Serra's first title defense? |
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FIGHT
Career record: 1042-566
Season: 17-7 (#753)
Location: NW Ohio - 419
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Forgive me cause i'm kind of confused right now. I've been thinking about this recently and it really doesn't make sense to me.
Please correct me if i'm wrong, but from what i've heard, we're going to have to wait until after TUF 6 to have a championship match in the WW division. I'm not completely sure, but I hear that this wont be until November. By this time, Serra will not have fought or defended his title in 7 months, and Hughes will not have fought anybody in 8 months. Add to that, his last opponent was Chris Lytle. Meanwhile, the rest of the guys in the most stacked division in the UFC are just left waiting.
IMO, Karo, Fitch, Kos, Diego, Alves, Burkman, and of course GSP are potential title contenders. Granted, most of the fighters i've named are not gonna get a title shot anytime soon, but the point i'm trying to make is there are a lot of potential match-ups that we could be seeing as opposed to seeing nothing at all.
I would understand if Serra was injured, because fighting injured can ruin careers, but this is not the case. Same thing goes for Hughes. In your opinions, is this fair for Serra to be able to milk out his title reign without fighting at all for 7 months? Is it fair that Hughes will get the next title shot despite not having fought in 8 months and his last opponent was Chris Lytle.
IMO, this is neither fair or wise decision making by Silva or whoever thought of this boring, un-entertaining, and drawn out idea. I'm well aware that alot of fighters only fight twice a year, but the fights are usually no longer that 6 months apart. Besides that, most divisions are not as stacked as the WW and it is harder to find worthy competition.
It is my opinion, in order to legitimize rankings and champions, the current champ should have to defend at least three times a year unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Last edited 7/11/07 8:27PM by gspfan
Edit note/reason: spelling correction
_______________________________________
“He called me a rapist and a recluse. I'm not a recluse” - Mike Tyson
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Post #1 5/7/07 7:07:39PM
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rcg916
He's Back...
Career record: 333-186
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: Sacramento, CA
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you make great points... but why hold MMA fighters to those kinds of work loads? Boxers must defend once a year in a mandatory defense. Why should an MMA champion have to defend three times in the same span? twice would be plenty, I think, and it would give the contenders more time to work, and possibly lead to some nice number one contenders match ups.
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Post #2 5/7/07 7:22:51PM
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Ultimate_fighter
Banned
Career record: 155-87
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: Ogema, Saskatchewan, Canada
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WW is gonna be a boring division, until the title is on the line, which of course won't be for a while.
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Post #3 5/7/07 7:45:11PM
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MattHughesFan
MMA Regular
Career record: 245-153
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: New York
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Posted by rcg916
you make great points... but why hold MMA fighters to those kinds of work loads? Boxers must defend once a year in a mandatory defense. Why should an MMA champion have to defend three times in the same span? twice would be plenty, I think, and it would give the contenders more time to work, and possibly lead to some nice number one contenders match ups.
That's why MMA is a bigger drew then boxing, we have more title defenses in on year then Boxing and they have like 4 times the amount of titles. I think it's wrong. I think Hughes/Serra should fight in August despite the show. The UFC WW devision is the most talented division right now and it's wrong to put it on hold. As of now the only progress to be made in the WW division is a #1 contenders match between GSP and Kosh
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Post #4 5/7/07 10:08:44PM
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SteedTheDeed
Standup Guy
Career record: 512-338
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: Portland
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they both are healthy, they could fight at 71, 72, so on.
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Post #5 5/7/07 10:19:09PM
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xthe_scottx
In Full Mount
Career record: 196-114
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: Fort Bragg, North Carolina
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Posted by Ultimate_fighter
WW is gonna be a boring division, until the title is on the line, which of course won't be for a while.
How could WW be boring just because two people won't fight for a while. GSP vs Koscheck will be awesome and just think about all the possible match ups with these fighters:
Thiago Alves
Josh Burkman
Roan Carniero
Luke Cummo (looked very inpressive against Haynes)
Marcus Davis
Jon Fitch
Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Jeff Joslin
Keita Nakamura
Karo Parisyan
BJ Penn
Diego sanchez
Paul Taylor
It is too bad Hughes and Serra won't fight for a while but remember, just because a title isn't on the line doesn't mean it can't be a great fight.
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Post #6 5/8/07 12:28:06AM
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richieb19
MMA Sensei
Career record: 150-107
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: Calgary
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I don't understand the idea behind the coaches for TUF 6, it just doesnt really seem like that big of a draw to me to have a former winner and one time champion going against a prior coach on the most boring season... meh
On a side note, the division will not fail in being one of the most entertaining and stacked in all of the sport... and mark my words Jeff Joslin will impress!!!
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Post #7 5/8/07 1:14:02AM
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coopdro
Learning to Sprawl
Career record: 96-61
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location:
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It's BS IMO ... Some of these contenders have been busting their asses to get to a title. Look at the road GSP had to take to get the shot at the title. Serra wins a TV show tournament and picks up the belt from GSP and now he get's almost a year of breathing room??? Too much top notch competition to have a gap like that ESPECIALLY when you look at who's wearing the belt.
