As the UFC’s mainstream appeal broadens, it looks increasingly likely that headlining fights for PPV cards would be ones that garner the public’s attention, rather than being meritorious in their essence.
This is as much a product of the times – with the UFC rising into prominence as a mainstream sport – as it is an indication of the money-first approach that the new owners that have chosen to adopt.
Understandably then, there is a rising voice of dissent amongst the hardcore fans that the UFC has placed too much importance on selling out pay-per-views by making Championship fights that are marketable, rather than ensuring that the ‘deserving’ fighter is rewarded with the title shot.
And who’s to say that they are wrong?
Interim titles, that were traditionally sanctioned only if the undisputed Champions were inactive for a year or longer, are being issued on a whim with a view to sugar coat pay-per-view cards and make them more desirable to the common man.
While this undoubtedly bulges the coffers of the UFC, it affects the sustenance of the very same hierarchy in the sport that demarcated it from the free-for-all, anything-goes circus that professional boxing has devolved into over the years.
Cash-strapped money fights galore and deserving fighters that have a legitimate claim to Title shots are overlooked and brushed aside in the process. While this trend is on an ominous upward spiral on one hand, here are 5 title fights in 2017 that – should they happen – will go a long way towards restoring a measure of legitimacy to proceedings.
#5 Daniel Cormier/Anthony Johnson vs Jon Jones
Jon Jones has been slapped with a retrospective ban from USADA that stretches till July in 2017, but from the kind of rhetoric that he spewed when he sat in with Joe Rogan on his podcast not too long back, he is chomping at the bit to make a comeback to MMA.
Approaching 30 now, Jones is just about reaching the prime of his fighting career and would love to put a plethora of setbacks – misfortunate and self-inflicted in equal measure – behind him and look to regain the UFC Light Heavyweight Title that he was never defeated for.
The current champion Daniel Cormier, although a fantastic fighter in his own right, did lose to Jones at UFC 182 while otherwise besting all the other fighters in the division at least once. It’s him and Jones in rarified air by themselves; although an argument can be made that Jones still stands head and shoulders – no pun intended – above.
Regardless, Cormier desperately needs a win over Jones to cement the legitimacy of his title. And the fighter he is scheduled to rematch next in Anthony Rumble Johnson, has long been touted as Jones’ stylistic undoing.
One of the UFC’s premier knockout artists, Anthony Johnson would also be eager to avenge his loss against Cormier so that he can capture the title and book his ticket for a dance with Jones somewhere down the line.
Either way, we cannot get around the fact that both Cormier and Johnson need to defend the Light Heavyweight crown against Jones in order to rubberstamp their resumes and rid themselves of the ignominious tag of merely being ‘paper champions’
#4 Michael Bisping vs Yoel Romero
The chief protagonist in one of the UFC’s ongoing feel-good narratives, Michael Bisping has his work cut out in order to prevent his fairytale run as Middleweight Champion from souring opinions in the MMA fraternity.
While the majority of fans rejoiced the culmination of his life’s work when he pulled off an unheralded victory over former Champion Luke Rockhold, Bisping’s run as Champion hasn’t really kindled too much good-will or satisfaction since.
Eking past a 46-year old Dan Henderson doesn’t really count as a credible title defence in the estimation of many, despite the history between the two ensuring that their fight wouldn’t lack any marketing incentive.
Bisping could have skived off on the Henderson fight, stating that the top contender pool in the Middleweight division – devoid of a clear-cut frontrunner – was still in a state of flux, but he surely can’t keep citing that as an out after Yoel Romero finished Chris Weidman at UFC 205 to engineer some breathing room for himself at the top.
While Luke Rockhold and Jacare Souza will battle it out to determine who is next in line, Bisping should defend his belt against Romero meanwhile.
Although the idea of a potential ‘superfight’ against a returning Georges St. Pierre has been floated repeatedly, one can agree that Michael Bisping is duty-bound to deal with the shark infested waters of the Middleweight division first, before gleaning enough legitimacy in the fans’ eyes to even entertain that thought.
#3 Dominick Cruz vs TJ Dillashaw
Dominick Cruz stands, peerless, at the cutting edge of evolution in MMA today.
Mentally, no other fighter has a grasp of the nuances of the fight game like he does, and his trash talk – disguised beneath a veneer of honey-toned rhetoric – breaks down his opponents without them even being aware of it.
Stylistically, he’s so far ahead of the curve with his you-miss-I-hit approach that even a lengthy hiatus of 3-odd years, punctuated by a short and solitary appearance against Takeya Mizugaki, didn’t present enough time for his competitors to close the gap.
