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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Time for another weekly poll roundup here at MMATorch.com. This week we asked our readers several questions, most of which focused on Saturday's UFC 154 event. First though, let's head back to last weekend's UFC on Fuel 6 card and a poll from that card's main event.
With Rich Franklin suffering a knockout loss to Cung Le in the main event, we wondered what our readers thought Franklin's next move should be between retirement, remaining at middleweight, or heading back to 205 lbs.
55% percent of respondents favored retirement for the former UFC Middleweight Champion, 35% want to see him try to bounce back at middleweight, with the last 10% wanting to see him back at light heavyweight. Franklin's not at a stage where he has to retire, he hasn't taken multiple knockout losses in a row or anything. Still, the loss to Le pushes him far enough down the ladder that a run at a title fight is almost assuredly out of the question. With that realization, there's nothing left for Franklin in the sport except for a few paychecks. That's all well and good, and if he wants to keep fighting for the money, by all means he can do so. But his days as a contender are over, and there wouldn't be anything wrong with him walking away at this point.
The last non-UFC 154 poll of the week still had at least some connection to the event, as it was regarding Anderson Silva and whether the UFC should make an Interim UFC Middleweight Championship in the division. St-Pierre had said he was going to stay out until late 2013, and though he's likely to fight in May against GSP, it still means he'll have not defended the middleweight title for over a year at least.
63% of those responding want to see the UFC put an Interim Title fight together for the division, though they've got differing ideas on who should get the fight. 16% think January's Michael Bisping vs. Vitor Belfort bout should be for a title, while 47% think it should be the winner of that fight against the winner of UFC 155's Chris Weidman vs. Tim Boetsch bout. 37% don't want an Interim Title bout at all.
I don't have an issue with Interim Titles on the surface, provided there's a reason for them and that they're defended while the rightful Champion is out. In Silva's case, if he's not going to defend the title for 18-months to two years, then perhaps he just needs to drop the title. The division shouldn't be held up for two years because he's taking fights outside of the division.
Still, it's Anderson Silva, and it doesn't seem right for anyone to hold that belt unless they take it from him. So if he's fighting St-Pierre in May and plans on defending the title by the end of 2013, no Interim belt is needed. If that's delayed further than that, the discussion can be had.
Onto UFC 154, there were a number of topics we asked our readers about, some pre-fight, a couple afterward, but the results weren't all that surprising.
For starters, of those responding this week, 87% planned on watching the fight in some capacity, with a third ordering at home, another third going to a bar for the fight, and another 19% watching at a friend's house. High interest from a more hardcore readership here isn't surprising, but it could translate well to pay-per-view turnout for the event.
On that note, 90% of our respondents expect the event to draw over 600,000 pay-per-view buys when numbers come in, with 25% in on the 800,000 and up option, and another 26% thinking the card will break the million buy mark.
I don't think the buzz was there to get it up to peak GSP numbers, but his return was a big deal. I think it is likely to come in as one of the top events of the year on pay-per-view, potentially second only to UFC 148 from July. We'll see in a few days what the early numbers are, but he's probably going to have brought a significant number of buys in for his first fight in 19 months.
In reaction to Saturday's main event, which saw St-Pierre make a successful return with a unanimous decision win in a great fight, we asked readers both who he should fight next, and whether he or Anderson Silva have had the more impressive title reign.
A whopping 78% of fans went with Silva on the latter question, not at all surprising given the fact that he's undefeated in the UFC. Add in the way he's won so many of his fights, it's easy to see why so many would pick him in that question. St-Pierre's an impressively dominant Champion, but it's Silva who still reigns supreme inside the Octagon.
As for who GSP should fight next, Saturday's results certainly changed what could have been a completely one-sided question. The superfight between GSP and Anderson Silva was still the leading vote getter, and many really want to see it happen, but Johny Hendricks opened eyes with his KO of Martin Kampmann, and 36% want to see him get the fight with St-Pierre. Another 20% of the contingent want to see Nick Diaz get his shot at GSP next, while only 1% want to see a rematch right away with Carlos Condit.
I'm honestly fine with either Hendricks or Silva next for St-Pierre. If the superfight comes together, great. If it doesn't, Hendricks has proven himself worthy of an opportunity to fight for the Welterweight Title. That fight is a lot more interesting now than it's ever been in the past, and if the superfight doesn't come together, it's still a very big welterweight fight between GSP and Hendricks.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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