2009 UFC Fights and Why: Part 1

The Ultimate Fighting Championship put on their last event of 2008 last night, which was overall a great event which crowned two NEW champions.  Frank Mir not only knabbed the interim UFC heavyweight title from former interim champ Minotauro Nogueria, but he also became the first man to offically stop him, which he did in the 2nd round after dropping him numerous times with his much improved striking game.  It was considered a huge upset and big kick in the junk for Nogueria fans, who have to realistically consider the fact that he may not be what he was once before.  The other new champ, no surprise to anyone who watched the event, was Rashad Evans, who stopped former champ Forrest Griffin early in the third round and after catching a leg kick and imposing some serious ground and pound action to his face.  It was an upset given the odds, but I think most people thought it was a 50/50 chance for it to happen.  I wasn’t shocked when it went down, although I did think Forrest was going to win.

Now, after the jump you’ll see some fights I think need to happen in the UFC next year and why, I’m sure some will disagree, some will agree completely, but I think that as a fan of this sport, these are the fights that make most sense…

Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir II for the undisputed UFC heavyweight title:

We all know the story, Lesnar makes his UFC debut at UFC 81, finds early success with some GnP hammer-fisting.  Lesnar apparently hits the back of Mir’s head, ref steps in, gives Frank time to recover, they reset, Lesnar leaves a leg open, Mir slaps on a knee-bar, Brock taps….

Now, two fights later, Brock is now the UFC heavyweight champion, come last night, Mir is now the interim UFC heavyweight champion.  They both own 50% of that belt, so no shit, they need to fight again to see who deserves it all!  I love this rematch for numerous reasons:

• Brock knew little-to-nothing about grappling at his UFC debut, I’m not saying that he’s a Gracie come the rematch, but I don’t expect him to leave his legs out there for Mir to grab ahold of.  It will be awesome to see what Brock does in order to prevent from getting submitted again
• Mir’s coming off the biggest win in his life.  A TKO stoppage over MMA legend Minotauro Nogueria.  He’s on “cloud 9″ right now, he achieved what Fedor, Josh Barnett, and Dan Henderson failed to do, and that’s stop the unstoppable.  Now, one could argue that Nog isn’t that same fighter as he was back in PRIDE, but that’s another day…
• Mir already began hyping this rematch following his win over Nog.  Right after Herb Dean stepped in, Mir found Brock in the crowd, pointed to him and said “You have my belt!”. “You’ll be lucky to make it out of the first round” Mir also said in his post fight interview with Joe Rogan, a comment obviously directed at Brock.  Mir’s not only capable of defeating Brock again, but he’s also a great man of words, and no doubt he’ll be able to use that to build this fight up and make it one of the biggest fights the UFC has ever seen.

So, it’s inevitable that these two will meet again, when and where?  Who the hell knows aside from it’s taking place next year, probably in 4-6 months. I can’t wait for it though!

Minotauro Nogueria vs. Randy Couture:

Some might disagree with this, but c’mon…..both are in the UFC, both are already legends in the sport, both are coming off title fight losses to both Mir and Lesnar.  This fight is a perfect fight for any follower of this sport, yeah both might not be in their prime any longer, but are you really going to not want to see Randy fight Nog?  It’s the closest thing we as fans can get to “Randy vs. Fedor”, a fight that might not ever happen….I’ll take it people!  This bout could easily decide the next #1 contender, it could also show who’s really still in the sport, and who should seriously consider retirement.  I personally think Nog should retire now, he’s only 32, but last night he moved like he was a 50 year old guy with arthritis.  He didn’t look good, he should go out while he’s still on top and not become what Ken Shamrock currently is.  I don’t think he’ll do it though, and I think the UFC right now is in a perfect spot to make this fight happen.

Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans for the UFC light-heavyweight title:

I think this fight is closer than some might expect, in case you didn’t see Rampage’s brutal one-punch knockout over arch nemesis Wanderlei Silva last night at UFC 92, I recommend you watch it right now!  It was a great victory for a guy not only coming off a title loss, but also some pending legal issues with the police due to an incident that happened right after he lost his belt at UFC 86.  He’s got the great comeback story in the works right now:

• He won the UFC light-heavyweight title at UFC 71, and defended it at UFC 75.
• He lost his title at UFC 86, citing it as the “biggest loss of his life”.
• He fired his long-time trainer and friend Juanito Ibarra as  result of his title loss.
• He got arrested and sent to a hospital for “mental health observation”.
• He joined a new gym, The Wolfslair Academy over the United Kingdom.
• He just KO’d the piss out of a guy who previously destroyed him twice.

MMA fans know this story, they know Rampage and they love Rampage.  He’s a big drawing fighter with serious skills who can easily beat anyone via anything.  Now enter Rashad Evans, undefeated in MMA, TUF 2 winner, brutally KO’d Chuck Liddell at UFC 88, just TKO’d Forrest Griffin and won the UFC light-heavyweight title.  No doubt he’s the top 205lber in all of MMA right now, how can you deny it after he did what he did in the last year, not to mention maintaining his undefeated record?  He’s not the one-trick pony wrestling guru anymore, he has proved he is now a devestating knockout puncher who has not only great potential for many years, but also the best camp in all of MMA behind him, Jackson’s Submission Fighting.

This fight will be huge, it’ll be between a veteran fighter looking to reclaim what was once his by defeating the young, undefeated champion who’s constantly improving and known for pulling upsets.  You could make a movie out of this situation.  I predict this fight happens in 4-6 months, I firmly think Rampage will get the title shot due to his KO over Wanderlei at UFC 92.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell II:

The best way for me to describe this fight is a “loser leaves town” match.  Chuck, is 1-3 in his last four fights, two of those losses being by way of TKO/KO, the other being a split decision.  It’s looks to me like he might be in the downslope of his previously successful MMA career.  Wanderlei is 1-4 in his last five fights, three of those losses being by flat out KTFO, KTFO, and KTFO!  One could easily say that Wandy is now past his prime and incapable of doing anything eventful in the 205lb division anymore.  He’s taken too many recent beatings to maintain what he was previously able to do.  To sum it up, both these guys are past their prime, won’t ever reclaim a the light-heavyweight title.  It’d be a great fight to set up to see who should really hang up the gloves or move to a different division.  If Wanderlei lost, I think he could try a run at middleweight, fighting guys like Jason MacDonald and Chris Leben, hoping for a possible rematch with Dan Henderson or something.  If Chuck lost, well, he could try his run at heavyweight, something he’s been open to do for a while.

Cheick Kongo vs. Gabriel Gonzaga:

Both of these men came into the UFC heavyweight division roughly at the same time, and have yet to fight each other.  Both are contenders in the UFC.  Gonzaga even fought for the UFC heavyweight title, after “Cro Copping” Cro Cop at UFC 70.  Although he came up short, and lost his next fight to Fabricio Werdum, he still hung around and has since managed to get back on winning track with a submission victory over Justin McCully and a KO victory over Josh Hendricks.  Now, those guys are far below Napao’s level, but a win is a win and it does help him get back up.  Gonzaga’s set to fight Shane Carwin at UFC 96, but if I had it my way, I’d scrap that fight and pit him with Kongo, who just destroyed Mostafa Al-Turk at UFC 92, and showed his ever-improving takedown defense with some brutal GnP action.  I think that this fight could easily establish the next #1 contender, considering the UFC heavyweight division is pretty slim right now.

Alright, that’s the end of it right now, stay tuned for Part 2, hopefully coming up tomorrow!