As talent emerges from various MMA promotions, fans are beginning to realize that top fighters exist outside of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. While the popularity and pervasiveness of MMA skyrockets, will the cries of fans grow loud enough to persuade UFC management into acquiring other fighters? With a limited amount of intriguing fights on the horizon for the UFC, acquisitions of top ranked fighters in rival organizations may be imminent.
Don’t get me wrong- the world’s top MMA organization is not going anywhere; quite the contrary. In 2009, the UFC will be on the forefront of sanctioning MMA on the east coast and building their brand overseas. In fact, at this point the UFC can successfully market a fight between Keith Jardine and my grandma if they so pleased. That being said, in order for the Ultimate Fighting Championship to put on stimulating fights for true lovers of the sport, attention must be placed on talent outside of the promotion.
In each weight class, an opponent that fights outside of the UFC can create an extremely interesting bout against the current champion. The main question for the UFC involves the marketability of these outside fighters, and whether or not they can generate more business than fighters already under UFC contract.
Lightweight Division: BJ Penn vs. Shinya Aoki
The current World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts lightweight champion, Shinya Aoki, is known for his unorthodox submissions and amazing flexibility. Sound familiar? While BJ Penn’s dexterity in his legs is unparalleled, Aoki, “the master of flying submissions,” creates unusual and innovative opportunities with his ground skills. A veteran of Shooto, Pride, and Dream, Aoki has notable wins over Joachim Hansen, Gesias Calvancante, Caol Uno, and Eddie Alvarez. Although a fight between BJ Penn and Kenny Florian is expected for the UFC in 2009, there are few other worthy fighters left in the lightweight division to take on “The Prodigy.” The biggest drawback, of course, for the UFC to fiercely pursue Aoki is his lack of recognition amongst American fans. An important fact to consider is BJ Penn’s ability to promote his own fights. Even though Kenny Florian is the only other UFC lightweight present on most top ten rankings, BJ Penn has become a master of creating hype around his fights. From a business standpoint, the UFC can likely pay a mediocre fighter a mediocre purse, while still attracting big pay-per-view numbers with Penn’s efforts. Penn’s ability to promote causes a dream fight with Aoki to be less plausible and nonsensical for the UFC management. The coming months will tell which UFC prospect will step up and fill the void in the lightweight division that Aoki could satisfy.
Welterweight Division: George St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields
GSP’s upcoming mega fight with lightweight champion BJ Penn should be a handful, not to mention a very hungry pitbull in Thiago Alves, who awaits the winner. But then what? The widely considered #2 ranked welterweight in the world, Jon Fitch, was dominated by St. Pierre, and then shunned to the under-card for a minor dispute with the powers that be. Present on almost every top ten ranking, Jake Shields is the current welterweight champion of EliteXC. Due to the recent financial struggles of ProElite, Shields has been in limbo since October of 2008, but has expressed strong desires to fight for the UFC. “I feel like it’s been the top show for a while and I feel like most of the competition at my weight is in the UFC… The guys I need to fight, like GSP, B.J. Penn, Jon Fitch, Diego Sanchez,” Shields revealed in an interview with MMAWeekly.com. With career wins over Yushin Okami, Carlos Condit, Mike Pyle, and Hayato Sakurai, Shields has the amazing ground control and Jiu Jitsu that can test the Canadian champion and perhaps take his title. Shields gained wide exposure from being apart of the 2008 EliteXC: Heat event, which garnered 4.56 million viewers thanks to the hype machine, Kimbo Slice. In terms of attracting the casual fans that tuned in to watch EliteXC on CBS, Shields may be the perfect candidate for the UFC to endorse.
Middleweight Division: Anderson Silva vs. Robbie Lawler
A match-up between Anderson Silva and DREAM middleweight champion, Gegard Mousasi, would have hardcore fans salivating. However, the name recognition and popularity of Robbie Lawler in the U.S. makes for a perfect fight. Another victim of the EliteXC catastrophe, Lawler (18-4-1) is widely considered to be a top five middleweight due to wins over Frank Trigg, Murilo Rua, and Scott Smith. Lawler is an absolute knockout artist, finishing 15 of his opponents with strikes. The hard hitting middleweight contender has the potential to draw big numbers with a title fight against “The Spider,” while past victims of Silva have proven to do little in pay-per-view buys. Much like Jake Shields, Lawler gained massive exposure with his two fight wars on CBS with Scott Smith, intriguing new spectators of the sport. As Silva continues to dispose of challengers, the talent pool in the middleweight division may become shallow enough to seriously encourage UFC management to acquire “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler. Based on Lawler’s two stints on CBS, which averaged 4.85 and 2.62 million viewers respectively, fans and casual spectators alike would be interested to see him back in the UFC. The fan backlash to the highly rumored title fight between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites may also cause a Silva vs. Lawler dream fight to become more of a reality.
Light Heavyweight Division: Kudos to the UFC
Congratulations to Dana White and the UFC for bringing together the best light heavyweights around. Almost all top ten rankings of light heavyweights is a who’s who of current UFC contenders. Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin, Quinton Jackson, and Lyoto Machida are just some of the top contenders, not to mention the always dangerous Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell. The marketability and talent of the UFC light heavyweight contenders are so abundant that several fighters at all times are deserving of a title shot.
Heavyweight Division: Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko
The attempts to sign “The Last Emperor” to the UFC have been well documented, and for good reason. The current WAMMA heavyweight champion’s accolades are unmatched and I will not spend time discussing why he is considered to be the greatest heavyweight, and perhaps pound for pound fighter on the planet. According to Fedor’s manager, Vadim Finkelchtein, the “restrictive” nature of the contracts and the refusal of the UFC’s attorney to negotiate with Emelianenko is the major reason why the Russian has never fought in the octagon. While Jerry Millen, the Vice President of M-1, has publically stated, “In a match between Fedor and Lesnar, we do not feel that at this stage Lesnar would be able to make it out of the first round,” this writer believes the fight would not only be very competitive, but extremely lucrative. The WWE import managed to draw 2.2 million pay-per-view buys in the three events in which he participated. Imagine what colossal drawing power a fight would have if you threw in the world’s best heavyweight. Fedor received a large signing bonus from Affliction, in addition to the $300,000 that he received for his 36 second demolition of Tim Sylvia. Since the UFC’s heavyweight division has emerged as competitive and talent- packed towards the end of 2008, spending millions to acquire Fedor is probably not at the top of the agenda for the UFC. Rather, from a marketing standpoint, it might be wiser for the UFC to spend thousands by simply promoting and building their own heavyweight fighters. By paying Emelianenko his rather large asking price, the UFC may set a costly precedent for paying big name fighters enormous purses.
The bulk of the burden in creating any of these dream fights of course lies with the UFC. As long as the world’s most prominent MMA promotion has a marketable fighter, the services of these outside talents are not needed. However, if the pay per view numbers start slipping, the UFC might pay big bucks to import one of these top fighters. The problem with two of the four mega fights discussed rests with the future of EliteXC’s contracts. The UFC is hesitant to negotiate with Shields and Lawler due to a possible lawsuit from ProElite that can materialize due to the contractual obligations of the two fighters. The upcoming months will determine the fates of EliteXC’s athletes, and perhaps land Jake Shields and Robbie Lawler in the octagon.
The sport of Mixed Martial Arts is extremely young, but some of these fighters are not. With the clock ticking, the amount of fights left in some of the athletes become questionable. The time is now, and in order to avoid “what ifs” lingering in the minds of fans and fighters alike, the powers that be must work to make these fights happen.