Careful Optimism Required: The Future of the UFC Heavyweight Division
By Josh Stein on Feb 25, 2009
With a title about to be decided in a bout between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, the UFC heavyweight division will be heading into a new era, to be sure. We will have a real “undisputed” champion in the organization, and we can rest assured that whoever that fighter is, he will almost certainly not be the #1 ranked heavyweight in the world, but that point aside, it will be nice for the UFC’s heavyweight division to have a face, and a spokesman.
Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir are both charismatic, young fighters, and whoever the winner of their bout is, the division will have a good, easily publicizable face (more so with Lesnar, I tend to think, but Mir has a good deal of commentating experience with the WEC, and does alright in front of the camera). Neither of them, I hope, will suffer from the delusion that they are the greatest fighter on earth, though they may talk like it, but both seem reasonable and sane. Contrary to what I’ve said about Lesnar in the past, and my still very present frustration with his choice of trainers, I think he’s aware of where he is in the division.
If Lesnar beats Mir, we will still have to resolve that title with a third bout, but, in the meantime, Lesnar will be hailed by all as the future of MMA. He’s a couple years older than Mir, but that’s not really the point. Athleticism will be the redeeming virtue of the UFC heavyweight division (though not of heavyweight MMA), and the presence of a very powerful, explosive Gabriel Gonzaga or Shane Carwin at the head of the division, and the rising star of Cheick Kongo (if he disposes of Antoni Hardonk, as most think he should), there aren’t any fighters who’s athletic ability is questionable, and it will be a while before we see another fighter built like Tim Sylvia in the top ranks, I think.
There have been some talks about Fedor joining the UFC, and going into negotiations either right before or immediately after his fight with Josh Barnett. I don’t expect much from that negotiation, and as long as Affliction is healthy (as it seems to be, despite some rumors) Fedor has that option very open. If something does happen, then there’s going to be a serious change in the way the division operates, but, again, I’m not getting my hopes up on that one. Instead, I want to keep the focus on the athleticism of these top fighters, because that’s going to be the division’s claim to legitimacy (whether it will be recognized by fans and commentators when there are guys who are better is another issue).
Comments (13)
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You stole my idea, I was just telling you that I was going to write something on this last week!!! Gonzaga is he ever puts it all together and works on his conditioning and buys himself a heart would be dangerous. Cain Velasquez showed last month that he still has a long way to go, but in all fairness to him he was returning from a knee injury. Carwin is big, strong and extremely versatile. He has a solid submission game to go with some freaky strength. Don’t discount Junior Dos Santos, he needs to fight again soon and keep the momentum going but he has a lot of potential.
Carwin is my favorite prospect in this division. I think Gonzaga will make a good force, constantly, in this division. Velasquez has a long way to go, but he’s a warrior.
I haven’t forgotten about Dos Santos, but all of the other guys I mentioned have two wins. They all get priority, in my opinion.
Josh is sneaky…he gets mad if someone else writes about something he already wrote about too, haha. So make sure you call him out and verbally punish him.
I’ll be sure to do that!! I like Gonzaga it just seems that he wilters under extreme pressure (Couture & Werdum). If he ever puts it all together he could be unstoppable.
Carwin is a lot like Lesnar in that he is so freaky strong and has great wrestling but his subs are light years ahead of Brock’s.
There really is no reason to by Carefully Optimistic about the UFC HW division, there are actually several of us fans that don’t drink the Fedor kool-aid and do regard whoever the UFC champion is to be the best HW in the world. You might want to take those people into account whenever making a ridiculous article like this that wants to talk down the premier HW division in MMA. When you have guys like Mir, Nog, Lesnar, Couture, Kongo, Napao, Carwin, Dos Santon, Cain, and Herring you have a pretty stacked division that will only continue to prosper as time goes on.
I am sorry but to call this ridiculous is uncalled for. If you don’t agree with it then say so, you don’t have to ridicule the man’s work. Putting Herring and Kongo on the list shows your true ignorance.
When I was younger we knew a dirty kid named EJ, he was a loser and no one liked him. We used to call him extra junk. Are you that kid?
EJ, if you think those guys you listed make for a tough division then that’s your opinion, but if you look at any list of rankings, the UFC is lucky if it has one or two guys in the top five.
You can call it the “premier division” in MMA, but it doesn’t have the top fighters in it. Not in the same way that all of the other UFC divisions do.
Carwin, Kongo, Dos Santos and Cain are great up and comers, but I can’t call them top ten fighters, and I don’t think anyone should.
Oh, and if you think that the winner of Lesnar vs. Mir is the best heavyweight in the world, then I don’t know what to tell you. I just can’t suspend my disbelief long enough to accept something like that.
EJ,
I have an idea… Lets take the UFC heavyweight division and put them head to head agains Affliction’s
The UFC may have the best talent in all of the other classes, but not this one.
Fedor hasn’t lost since 2000. We can’t say he isn’t fighting the top guys anymore because he destroyed two of the UFC’s best in Timmy and Sylvia.
Barnett could beat anyone in the UFC division.
Tim and AA, pretty much already have…minus Randy (and he aint getting any younger)
Sorry but the old myths about Pride having the best fighters was debunked awhile back, the proof is in the pudding so to speak. Guys like CC, Herring, Nog, Werdum all were predicted to dominate the UFC and all have been exposed in the octagon by supposed lesser fighters. If you want to prove you’re the best you come to the UFC and prove it until then all of this hype about Affliction and their HW’s is the same kind of bs that surrounded Pride and their HW’s.
Arlovski – Former UFC Champ
Sylvia – Former UFC Champ
Barnette – Former UFC Champ
Fedor – Beat All three of the above former UFC Champions, as well as Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, and Big Nog (All former UFC Champs)
You know EJ, you are probably right… There is no way these guys could hang with the heavyweights in the UFC………
Curtis, a quick correction, Fedor hasn’t beaten Barnett yet. (Nog beat Barnett soundly, though, and so did CroCop)
EJ, please feel free to ignore what Fedor did to Arlovski and Sylvia. Clearly you were a Pride “debunker” back in the day.
All that’s been proven is that fighting in a cage and fighting in the ring are two totally different things, but anyone who’s fought in both knows that already.
If you think a fighter needs to be in the UFC to prove he’s the best, then that’s fine, but who has Lesnar beaten to prove he’s the best? Herring? Couture? Who has Mir beaten? Nogueira? Lesnar?
My point is not that their wins suck, it’s that all of their credibility is based on two or three fights. Fedor has 29 wins, with four wins over guys who are in the top ten now (and if you want to go back to who was in the top ten at the time he fought them, that goes up to somewhere between 7 and 9).
Oh yea it was his lil bro wasn’t it….
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