Injuries Kill Cards… and Divisions
I understand when cards start to fall apart due to injury but sometimes when you look at a card and see what the headline is and it just kills some of that buzz. The headline is meant to be the clincher, the fight that draws you to watch the whole event. Take the upcoming UFC on FOX 4 event now unfortunately featuring Mauricio “Shogun” Rua facing Brandon Vera. I am glad that is not headlining a Pay-Per-View event. Shogun might not be dominant right now but Vera right now sports nothing but name value, compiling a 4-4-1 NC record starting at the Tim Sylvia loss. While Shoguns UFC record stands at 4-4, his level of opponents puts Shogun far further up the list of contenders. When Vera got the call to step in for Thiago Silva, he was handed a fast track path back to the top if he can pull out an unlikely win.
This card headline should have been replaced by Lyoto Machida and Ryan Bader. This fight has two top names in the division and interesting stylistic matchups. This isn’t the only card which has lost its lustre. Hector Lombard vs. Brian Stann had some heat to it, two guys with killer instinct. Nothing against Tim Boetsch but he was man handled by Okami until he caught him with a barrage of punches. Lombard and Boetsch while could be entertaining is just not a matchup that I am interested in. I just can’t get psyched up for this contest. I understand why the fight got put together but it is a shame. The positive I hope comes from this is that perhaps Lombard gets out without injuries, Bisping heals up quick and we have coaches for the new Australia vs. UK series of The Ultimate Fighter. It’s probably unlikely given it would be Bisping’s fourth appearance in the franchise and third coaching role but it would make for a fun fight.
Other fights like Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva, Stefan Struve and Mark Hunt, Thiago Alves and Siyar Bahadurzada, Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz all have fallen apart recently and all were fun fights. I was really looking forward to all of these fights. It is sad to see Cruz will be on the shelf for that long, no matter what people think of him as a person, his career and livelihood is on the shelf. Injury is unavoidable in a contact, combative sport. In all the negativity there is promise and opportunity for some.
Now would be the perfect time to push the flyweight division. There needs to be a champion and as of today we have the championship bout in Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez. Now we need to establish a pecking order of contenders. Ian McCall is an obvious name given the close performances against Johnson. These lighter weight classes are fast and dynamic, it would be a great time to start recruiting these fighters and slotting them into freshly vacated places in the card. There is no point in showing us the new champ of the flyweights, a champion over a handful of other contracted fighters.
It seems that when a fighter gets a great win, he is struck down with an injury. Examples such as Alan Belcher, Cain Velasquez, Alexander Gustafsson and Daniel Cormier all coming off strong wins and all with injured hands. Imagine if Belcher had come out healthy from his Rousimar Palhares fight. Belcher would have been a prime candidate to replace Stann as a headliner and build toward a title shot. I would have loved to have seen Shogun Rua face off against Alexander Gustafsson.
Injuries cannot be allowed to backlog a division. The title picture must progress and evolve. To me, when an interim champion is crowned in a division, he resumes the duties of the incumbent champion. The interim title is the active title in play and therefore it must be defended. An interim champion should not be able to remove himself from competition until he gets the matchup he desires. If an interim champion is crowned solely for the purpose of a unification bout, his interim strap carries no meaning. I understand why Carlos Condit wants to sideline himself for that big money matchup but in the process he holds the division up. Whether or not one believes in ring rust is one thing but forcing other well-credentialed fighters to take a hiatus too is unfair. Condit is assuming Georges St Pierre will be ready in November. Should GSP reinjure or not be progressing as he should a title fight could take longer. The UFC should have stepped in and told Condit he had to remain an active champion. While I respect Marin Kampmann, he has had a few more recent defeats and in my mind Johnny Hendricks has done all he can to demand his title shot. Condit should have been facing Johnny Hendricks around this time to determine who is the interim champion upon the return of St Pierre.
The UFC must be grateful for real company men right now, fighters willing to step up into a short notice fight to save a card. Rich Franklin agreed to take a rematch against Wanderlei Silva in hostile Brazilian territory in what was turning into a very weak card. The addition of Franklin makes that card a touch more interesting and I am sure the UFC will look after Franklin for this. Shogun made the statement that he would rather be cut than fight Glover Teixeira according to Dana White. Dana is not a man to forget such statements and I think Shogun did himself a disservice. I expected better of Shogun than this and feel a touch disappointed. A fighter fights and if Glover was not at his level Shogun should have used the fight to make that point. Perhaps Shogun will find that his road back to title contention may take a fight or two longer than it should.
By Alex Durward
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