UFC Heavyweight Division Lacks Depth
Posted by Matt SeenBrock Lesnar is the UFC Heavyweight champion along with Antonio “Big Nog” Nogueira.
Lesnar holds the UFC heavyweight belt – does that make sense?
In a sport that is vying with boxing for pay per view ratings supremacy and mainstream acceptance, someone with a grand total of four professional fights is on top of the premier division in the sport.
Quickly name another professional mainstream sport where the competitor can win three of their first four matches and be the champ. Sure golf, tennis and other individual professional sports have the occasional Cinderella story where a nobody comes along and wins a tournament but that still would not put them number one in the rankings overall. That type of accomplishment in almost every other mainstream pro sport takes months and months if not years of battling it out and clawing your way to the top.
Not in the heavyweight division of the UFC. Four fights.
Recapping the steps Lesnar took to becoming crowned the best in the division:
1. An easy opening opponent
2. A loss to someone with talent
3. A smothering of Heath Herring
4. A victory over a legend in the sport but who respectfully is no longer in his prime
5. May we present you with your belt Mr. Champion
Taking nothing away from Lesnar - he is a physical specimen of shocking speed, strength and flexibility for someone his size – but the UFC needs to have greater depth in their heavyweight division if they want to smash pay-per-view records going forward.
For the diehard MMA fan, Lesnar is a champion that brings on mixed emotions. On one hand he is a freak of nature that causes jaw to drop as he walks into the cage.
On the other hand, he represents what the sport of MMA initially set out to disprove – that the big men can be submitted through technical superiority by their smaller but more skilled counterparts. Instead, as Randy Couture put it at the end of UFC91, Lesnar is just “one big sumbitch” that is tough for the talented MMA fighters to game plan around.
Congratulations goes out to Lesnar but at the same time the UFC needs to continue to find and groom top talent in the heavyweight division to maintain credibility in the mainstream.
We hear you Brock – now let’s make sure we continue to hear from others.
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November 21st, 2008 at 10:43 am
right on
November 21st, 2008 at 11:21 am
Ya. Brock has 4 fights and he’s the UFC champ?
It sort of makes the sport look stupid. But he got lucky. He will lose his next fight and be out of the UFC soon.
Mark my words.
November 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Once Carwin and Cain step their games up a few notches, the UFC heavies will be complete.
Brock will get the snot beat out of him in his 2nd fight from now.
If Mir or Nog can beat him, it will be by a sub and he won’t have a scratch on him.
November 21st, 2008 at 7:09 pm
They should have put him in front of Gonzaga! I think he would have beaten lesnar instead of couture. coutures style is horrible against lesnar. You gotta KO or submit him quikly.. or REALLY outlast and have an awesome chin.
The 1st is the best. Kick his head off!
November 22nd, 2008 at 7:44 pm
wow whoever writes for this webpage is retarded. The ufc heavyweight division has never been this stacked in all of its history. I’m not gonna name off the roster, the writers here need to do some research before they post these retarded articles.
November 22nd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
The amount of fights means nothing you retards. These fighters fight 3X a year average, this isnt retarded american baseball where they play 180 meaningless games. Every fight counts , every fight is important, it takes a year or two to sort out divisions, not a season, you ****ing american retards.
Wow americans are a truly retarded race.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:30 am
Your mother..
What are you talking about? The UFC Heavyweight division isn’t stacked.
It’s horrible right now.
It has a 45 year old Randy Couture, some guy with 4 fights who is their CHAMPION and Nog.
Then a couple of guys who are YEARS away from the best.
Arlovski, Barnett, Fedor, Werdum, Overeem and Tim Sylvia. ALL in the top 10 and ALL fighting with other organizations.
Get your facts straight before you mouth off.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
another retarded brainwashed american who clicked on sherdogs top 10 hw list.
Besides Fedor those are mediocre fighters with average records who have done absolutely nothing spectacular, but have been ko’ed or domintaed in spectacular fashion. lol. another MMA newb sigh. Can’t argue with a brainwashed newb.
All those fighters you listed besides fedor and overeem have average ufc records you huge huge newb. (cept tim sylvia his is horrible)
Top ten lists are for huge american newbs such as yourself. lol Barnett, tim sylvia???????? overeem???????? lolololololololol Arlovski=overated ,but good at beating hacks. Werdum????????? so because he went 2-2 in ufc and lost to every big name in pride he is a top ten?????
**** man you are sriously retarded.
November 24th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
yourmother,
You don’t seem to like Americans…..I can only imagine what loser country you come from…..always jealous of the americans!!!! loser
November 25th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Interesting mix of emotions from you guys.. and a whole lot of ignorance. Brock, 4 fights in, the champ… This is true. He got a shot at A LEGEND and DOMINATED him. Must I remind you that Couture won the title IN HIS 4th FIGHT? And Brock is going to have his hands full soon, because the division has a lot of talent coming up. Though I dont know who can beat him at this point, let alone once he develops some real skills.. He’ll be unbeatable unless the put him in there with Fedor.
November 27th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Put some actual well thought out analysis into your work instead of knee jerk “oh noes!!!” reactions. Go troll sherdog with that mess, you’re supposed to be giving an alternative to that mess.
Ditto what John said… Coutoure was champion after his 4th fight. Also, following your logic, wouldn’t allowing a 40 year old man past his prime to win the title be more indicative of a weak division than the guy who beat him?
Why not call a spade a spade? Regardless of where he came from, Lesnar presents enormous challenges to whoever he fights, regardless of who has the edge, with *legitimate* MMA skills.
The first M in MMA is mixed. If he hadn’t competed in any type of competition it would be one thing. Jits guys who do well in sundials and grappling tournements come in with a good base with which to learn from. Same with Division 1 wrestling champions.
MMA has 4 major components, you have to be great at one, and well rounded in the others to compete at a high level. Wrestling, Muy Thai, Jew Jitsu, and Boxing…
Being elite at 1/4 of the game walking in is a huge advantage. Especially since great wrestlers have a habit of dictating the style of the fight.
Brock has proven to be great at wrestling, can work in the clinch, and has heavy heavy hands/knees/elbows, with an obvious deficiency in Jits that he has to work around.
November 29th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Yourmother,
How are you laughing at Barnett and Arlovski?
I’d love to see your top 10.
Igor, Mark Kerr, Coleman..
Get with the times dude..
December 4th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
top ten lists are for ignorant noobie american brainwashed idiots such as yourself
January 20th, 2009 at 1:08 am
I think you are thinking like sukrat, but I think you should cover the other side of the topic in the post too…
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