UFC's Heavyweight Division Dwindling

I'm sure most of you have heard by now that Randy Couture is, once again, retiring. The announcement of his retirement comes a day after it was announced that Fedor had signed with Russia's M-1 organization. The dream matchup that the fight world was praying for will no longer become a reality. Couture vs Emelianenko exists now only in our imagination.

With the UFC's heavyweight division without MMA's top two heavyweights, we are left with heavyweight questions.

There are few top heavyweights left in this division and several of those fighters have big question marks beside their names.

I'll begin with Arlovski. The "Pit Bull" hasn't fought since April 21 and, as of yet, has no fights lined up in the near future. His fight against Fabricio Werdum wasn't exactly Fight of the Year material; Arlovski fought very tentatively and used leg kicks as his weapon of choice. I have no doubt that the fearsome striker that is Arlovski still exists, but he hasn't shown his face in quite some time.

This brings me to Tim Silvia. In his last five fights, has has only stopped one opponent; the other four fights went to the judges' decision with his last fight coming as a loss to Randy Couture. Tim Silvia has also fought very tentatively in his last few fights. Throwing a lot of jabs but nothing significant. If Tim Silvia comes back a hungry fighter on October 20th, then watch out...but if not, he'll be booed back to the hotel once again and will leave Dana White seriously thinking of whether or not to resign him.

There's also Nogueira. This guy is tough and is a serious threat to the vacant UFC Heavyweight title. That being said, he nearly got his head kicked off by Heath Herring in his UFC debut. Heath Herring is another top heavyweight on my list, but he needs to pull off a few exciting wins to be considered as a contender to the title.

Cro Cop is the biggest bust in UFC history. He is 1-2 in the Octagon thus far. His lone victory coming in the form of an unimpressive TKO against Eddie Sanchez, who, basically ran away from Cro Cop the entire time. Cro Cop's future is one of the biggest problems on Dana White's plate. What is the UFC to do with a fighter with a huge salary like Cro Cop, but who is only deemed worthy of prelim fights?

Cheick Kongo can be considered a threat to the title if he works nothing but wrestling and Jiu Jitsu for 6 solid months. Nothing else. No fights, no kickboxing. Just grappling and submissions. He can be an exciting fighter if he becomes more aggressive, lets his hands and feet go, pushes the action and throws combinations. If he can do these things, then we have a serious contender on our hands. If not, then he's just another kickboxer who doesn't have confidence in his standup because he has no ground game to back it up.

Brandon Vera is possibly the real deal; something UFC fans are going to find out October 20th when he takes on former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Silvia. He is 8-0 and 4-0 in the UFC with only one of his UFC fights going past the first round (Beating Fabiano Scherner by TKO in the second round). If he beats Tim Silvia then Brandon Vera should be considered for the vacant title. Vera hasn't fought since November of last year, which leaves him questionable. Will his win over a questionable Frank Mir be seen as merely a result of Mir's motorcycle accident or will he move to the top of the food chain with a win over "The Main-iac"?

Gabriel Gonzaga is probably the baddest dude in this division. Although he lost to Randy Couture, he is, in my opinion, still the top contender for this title. Ridiculous kicks and great Jiu Jitsu, this guy will be champion one day - Guaranteed. Although, I think Randy would have won that fight either way, Gonzaga broke his nose in the first round when taken down by a high single by Couture; this took a lot of the life out of Gonzaga. Now, that being said, Gonzaga fought like an animal with a broken nose and landed some very powerful kicks - one of which broke Couture's arm. Besides Gonzaga, there are very few others who can be considered for the championship.

What I would like to see is Gonzaga take on Big Nog and have that winner fight the winner of Silvia vs Vera for the vacant title. I would hope that the UFC holds Gonzaga vs. Nogueira in December and have the Championship matchup maybe in March 2008.

I don't know the length of Fedor's contract with M-1, but I still hope that one day he makes the move to the UFC. And unless the UFC brings in Josh Barnett and possibly Brock Lesnar, the UFC Heavyweight division is going to go right back to where it was...boring.