did, and you send him ‘@’ messages every day. One time he publicly replied to you with “ha!” when you made a joke about Josh Barnett’s blood being radioactive. That was probably the greatest day of your life. Before that, the greatest day of your life was when you wished Arianny Celeste good luck at a photo shoot and she re-tweeted it. You got, like, 20 new followers that day. Whatever it is you do for a living, you get paid hourly. Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos will be the greatest, most significant heavyweight fight in the history of MMA. Brock Lesnar is going to smash Alistair Overeem, and you plan on being the first person in the world to tweet “IN UR FACE!!! #strikefarce”

JON JONES

You distrust people with long arms. You read the Bible, but think the book of Philippians is way overrated. When you accidentally knocked up your girlfriend, you had the common courtesy to marry her. Everything you accomplished in life came from hard work, not from being young, or naturally gifted, or talented in any measurable way. You like Rampage because he keeps it real. You like Rashad because he has swagger. You don’t know what the hell Greg Jackson is doing down there in Albuquerque, but if the whole camp turns up dead one day from a mass Kool-Aid poisoning, it wouldn’t really surprise you. Your wife used to watch UFC with you only if Georges St. Pierre was on the card. Well, guess who her new “favorite fighter” is now? If Barack Obama gets re-elected next year, you’re moving to Australia, seriously, for real this time.

That’s about all I have energy for right now. If you’d like to see a sequel one day, shoot your suggestions in the comments section…

– Ben Goldstein

Hump Day Headlines with Stephanie Ann Cook

Tim Sylvia is fighting Andrei Arlovski under the Pro Elite banner this November 5th. Dave Herman vs. Mike Russow scrapped from UFC 136 card due to an injury for Herman. Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan.

Tim Sylvia is fighting Andrei Arlovski under the Pro Elite banner this November 5th.

Dave Herman vs. Mike Russow scrapped from UFC 136 card due to an injury for Herman. Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan II now promoted to main card.

UFC 140‘s planned match of Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis is definitely a no-go. Davis didn’t even know it was a prospect.

Georges St. Pierre training with Dan Hardy for his upcoming UFC 137 main event with Carlos Condit.

UFC 139 headlined by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson with co-maint event, Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le. But you won’t find San Jose residents, Jon Fitch or Josh Koscheck on the card unless there is a “vs.” sign between their two names, according to Dana White.

In case you missed it, here is that picture of Michael Jackson after he passed away that was submitted in court yesterday in the case of his doctor Conrad Murray‘s wrongful death trial.

In Last Fight of UFC Contract, Matt Hughes Says Outcome ‘Won’t Really Matter’

Filed under: UFCWhen Matt Hughes steps into the Octagon against Josh Koscheck at UFC 135, it will be the 25th fight of his UFC career and the last on his current contract. The former champ turns 38 this October, and he’s not sure what his future holds….

Filed under: UFC

When Matt Hughes steps into the Octagon against Josh Koscheck at UFC 135, it will be the 25th fight of his UFC career and the last on his current contract. The former champ turns 38 this October, and he’s not sure what his future holds.

“My wife tells me I’m done fighting,” Hughes told reporters on Monday’s media call. “She wanted me to quit after the B.J. [Penn] fight. But we’ll just see. We’ll just see what I feel like and what the UFC wants to do.”

If you’re the UFC, a lot might depend on how Hughes looks against Koscheck. It’s a pairing that Hughes wasn’t eager to accept back when Koscheck and the other welterweights from the AKA squad lobbied for it a couple years ago. But after Diego Sanchez pulled out of the September 24 bout due to a broken hand, Hughes thought he might end up without any opponent at all in Denver.

“The first thing that went through my mind was, here I’ve been training for quite a while and expecting to fight on this card and now it’s not going to happen. It was kind of confusing when [UFC president Dana White] called me,” said Hughes, who added that he was first told he might be fighting another AKA 170-pounder, Jon Fitch.

That was the last he heard before boarding a flight, Hughes said. By the time he landed, he found out the UFC wanted him to face Koscheck instead.

“Really, it’s Dana’s call,” he said. “It’s not even my call to decide who it’s going to be. So I said, yeah, whoever you want.”

Coming off his knockout loss to Penn at UFC 123, Hughes had no problem with a considerable layoff between fights. Having ten months to train more casually and pursue other interests “is fine with me,” he explained.

But as he approaches the final fight of his contract, it’s difficult to tell what kind of future Hughes might have inside the Octagon. It seems unlikely that he’ll ever again find himself as a top contender for the UFC welterweight title, and he’s already secured his legacy as one of the most dominant UFC champions and a member of the organization’s Hall of Fame.

At this point, what’s driving him to keep getting in the cage with younger opponents who are still trying to make their name in the sport?

“It’s competition,” Hughes said. “I think that’s what drives your top athletes in the UFC, getting in there against one other person and mixing it up. I don’t have to rely on four other basketball teammates to score a basket or anything. I just have to rely on myself. The fact that it’s just me and one other person competing in there, that’s my drive right there.”

According to many oddsmakers, Koscheck is somewhere in the neighborhood of a 5-1 favorite to beat Hughes on Saturday night. If they’re right, you have to wonder where that will leave the former champ.

