As great and exciting as the UFC’s been, helped by the benefit of having one company calling all the shots, unlike boxing. In a relatively short existence where they have already given us endless mouth watering fights and almost always the match ups we’ve been asking for, there still has been one downside….
Although we salivate at the mouth and celebrate Dana White and the company’s ability to create, or even get us talking about possible superfights, its what it leaves behind that concerns me.
The UFC is a huge, multimillion pound company, who are growing every day, but in sports combat and entertainment are still striving to compete. You just have to just look at the different in prize money between boxers and UFC fighters as proof.
For me, this is where the new trend of the superfight stems from. Although the UFC’s vast entertainment value, with all their title fights and title eliminator fights, have been exciting to watch and witness, top level competition across the divisions have been thin at times.
So when a supreme fighting machine rips through a division, naturally, the next step is to move up and challenge another champion.
I have realised these superfights are necessary to the business, as it generates huge sums of money, that can feed the machine in order to expand the talent in the weight classes.
However, the pursuit of these superfights can have a short term, detrimental effect. I first really noticed it when there was serious talk about scraping the mens flyweight division. With Demetrious Johnson being the only flyweight champion the UFC knew, since he won the inaugural title in September 2012 and went on a 11 fight, 5 year winning streak.
But as he ripped through the division, the interest started to cool and need for a top class rivalry became a necessity.
Due to this, there was talk about him being forced to move up to fight at bantamweight, which allegedly DJ was not keen on.
Then he rematched Cejudo and lost his title in what I thought was a harsh points decision (coincidence?) Cejudo, in his very next fight moved up to beat TJ Dillashaw for the bantamweight title to become a two weight world champion, then subsequently vacated the flyweight title.
The flyweight division was on the verge of being shut down but the emergence of knockout artist Deiveson Figueiredo, has single handily saved the division. But in order to do this, he has had four fights in 2020, which is almost unheard of for a champion.
Relevance and marketability is naturally an important and vital thing in sports, so this superfight trend is starting to catch on.
When Conor McGregor dispatched Jose Aldo in 13 seconds in December 2015, to claim the featherweight title, this catapulted his popularity to another level. With a whole nation behind him, it wasn’t lost on uncle Dana.
So although he had not defended his featherweight title, due to what was two mammoth fights and build ups with Nate Diaz in 2016, which elevated his market value and the UFC even further.
I suppose business wise, it made sense to move him up to lightweight to face the then champion Eddie Alveraz in November 2016, where McGregor became a two weight world champion.
This was all great for the UFC commercially, but just 14 days later, McGregor was stripped of the featherweight title for inactivity.
Tony Ferguson then won the interim lightweight title, over a year after McGregor won it, then both Ferguson and McGregor were stripped of their titles in April 2018, due to injury and inactivity respectfully.
So both the featherweight and lightweight titles for a period of over 12 months had inactivity issues and uncertainties over its champion. Although it made it exciting for the chasing pack, jostling for position to get a title shot, it felt like the UFC put those division on pause for McGregor’s marketability. Which effected some fighters.
They then had to go back and resurrect those division as Jose Aldo went on to win the featherweight title and Khabib eventually taking the lightweight title, which was not too shabby as Khabib did defend his title against McGregor.
That superfight trend continues and picked up pace. Former dominant welterweight champion George St Pierre returned after four years away from the octagon, to challenge for the middleweight title in November 2017.
The plan was if he won, superfight options with other champions would open up.
However, as great a spectacle as it was when he won in dramatic fashion against Michael Bisping, he then left the company again and left the middleweight title on the shelf, so best laid plans were shelved also.
Forcing the UFC to award Robert Whittaker the title a month later, a full five months after Whittaker won the interim middleweight belt.
This is the mess that superfights or cross division title fights leaves in its wake. On one hand, you get a great, sometimes fantasy match up, but on the other hand, it leaves uncertainty and a lot of having make do in the division behind them.
When Daniel Cormier moved up as the light heavyweight champ to beat the heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in July 2018.
Again, as superb a performance and moment as it was, when he knocked out Miocic in the first round to become a two weight title holder.
It was only for a moment, as he vacated the light heavyweight title, which he had won after Jon Jones was stripped due to drug suspension. Jones then came back won the title in December 2018, then vacated in August 2017 to move up to heavyweight himself.
Although Jon Jones vacating was exciting for the rest of the division, it felt like the light heavyweight division had lost its appeal.
When Jan Blachowicz defeated Dominick Reyes to win the light heavyweight title, although it was great for him, it says it all about the light heavyweight and the middleweight division that now the middleweight title holder Adesanya will be moving up to light heavyweight to challenge the Polish champion.
What kind of ramifications will that fight now have on either division? If Adesanya wins will he vacate the middleweight title and stay at light heavyweight?
What will it mean for the middleweight title picture? Will it be an automatic match for the vacated title? If Adesanya loses, how long will he have to defend his middleweight title? This again leaves fighters in those respected divisions at a pause.
The woman’s division have not escaped either. The featherweight division was created for Cris Cyborg Santos, who had notorious issues trying to make bantamweight.
Although the strawweight and bantamweight divisions were doing well, finding credible opponents for Cyborg became an issue, so a superfight with the bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes was inevitable.
When Nunes destroyed Cyborg in the first round in December 2018, many thought the only possible fight was a rematch.
However, Cyborg left the company and Nunes had two defences of her bantamweight title and only defended her featherweight title recently, a full 18 months after winning it against Cyborg.
With real contenders few and far between, the walls have been closing in.
With Valentina Shevchenko looking unbeatable in the flyweight division, and Amanda Nunes looking the same in her division. Though they have fought twice already in the UFC, with Nunes winning both on points.
A third real superfight at bantamweight seems inevitable, which will have ramifications and uncertainties for both the fly and bantamweight divisions, but no matter the result I cant see the woman’s featherweight division lasting much longer in the UFC.
As a UFC fan, I am not exactly complaining, cross division Superfights are the ones that really get you going and excited for the sport.
Its like when you debate about who will win out of pound for pound best fighters, but in the UFC, more often then not, we are seeing who will win play out in front of us.
However, there is no denying that the the UFC has a need for this trend and it will continue. But as much as it is needed commercially and financially, short term, it disrupts the continuity of the divisions, where they become fractured and lose momentum. This also has a knock on effect for the fighters in their respected divisions.
Although cross division superfights are a great one off moments in history, my fear is, if the UFC do no create more of and capitalise on the likes of your Conor McGregor’s, Ronda Rousey’s, Khabib’s and to a lesser extent Anderson Silva’s.
Eventually, scrapping a few weight divisions could be a real thing, and that will bring a whole knew issue with fighters being forced into fighting at a weight class that doesn’t suit them, which as we all know, sadly, brings its own health and safety issues.
