“Two roads diverged toward a yellow belt, and I – I took the one with the Starbucks drive-through” – Daniel Cormier (not really)
How do you know you’ve reached a new echelon of greatness as UFC champion? When the company starts lining up contenders to fight you instead of having them fight each other out of the fear that there won’t be anyone left. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones has officially entered that rarefied air.
Some of the division’s top contenders have pointed out the problem, and the champ himself has even suggested his own solution, but a recent tweet by Dana White seems to indicate that these claims have fallen on deaf ears. The UFC President announced on Twitter that Daniel Cormier will fight the winner of Jon Jones/Glover Teixeira versus Alexander Gustafsson.
This is just the latest development in the UFC’s neutering of the light heavyweight division with a constant stream of undeserving contenders. That isn’t to say that they are unworthy due to lack of skill. I do believe that Teixiera (#2), Gustafsson (#1), and Cormier (#5) are deserving of their rankings as top contenders in the light heavyweight division. Simply having the skill shouldn’t be enough though, and as the old adage goes, “you’re only as good as your last fight.”
The only fighter of the three whose resume actually warrants anything close to a title shot is Gustafsson’s. He looked great in his recent win over Jimi Manuwa (#11), and prior to his title fight with Jones he was 6-0. Still, the best feature of his resume was that loss to Jones in a highly-contested fight that ended with a decision that, though the controversy was certainly overblown, was undoubtedly the closest the champ had come to tasting true defeat. The Swede made the “not quite” human champion look “all too” human instead, and fans have been clamoring for a rematch ever since.
Teixeira’s shot is nothing if not a placeholder. The 34-year-old Brazilian is on a seven fight win streak, with five of those coming inside the UFC, but his strength of competition is incredibly weak for a title contender. The most credible name he has beaten is Ryan Bader, the #10 ranked light heavyweight contender in the UFC, and he almost lost that fight.
Daniel Cormier had an impressive career at heavyweight, but in the light heavyweight division he is only 1-0. That fight came against Patrick Cummins, who took the fight (his UFC debut) on two week’s notice and was working in a coffee shop until Dana White informed him he was going to get the fight. Even Cormier himself agrees that he isn’t deserving of the shot, so I don’t know how the UFC expects to make that case.
The most transparent thing about the entire situation is that the only two men in the top five who don’t have a title shot lined up are the most deserving. Phil Davis (#4) has won three in a row, including a victory over then-top ranked contender Lyoto Machida. Rashad Evans (#3), who was originally scheduled to fight Cormier before he tore his ACL, has won two in a row, both over fighters who were ranked in the top 10 at the time of the fight.
Yes, the UFC is in the fight business, and yes, “business” takes precedent over “fight,” but that doesn’t mean it can be disregarded entirely. There is a fine line between “making the fights the fans want to see” and simply refusing to risk losing any potential desirable matchup. The UFC is getting dangerously close to crossing that line with the light heavyweight division, if they haven’t done so already.
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