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Post #8 5/8/07 1:12:03PM
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FIGHT
Career record: 1042-566
Season: 17-7 (#753)
Location: NW Ohio - 419
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Posted by Ultimate_fighter
WW is gonna be a boring division, until the title is on the line, which of course won't be for a while.
First thing, I didn't mean to imply that the WW division is going to be boring. I realize that just because a fight isn't for a title, it doesn't mean it will be any less exciting.
Now. I think the real thing that gets me about all this is, I don't think Serra is gonna be able to successfully defend his title even once. I do like Matt Serra and I actually believe he may be a bit under-rated, so I may end up eating my words when it's all said and done. And he did beat the champ so he does deserve to be the champ, I just believe that their milking this is pretty rediculous. Reason being, it's pretty obvious that Serra isn't the best WW in the UFC and probably not even in the top 3. I say they should congratulate him on his accomplishment, let him have his title reign for a proper amount of time, then make him defend against one of the many potential title contenders.
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“He called me a rapist and a recluse. I'm not a recluse” - Mike Tyson
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Post #9 5/8/07 5:16:54PM
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Rush
Laying down the beats
Career record: 467-329
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: Canadian living in the SF Bay Area
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I don't think the wait is all that strange. Typically WW title defenses were about 3 per 12 month period. A fight in November would be a good break and hopefully make room for other weight division defenses.
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Post #10 5/8/07 5:31:20PM
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ReproMan
Learning to Sprawl
Career record: 381-255
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: Stuart, Florida
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Seems to me the UFC is trying to milk Serra being the champ for all it's worth.
Serra is a great guy with a great personality, just the kinda guy you'd want as a champ. But let's be realistic, with all of that talent in that division, there is no way any one guy can hold onto the title for an extended period of time (we all thought GSP would be that guy and look what happened.)
Serra can serve as a great ambassador for the sport, and for the company ($$$.) Not to mention give the UFC some time to clear the division up a little with some key matchups for contender spots.
Unfortunately, it's us the true fight fans that have to suffer.
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Post #11 5/8/07 6:25:45PM
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Lord_Lenny
In Full Mount
Career record: 511-356
Season: 8-3 (#1795)
Location: Montana
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i dont think its going to hurt the WW division as a whole, look at the lightweight division, sean sherk was hurt and hasnt put up the title in a long time, but the lightweight matches have been some of the most entertaining. the only people its going to hurt are serra and hughes who will probably lose a lot of popularity (unless they stir things up in TUF) I for one think they should fight before TUF and maybe shake things up a little
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Post #12 5/8/07 9:49:03PM
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Mastodon2
MMA Sensei
Career record: 188-114
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: Newcastle England
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Its not suprising to me that they are trying to draw out the championship reign of Matt Serra.
The whole Idea of TUF4 was shake up two divisions with some wildcard title challenges. Dana got that with Serra, and in a shocking upset fashion. After Lutter failed to make weight and the Silva / Lutter fight was made a non-title match half of Dana's investment in TUF4 went down the pan, as Lutter proved that he just didnt really care, that his heart wasnt really in it. What must have been even more frustrating for Dana was that even Lutter going at half steam gave Silva a bit of a run for his money, so imagine if he had made weight, and gone in there ready to destroy Silva, rather than just fighting for the paycheque...
Since half of the investment in TUF4 came to nothing, they need to get as much out of their investment as they can, so they want to make a legit champ out of Serra, even if that means extending his reign by having no WW title fights for the best part of a year.
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Post #13 5/9/07 3:03:53PM
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coopdro
Learning to Sprawl
Career record: 96-61
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location:
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Posted by Lord_Lenny
i dont think its going to hurt the WW division as a whole, look at the lightweight division, sean sherk was hurt and hasnt put up the title in a long time, but the lightweight matches have been some of the most entertaining. the only people its going to hurt are serra and hughes who will probably lose a lot of popularity (unless they stir things up in TUF) I for one think they should fight before TUF and maybe shake things up a little
I wouldn't agree with this since the lightweight division is still being established in the UFC. It's going to be a bit longer before we establish the major contenders in the LW division.
There are a potential 4-5 contenders that could take a shot at the title at any time right now that have been fighting for that position. I believe this long gap is hurting the contenders that have earned the position to make a run at the title.
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Post #14 5/9/07 4:30:41PM
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MethodMan
MMA Regular
Career record: 58-26
Season: 0-0 (#-)
Location: North Wales
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As a big Karo fan, and having seen his win over Sera and other WW fighters and watched his progress through the years, he definatly deserves a fight for a top contender spot with perhaps Koscheck, while GSP should have a rematch with Sera before hughs gets another shot at the title.It seems that Dana's favourites move up the ladder and get more chances to prove themselves than other fighters who have more legitimate claims as top 2 or 3 in the WW devision. I know Serra and Hughs are geting on a bit and perhaps need shots at the titles before retirement but we are unlikly to see a champion at their peak like Hughes was 5-6 years ago if the younger guys dont get the fights and rewards that are coming to them.
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Post #15 5/11/07 5:33:43AM
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