No events this past week so I’ll just hit upon a few news topics this week.
Kevin Lee was unsuccessful in his fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 216. He had a staph infection and there’s a lot to unpack there because he shouldn’t have been allowed to fight, but anyway, he talked after the fight about the horrific weight-cutting issues he had. He talked about how he doesn’t even remember losing that last bit of weight because he was so out of it. That’s troubling on so many levels. This is the kind of stuff that people worry about so much. Being so out of it that you can’t remember or even tell what’s going on, it’s a short step to major medical issues.
Allowing this kind of extreme weight-cutting is courting danger. It’s been going on for generations but that doesn’t make it right. Someone could die because of this. Something needs to be done. One idea that’s been floated is more weight divisions. The goal being that guys will still cut weight, but not as much. Frankie Edgar has come out and said that more weight divisions won’t affect that though. I would think he’s right. I think guys will still cut a dangerous amount of weight. People will do anything they can to get an advantage. I don’t know what the answer is. More weight divisions might be a part of that, but this is a topic that needs to be addressed before tragedy strikes.
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Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael Dos Anjos has been added to UFC on FOX 26 in December. This is a fantastic main event that will determine a number one contender for the welterweight title held by Tyron Woodley. Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas will also be on this card, as well as Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Mike Perry. Those are some really good fights. That main event should be awesome. The pressure of Dos Anjos and the power and toughness of Lawler is a combustible mixture. Then you have Aldo trying to right the ship against a tough fighter in Lamas, and Mike Perry is always a must-see with his ferocity and power.
The UFC doesn’t always have the best cards for these FOX events, so it’s good to see them putting some exciting fights on here. You can never guarantee excitement in fights, but this is about as close as you’re going to get to a guarantee. The UFC should try to utilize these FOX events to get as many people as possible watching in the hopes that it’ll carry over to their other events.
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There’s been some talk recently about Georges St. Pierre fighting UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor. I guess this is an interesting fight on paper, but can we at least have McGregor defend the lightweight belt once? The idea of this is just absurd and really out there. GSP fought his entire career at welterweight but now is challenging UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping for the title. McGregor fought at welterweight twice, lightweight once in the UFC (as well as earlier in his career) and several times at featherweight. So presumably they would fight at welterweight, but is that something GSP is even interested in? How easy could he make welterweight now?
Nevermind the idea of slowing down possibly two divisions. Let’s assume McGregor fights Interim UFC Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson next and unifies the lightweight titles, and GSP beats Bisping and becomes the middleweight champ. Who would have them fight next? Robert Whittaker absolutely deserves the next middleweight title shot and you could surely find someone in the lightweight division deserving of a title shot.
So, unless both lose, someone is probably getting screwed out of a title shot. And if they’ve both just lost, why bother having them fight at all? The idea is okay, but I’m tired of divisions being held up by money fights. Nobody’s clamoring for this fight so the UFC should pass on this one.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
NOW CHECK OUT HYDEN’S PREVIOUS TAKE: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 184 and UFC 216
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