With the string of setbacks the UFC has encountered this year, it seems only fitting to end the year with one that will have a ripple effect on the welterweight division well into 2008.
The current UFC 170lb champion, Matt Serra, has been forced to pull out of his December 29th title defense against Matt Hughes. Serra suffered a herniated disc in his back while training at his gym in Long Island. It is unknown how long Serra will be forced to the sidelines for, but I would imagine he'll be out for quite some time.
So now the matchup in December is no longer a title fight. The welterweight championship will be shelfed until either Serra returns or an interim title is put into the mix.
So who fights who at UFC 79?
Matt Hughes is currently still on the card, but has no opponent. If he remains on the card, there are a few fighters who could take the fight on short notice.
Jon Fitch. This guy is a tough fighter who has won all seven of his fights in the UFC. He was well on his way to a title shot possibly in late 2008. He scored a split decision victory in his last bout against Diego Sanchez and holds wins over the likes of Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves, and Kuniyoshi Hironaka. I had assumed that he would next fight either Josh Koscheck or the loser of the Serra-Hughes fight. If he fights Hughes on December 29th, even if he wins, he will still have to wait for his shot at the title since Georges St. Pierre is still next in line to the title. I will detail GSP-Fitch in just a bit.
Josh Koscheck. Although he lost his bout against St. Pierre in August, he still managed to take the former champ the distance with St. Pierre winning via unanimous decision. Koscheck is a very talented wrestler and could pose an interesting matchup for Hughes. Although this match has the potential to be a boring fight, it brings to the table an interesting threat to Hughes. If 'Kos' can stay off his back, I believe he can win this fight. His striking has greatly improved and in my opinion he would get the better of Hughes in a standup war. Also, a win over Hughes would send Koscheck back into contention. Even if he loses to Hughes and makes it back-to-back losses, he will have lost to the top two welterweights. Back to back losses to fighters of that calibre will do nothing to hurt his reputation as a fighter.
Georges St. Pierre. This would be interesting because I don't think this would be a fight that Hughes would want. If UFC matchmaker Joe Silva came knocking on GSP's door, it's questionable whether or not Georges would take the fight. This fight would do nothing for St. Pierre. He has nothing to gain by fighting Hughes right now. If he wins this fight, he would still be where he is right now...and that's waiting for his title shot. If he loses, then he would be dropped from title contention. He has nothing to gain and everything to lose by taking this fight. In the same respect, this is not a fight that Hughes wants either. Hughes knows that he cannot beat St. Pierre. If St. Pierre were to take this fight, I would assume that Hughes would go crying to Dana White and protest. Hughes doesn't have very many fights left in him, and if he loses to St. Pierre, he would drop from contention, putting that title shot even further into the distance. The way I had seen this thing playing out with Serra still in the mix, was that Hughes would fight Serra, win the title, and then lose it to St. Pierre, at which time he would announce his retirement. If he fights St. Pierre in December and loses, I would assume that would be the last we see of Hughes.
So what happens in 2008?
St. Pierre can't wait any longer to fight. Even if Serra hadn't been injured, he wouldn't be fighting until late March or early April. With the title fight not happening in December, it's likely (given that Serra recovers quickly) that there won't be a title fight until the time that GSP was supposed to get his shot. But since there is no title fight in December, GSP will not be the fighter challenging for the title at this time. Meaning, St. Pierre's shot at the title is being pushed back even further...at least 3 months after the March/April date. He simply can't wait that long to fight. So he WILL have to fight someone else in the meantime. This brings me back to the Jon Fitch-GSP comment I made earlier. It's possible that if GSP doesn't fight in December, that he'll fight Jon Fitch early 2008. This again, is a lose-lose situation for GSP, but there's no way around fighting someone else and waiting for a shot a the title. Fitch would have nothing to lose in taking this fight. If he loses, he's supposed to lose. If he wins, then he takes over St. Pierre's spot as next in line to the title.
There are a few possibilities that could be put in place, depending on how long Serra is out.
If Serra can fight by the March/April date. St. Pierre's best option would be to take the fight with Hughes in December. If he wins that fight, then the date he fights for the title will not change. He will then, hopefully, fight for the title in Montreal as planned.
If Serra's injury causes him to be sidelined for a lengthy period of time, an interim title can be put in place. If this happens, I assume that the interim title won't be in place until after December when we know for sure how long Serra will be out.
From here there are several scenarios.
St. Pierre doesn't fight Hughes at UFC 79. The winner of the Hughes-Replacement fight (Hughes vs Fitch?) will fight St. Pierre for the title in March/April.
St. Pierre fights Hughes at UFC 79. Koscheck and Fitch fight in early 2008 and the winner of that fight faces the winner of the GSP-Hughes fight for the interim title.
Lots of questions now loom in the wake of these recent developments, let's see what Dana White and the UFC can do.
