mma rss feed
the savage science dojo
the savage science round by round



bestfriends1



ufcversus1

UFC ON VERSUS

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC on VERSUS on March 21 live from the FirstBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific!

dream13

DREAM 13

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of DREAM 13 coming to you from the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan on March 22. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 3 AM Eastern/12 AM Pacific!

fresno

STRIKEFORCE: CHALLENGERS

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of STRIKEFORCE: CHALLENGERS on March 26 live from the SavMart Center in Fresno, CA. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

ufc111sm

UFC 111: GSP VS. HARDY

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy live from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on March 27. The event will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy and feature a heavyweight showdown between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin! Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

ufc331sm

UFC FIGHT NIGHT: FLORIAN VS. GOMI

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi live from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, NC on March 31. The event will be headlined by a lightweight battle between Kenny Florian and Takanori Gomi. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 8:00 PM Eastern/5:00 PM Pacific!

bellatorxiiism

BELLATOR XIII

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Bellator Fighting XIII live from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida on April 8. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 7:30 PM Eastern/4:30 PM Pacific!

bellatorxivsm

BELLATOR XIV

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Bellator Fighting XIV live from the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on April 15. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 7:30 PM Eastern/4:30 PM Pacific!

sf417a

STRIKEFORCE: NASHVILLE

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Strikeforce: Nashville live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN on April 17. The event will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Jake Shields and Dan Henderson and feature the US debut of Japanese submission god Shinya Aoki! Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

mfc25b

MFC 25: VINDICATION

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of MFC 25: Vindication live from the Edmonton Expo Center in Edmonton, Alberta on April 17. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

the savage science quote

“If you go by the rules, you end up being an accountant.”

Robert Evans

Inertia in the UFC Light Heavyweight Division

Written by Drew Miller   |   Saturday, October 24 2009

machida98cLyoto Machida slugs Rashad Evans during their UFC 98 battle (Photo: UFC)
When Forrest Griffin upset Quentin Rampage Jackson at UFC 86, the light heavyweight division was thrown into turmoil. Griffin, the Ultimate Fighter winner considered by some more of a reality show star than a champion, had a rather unremarkable post-TUF UFC career coming into his bout with Mauricio Shogun Rua at UFC 76. His controversial loss to Tito Ortiz was heralded as a greater boon to his career than any of his UFC wins over fighters such as Bill Mahood and Elvis Sinosic. But suddenly, with a win over a Shogun who was hobbled after knee surgeries, Griffin was pushed by the UFC brass as a top 205 pounder, ready to take on the consensus #1 light heavyweight in the world, Rampage Jackson.

After what this author would consider a dubious decision, Griffin was awarded the belt. When he was pounded out by Rashad Evans, it was not a tremendous surprise. Evans’ career, after all, mirrored that of Griffin’s: TUF champion whose post-TUF career was highlighted by a controversial fight with Ortiz (scored a draw after Tito had a point taken from him), a tough decision over Michael Bisping who moved down in weight afterwards and a win over a fallen champion (Chuck Lidell). Evans’ inability to defend the title was also unsurprising: he was overmatched by Lyoto Machida whose UFC career was also catapulted by a fight with Tito Ortiz (a unanimous decision win).

What is interesting about the sequence of events described above is the transitory nature of the title in what is considered the marquee division in the UFC. Whereas the division was once a de facto hierarchy in which Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture and Chuck Lidell fought each other multiple times, only relinquishing the belt to each other, the title and title shots have become window dressing for the UFC. The depth of the division, and therefore the well from which Joe Silva and Dana White have to choose contenders, is unquestionably a good thing. But having so many talented fighters in one division leads to the opportunity to cherry pick the most marketable ones, such as Forrest Griffin. The UFC had the opportunity to reestablish the preeminence of the light heavyweight division by making it worth Rampage Jackson’s while to eschew his rivalry with Rashad Evans and take on Machida, but the company made its priorities clear by having Rampage coach on season 10 of TUF: cashing in on more reality TV, regardless of the quality of the competition, was more important than its premiere division’s championship.

At UFC 104, either Lyoto Machida will defend his belt or Shogun will take it and the trend of transitory champions will continue. Either way, the columns by UFC apologists are already written. If Machida wins, he’ll be hailed as the best pound for pound fighter in the world. At the same time- regardless of the apparent contradiction- Shogun will be called overrated and a contender due to only the luck of the draw. If Shogun wins the upset, Machida will be called overrated and the headlines will declare that “Shogun is back!”. Those same writers, of course, will not be questioned about their articles asking if Shogun could win without soccer kicks. But in the end, little will be answered. Regardless of who wins, his next fight will likely not be against Rampage. Perhaps the winner will be the one to defend his belt several times and engage in several battles with top competitors, but there is little that demonstrates to me that the long term viability of the division will be put before short term publicity stunts.

Editor's Note:  In addition to his writing here, Drew has taken over my old digs at Prophet Fighting--you can get more Drew than you can handle there:

Drew Miller at Prophet Fighting
Trackback(0)
Comments (0)add
feedSubscribe to this comment's feed
Write comment

busy