It wouldn’t be the UFC lightweight division without a little bit of intrigue, now would it?
Long regarded as the fight company’s deepest, most competitive weight class, the 155-pound ranks are never at a loss for title contenders. While allegedly top-of-the-food-chain divisions like heavyweight and light heavyweight eternally scrounge for worthwhile talent, lightweight is an embarrassment of riches.
Such is the case right now, as we approach the home stretch of 2014 with no fewer than three top challengers patiently awaiting the champion’s return. As it stands, the biggest test facing UFC matchmakers might be getting Khabib Nurmagomedov, Donald Cerrone and Rafael dos Anjos to form an orderly line.
This has not been an easy year for the 155-pound title. Anthony Pettis spent the last 13 months on the shelf due to a significant knee injury. The UFC has resorted to its usual methods to keep the champ in the spotlight, using him as a television analyst and booking him to serve as a coach on the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter. It’ll still be two more months before Pettis returns to defend the title against Gilbert Melendez at UFC 181 and at least a few months after that before anybody else gets his chance.
So, at least we have some time to break up the logjam, before it becomes an even more snarled mess.
At the time of this writing, Nurmagomedov may well have the inside track. The undefeated Dagestani has also been on ice since July, rehabbing a torn meniscus suffered just 30 minutes after he was announced for a potential title eliminator against Cerrone at UFC 178. But prior to that, he’d amassed six straight wins in the Octagon (he’s an astounding 22-0 overall), including a unanimous decision over dos Anjos in April.
No one has been able to foil his hard-nosed grappling attack and unorthodox, occasionally wild striking. Prior to coming to the UFC in 2012, he’d garnered 13 stoppages in 16 fights—10 of them in the first round.
Even while he’s been out nursing an injury, Nurmagomedov has managed to stay visible. He’s fashioned himself into an entertaining social media follow, lashing out at Pettis and Nate Diaz on Twitter. He’s also reportedly worked hard to learn English, the results of which were apparent when he spoke to Fox Sports’ Damon Martin last month.
“You tell me that Anthony Pettis or Gilbert Melendez is ready to go by April or May and I’ll be ready to go,” Nurmagomedov said. “Please give me my title shot, I deserve it. I smashed everybody. … If the UFC gives me the title shot, you will have a new undefeated and undisputed lightweight champion.”
Barring any further delays, a spring return would indeed put Nurmagomedov in the right place at the right time to greet the winner of Pettis-Melendez. If not that, certainly few would argue with trying to reschedule his canceled bout with Cerrone.
The rise of Cowboy Version 2.0 has been one of this year’s most pleasant developments. After Cerrone went 1-2 during 2013—with losses to Pettis and dos Anjos—it was tempting to think we’d already seen the best of him in the UFC. But then the Greg Jackson-trained fighter bounced back with a 2014 that made it appear he’s just getting started.
Cerrone is 4-0 so far this year, and his most recent appearances—against Jim Miller and Eddie Alvarez—made him look every bit a legitimate contender in the sport’s most cutthroat weight class.
There’s just not a lot to dislike about what he’s doing right now. Cerrone has locked in his personal marketing style—Can-do attitude? Check. Budweiser sponsorship? Check.—at exactly the right time. With his skills also reaching their zenith, it feels like a potent combination. If anything will keep him from reaching his full potential as a title contender, it could be his insistence on trying to fight as many as a half-dozen times a year.
He’s let it be known he doesn’t care much about rankings and titles so long as he can fight early and often. As I wrote a week ago, that credo has made him a star, but it sounds like close to a suicide mission in the stacked lightweight class. Chances are, he’ll slip up and lose a fight or two before a championship opportunity comes his way.
But Cerrone is popular and exciting and (lately) one of the best fighters in the division. He could slide into an immediate title shot, and very few eyebrows would be raised over it. Perhaps a late injury to a current or future challenger would be the shortest distance between him and a championship bout.
It’s strange to say it, but dos Anjos feels like the odd man out in all of this. He’s 7-1 dating back to May 2012—with a win over Cerrone but a loss to Nurmagomedov—and is coming off an impressive knockout victory over former champion Benson Henderson. But it also somehow feels like dos Anjos is still in the process of separating himself from the pack.
Much of that is a problem of perception, obviously. Everybody knows and loves Cerrone. Nurmagomedov is also fast becoming one of the division’s best-liked fighters. Meanwhile, it doesn’t feel like dos Anjos has given fans anything to really sink their teeth into. As a result, a fight between him and the Pettis-Melendez winner wouldn’t necessarily be splashy enough to main event a UFC pay-per-view in early 2015.
Chances are, though, one of these three guys will be up next.
From a distance, there doesn’t appear to be much separating them. In a perfect world—which, let’s face it, is often too much to hope for in this sport—Nurmagomedov would face Pettis or Melendez in early spring while Cerrone and dos Anjos both get one more fight to prove themselves.
Much, though, will likely depend on timing as well as the outcome of the upcoming lightweight championship fight. If Melendez wins or some other calamity prevents the emergence of a clear-cut winner, it could necessitate an immediate rematch. Given what we already know about Pettis, another injury delay is also not out of the question. In that case, all bets could be off.
But with Nurmagomeov, Cerrone and dos Anjos all on deck—not to mention fighters like Myles Jury and Bobby Green coming up behind them—the biggest issue facing the lightweight division will continue to be picking the right contender from the crowd.
Other divisions should be so lucky.
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