Showing posts with label UFC 79. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UFC 79. Show all posts
Friday, November 23, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Liddell vs. Silva Finally a Reality
It's a fight years in the making. It's the fight that fight fans around the world have been waiting for. The biggest fight in Mixed Martial Arts history: Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell vs "The Axe Murderer" Wanderlei Silva has been inked for December at UFC 79:Nemesis.
The question that some people have been asking themselves is "Does this fight still have the impact that it had a year ago?" Liddell, some people think, has lost his edge and seems to be on the downhill slope to retirement. He has lost his last two fights; first by knockout to Quinton Jackson and most recently lost via split decision in a lackluster performance against Keith Jardine. With two consecutive losses, one might think that this fight shouldn't even take place since Liddell hasn't performed too well as of late.
But then again, neither has Silva. Silva is also under the gun after he, too, has lost his last two fights - both by knockout, nonetheless; First he was knocked out by the signature Cro Cop headkick, and lastly by Dan Henderson.
With these two both coming off back-to-back losses, my answer to the question is "Damn right this fight has impact! Damn right this fight should happen!"
Most people said the same thing about Keith Jardine getting a shot at Liddell and not Alexander, and look what happened there. There's no doubt in my mind that Alexander would have pummelled Liddell but Jardine did well also and ended up winning the fight - even knocked the former champ down! So who's to say that Liddell shouldn't get a shot at Silva. Silva, too, has lost two fights in a row and that's the bottom line. This fight makes sense.
Not to mention the fact that there sometimes exceptions to the rules; this exception being that the hype behind this fight far exceeds the requirement to give deserving fighters their just dues. Don't get me wrong; I believe that if a fighter has worked hard, has worked his way up the ladder, and has given exciting performances, that he should be given the fight he deserves.
But lets face it, if this fight doesn't happen now it may never happen. For example, say Dana puts this fight off until both Liddell and Silva have fought other opponents first. Worst case scenario is Liddell loses to his opponent and Silva beats his. Then what? There's no way the UFC can pit Liddell against Silva with Liddell coming off 3 consecutive losses and Silva on his way back to the top. It wouldn't make sense to anyone. So now's the time.
The timing right now still makes this fight a dream come true. We are going to see the former UFC and former PRIDE 205 pound champions going at it after both have lost 2 in a row. If it doesn't make sense now, it never will.
It's a fight that's been promised over and over again but never came to fruition. Let's just hope that it hasn't been destiny that was preventing this fight; if so, destiny might rear it's ugly head again and have one of these fighters become injured and force them to pull out of the fight.
I think that this fight is going to be spectacular. Two of the fight game's best strikers going toe to toe for the first time! I get chills just thinking of it. I'm counting down the days until December 29th when these two will finally "GET IT ON!"
The question that some people have been asking themselves is "Does this fight still have the impact that it had a year ago?" Liddell, some people think, has lost his edge and seems to be on the downhill slope to retirement. He has lost his last two fights; first by knockout to Quinton Jackson and most recently lost via split decision in a lackluster performance against Keith Jardine. With two consecutive losses, one might think that this fight shouldn't even take place since Liddell hasn't performed too well as of late.
But then again, neither has Silva. Silva is also under the gun after he, too, has lost his last two fights - both by knockout, nonetheless; First he was knocked out by the signature Cro Cop headkick, and lastly by Dan Henderson.
With these two both coming off back-to-back losses, my answer to the question is "Damn right this fight has impact! Damn right this fight should happen!"
Most people said the same thing about Keith Jardine getting a shot at Liddell and not Alexander, and look what happened there. There's no doubt in my mind that Alexander would have pummelled Liddell but Jardine did well also and ended up winning the fight - even knocked the former champ down! So who's to say that Liddell shouldn't get a shot at Silva. Silva, too, has lost two fights in a row and that's the bottom line. This fight makes sense.
Not to mention the fact that there sometimes exceptions to the rules; this exception being that the hype behind this fight far exceeds the requirement to give deserving fighters their just dues. Don't get me wrong; I believe that if a fighter has worked hard, has worked his way up the ladder, and has given exciting performances, that he should be given the fight he deserves.
But lets face it, if this fight doesn't happen now it may never happen. For example, say Dana puts this fight off until both Liddell and Silva have fought other opponents first. Worst case scenario is Liddell loses to his opponent and Silva beats his. Then what? There's no way the UFC can pit Liddell against Silva with Liddell coming off 3 consecutive losses and Silva on his way back to the top. It wouldn't make sense to anyone. So now's the time.
The timing right now still makes this fight a dream come true. We are going to see the former UFC and former PRIDE 205 pound champions going at it after both have lost 2 in a row. If it doesn't make sense now, it never will.
It's a fight that's been promised over and over again but never came to fruition. Let's just hope that it hasn't been destiny that was preventing this fight; if so, destiny might rear it's ugly head again and have one of these fighters become injured and force them to pull out of the fight.
I think that this fight is going to be spectacular. Two of the fight game's best strikers going toe to toe for the first time! I get chills just thinking of it. I'm counting down the days until December 29th when these two will finally "GET IT ON!"
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