With two consecutive losses in his late-30s, a new contract for Hughes would seem like little more than an insurance policy to keep him from taking his talents outside the organization. With an upset victory over a top welterweight like Koscheck, however, it might only get harder for Hughes to convince himself that it’s time to walk away.

But if his immediate future with the UFC really is riding on this fight, don’t tell Hughes. He insists it doesn’t matter, as if winning and losing in the final fight of your contract both lead to the same end. And, when you’re in Hughes’ position, maybe they do.

“This is the last fight on my contract, so the outcome of this fight won’t really matter, to be honest,” he said. “After this fight — win or lose, doesn’t matter — I’ll talk to the UFC and we’ll figure out what we want to do.”

If things don’t go Hughes’ way in Denver, it could be one more decision that is ultimately Dana White’s call.

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It’s Time to Play the Game: Examining Triple H’s Smack Talk About the UFC

I did it at least nine times. How else would I inherit his empire?

By Jason Moles

Last week MMA Fighting reported that Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H, real life son-in-law of WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, said he thought the UFC should evolve like the pro wrestling juggernaut has, “because quite frankly sometimes the fights are long and boring, guys lying around and sometimes the fights are fast and over in five seconds.”

Is “The Game” right? Does it matter? Before we pass judgment on his comments, let’s take a quick look at a few specific examples he gave for his opinion, then weigh the pros and cons of leaning too far towards Entertainment or Winning.

I did it at least nine times. How else would I inherit his empire?

By Jason Moles

“[They should] give more of an entertainment standpoint. Give more form; they just have fighters who walk in in T-shirts and shorts and just stand there and then they fight and then they win and then they go ‘thanks, I’d like to thank my sponsors’ and then they leave. The whole world was up in arms when Brock was flipping people off and was cussing at the beer company because they didn’t give him any money. The whole world was talking about it. They couldn’t wait to see him get beat up. And then he did well, and he beat some guys and then people jump on his bandwagon going ‘Brock’s the greatest.’”

It appears that Hunter has taken a few too many chair shots over the years and has become quite confused. You see, his comments do not reflect a desire to see the UFC evolve — rather he would have them take a page out of Vinnie Mac’s script and add a bunch of fabricated drama to invoke human interest so the audience will become emotionally invested in the product.

His only valid point was the comments made about boring fights. Would you not agree? Dana White certainly does. Remember that interview with SI.com when they asked him if it’s a fighter’s job to entertain or just win fights.

Sure. But you’ve got to be exciting! If all we cared about was guys winning fights, you know how many wrestlers could just go lay on a guy? There are tons of wrestlers that could do that. I don’t know. Do you think we’d be talking about all these big plans and all the exciting things that we’re going to be doing if that was the case? I mean, that’s a pretty stupid question. If somebody really asks that question, you’d have to look at them and go, “Are you stupid?” Seriously, it’s a really dumb question.

Hear that Mr. Game? You’re preaching to the choir.

Why do most fighters fight? Money. How can they make more money? Winning, bonuses, and sponsorships. How do these streams of cash grow? Higher TV Ratings and increased PPV buy rates — essentially, you need more people watching your product. How do you get more people to watch your product? Be exciting, which means, according to the average MMA fan, you need to KO your opponent or get them to tap out. Whatever you do, it has to be fast-paced and explosive. Easy enough, right?

What happens if a fighter’s goal is solely to entertain the crowd and look for the Knockout of the Night bonus? We laugh at his attempts to defeat better opposition — guys who actually have a gameplan and well-rounded skill-set, and know more than what they learned in Mike Tyson’s ‘Punch-Out!’. Does this hypothetical slugger have a tendency to give us highlight-reel material from time to time? Sure. But you won’t see him in the main event anytime soon [Ed. note: well…] because although he’s an exciting guy to watch, his skills can only take him so far up the contender ladder. So much for that cash flow increasing.

Conversely, we have “safe” fighters whose only objective is to win, good, bad, or ugly…and it’s usually the latter two. When these guys fight, the numbers don’t suddenly jump off the charts. No one says, “I am pumped to see Jon Fitch fight again,” since the only thing he seems to care about is getting a ‘W’ and that paper. If he only understood that laying someone the eff out would garner him much more money than merely violating him for fifteen minutes, we’d all be winners.

So how do we deal with this contradiction? Should fighters fight to get a win at all costs, even if it means hearing a roar of boos as you smother your opponent for three rounds, or should you call your shot as you step up to the plate, swinging for the fences the entire bout hoping you drop him before he drops you?

So since Triple H brought it up, let’s talk about “evolution,” and what it means in this sport. The UFC has grown and adapted to the changes in our culture by adding rules, protective gear, and a referee. As the organization continued to grow, it became more corporate, breaking away from its blue collar, blood-thirsty past. Dana White and the Fertittas will continue to allow the UFC to evolve, just as the sport of mixed martial arts itself did. Remember when it was a fight between a karate guy and a boxer, fighting to see which style was superior? Now we have guys who can do it all — or at least all that is necessary to eke out a win — squaring off to determine which fighter, not style, is king.

In the end, the only thing that matters is that everyone is satisfied. White wants to be satisfied with the success of the UFC which is ultimately dependent upon its fighters, who want to be satisfied with what they are paid, which largely depends on the fans — who really just want to be satisfied with how enjoyable the fights are. So I just have to ask, ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!