Arguably, the closest anyone has come to defeating him is TJ Dillashaw – whose destruction of then longtime division king Renan Barao had the analysts waxing lyrical that he was at the forefront of the ‘next-gen’ fighters in the UFC.
A returning Cruz however, edged past him in a technically robust encounter, proving that he hasn’t missed a step – literally too – in his absence. Soon after that, he settled the score with perennial adversary Urijah Faber by outclassing him in a dominant performance at UFC 199.
Just when it seemed like he had exorcised the haunt of a Team Alpha Male soldier gunning for his belt, up stepped the hard-hitting and “marketable” Cody Garbrandt to fill in the blanks. While they are slated to tango, however, at UFC 207, Garbrandt hasn’t quite earned the title shot by leaving behind a wake of contenders as much by checking all the boxes of modern day marketability.
Although assuming that Cruz sees off the latest pitstop in his detour of pursuing sellable fights, at some point – for the health of the Bantamweight division – there has to be a confluence between his path and that of TJ Dillashaw once again.
Their first fight was decided by the finest of margins and if nothing else, the requirement of a clearer outcome begs the second one.
#2 Holly Holm/Germaine de Randamie vs Cristiane Cyborg Justino
The UFC machinery seems to be geared against undefeated Invicta Champion Cris Cyborg right now, what with them overlooking her and instead, plucking Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie from the Bantamweight pool to contest for the inaugural Women’s UFC Featherweight title.
The comedy of errors that preceded that decision, with Cyborg allegedly turning down two fights due to weight cutting issues and then Holm turning down a proposed fight against her, has only furthered the UFC’s palpable reluctance in getting behind the most dominant female fighter in the world today.
Unfortunately, being flagged for the December 5th out-of-competition doping violation could be the final nail in the coffin for any hopes of resuscitating her from the UFC’s doghouse in the near future.
Be that as it may - however convoluted the politics appended to the issue may be - legitimacy beckons that Cris Cyborg's name be thrown into the hat for a Championship opportunity as soon as she is cleared to make a comeback.
Holly Holm may have blown up after her spectacular knockout of Ronda Rousey and de Randamie a fearsome kickboxer in her own right, but while one has lost in her last two outings in the UFC, another one has only fought once for a promotion and that too, against unheralded opposition.
While the duo is certainly capable of putting on the right kind of fight stylistically to get the ball rolling, no amount of pretense from the UFC can conceal the fact that the winner has to face Cyborg in order to be truly recognized as the Champion.
Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov/Tony Ferguson
Perhaps owing to the expanse of Conor McGregor’s fame, anything that the man does is relentlessly scrutinized, opined and commented upon. Like many larger-than-life figures in the world, the Irishman has developed a swathe of devoted supporters and dismissive detractors in equal measure.
While some revel in awe at his nonchalant disposal of thoroughly legitimate Champions in both Featherweight and Lightweight, others crib endlessly at how he holds the entire divisions “hostage” while he picks stylistically suitable battles.
That opinion, worryingly widespread though it may have been before his UFC 205 obliteration of Eddie Alvarez, can be wiped out once and for all should he fight the winner of the title eliminator between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov that is in the works.
Both Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov are battle-hardened fighters who are the two most deserving contenders for McGregor’s title. Ferguson has been on a tear, winning 9 straight fights on the trot, while the undefeated Nurmagomedov’s prowess in the grappling department is unparalleled.
As it stands now, McGregor is on a sabbatical impending the birth of his first child. This leaves Ferguson and Nurmagomedov to presumably battle it out for the interim title with a view to unite both belts when the Irishman eventually returns.
Although the scenario sounds hunky dory on paper, the inclusion of Nate Diaz into the discussion may throw a spanner into the works.
The high-profile trilogy fight between Diaz and McGregor is a question of when rather than if, and knowing McGregor’s penchant of chasing the money fights, the prospect of a showdown against Nurmagomedov or Ferguson is up in the air.
McGregor’s blood feud against Diaz can be settled anytime, but should his star continue on its meteoric arc, it would direly require the levity that a title defense against the most deserving contender espouses.
Being the most marketable symbol of the UFC and by extension, the foremost ambassador for MMA in the mainstream sphere, Conor McGregor’s direction in 2017 has much bearing on whether the sport will be viewed as a watered-down variant to boxing, or its eventual replacement in the years to come.
Possessing a mind almost as sharp as his left hand, it shouldn’t be too hard a concept to grasp for him.
