5 UFC title fights that must happen in 2017 to restore legitimacy to the UFC
As the UFC’s mainstream appeal broadens, it looks increasingly likely that headlining fights for PPV cards would be ones that garner the public’s attention, rather than being meritorious in their essence.
This is as much a product of the times – with the UFC rising into prominence as a mainstream sport – as it is an indication of the money-first approach that the new owners that have chosen to adopt.
Understandably then, there is a rising voice of dissent amongst the hardcore fans that the UFC has placed too much importance on selling out pay-per-views by making Championship fights that are marketable, rather than ensuring that the ‘deserving’ fighter is rewarded with the title shot.
And who’s to say that they are wrong?
Interim titles, that were traditionally sanctioned only if the undisputed Champions were inactive for a year or longer, are being issued on a whim with a view to sugar coat pay-per-view cards and make them more desirable to the common man.
While this undoubtedly bulges the coffers of the UFC, it affects the sustenance of the very same hierarchy in the sport that demarcated it from the free-for-all, anything-goes circus that professional boxing has devolved into over the years.
Cash-strapped money fights galore and deserving fighters that have a legitimate claim to Title shots are overlooked and brushed aside in the process. While this trend is on an ominous upward spiral on one hand, here are 5 title fights in 2017 that – should they happen – will go a long way towards restoring a measure of legitimacy to proceedings.
#5 Daniel Cormier/Anthony Johnson vs Jon Jones
Jon Jones has been slapped with a retrospective ban from USADA that stretches till July in 2017, but from the kind of rhetoric that he spewed when he sat in with Joe Rogan on his podcast not too long back, he is chomping at the bit to make a comeback to MMA.
Approaching 30 now, Jones is just about reaching the prime of his fighting career and would love to put a plethora of setbacks – misfortunate and self-inflicted in equal measure – behind him and look to regain the UFC Light Heavyweight Title that he was never defeated for.
The current champion Daniel Cormier, although a fantastic fighter in his own right, did lose to Jones at UFC 182 while otherwise besting all the other fighters in the division at least once. It’s him and Jones in rarified air by themselves; although an argument can be made that Jones still stands head and shoulders – no pun intended – above.
Regardless, Cormier desperately needs a win over Jones to cement the legitimacy of his title. And the fighter he is scheduled to rematch next in Anthony Rumble Johnson, has long been touted as Jones’ stylistic undoing.
One of the UFC’s premier knockout artists, Anthony Johnson would also be eager to avenge his loss against Cormier so that he can capture the title and book his ticket for a dance with Jones somewhere down the line.
Either way, we cannot get around the fact that both Cormier and Johnson need to defend the Light Heavyweight crown against Jones in order to rubberstamp their resumes and rid themselves of the ignominious tag of merely being ‘paper champions’