#1 Contender Match? Not So Much...
("Considering our fight is pretty much meaningless now, we're just gonna bro out for a while, if that's cool.")
Partly because of BJ Penn's restlessness and partly because of Roger Huerta's stalled contract negotiations the UFC is no longer promising that the winner of Saturday's match between El Matador and Kenny Florian will get an immediate title shot. During an appearance on TAGG Radio, Dana White edited previous statements about the fight's #1 contender status:
"There's no guarantees that Florian and Huerta are going to get a title shot after this fight," White said of Saturday's lightweight bout. "It definitely puts them in the mix ... but definitely, if St. Pierre beats Fitch, it's looking like it'll be GSP (vs.) B.J. Penn."
The thing is, that's not exactly how Penn sees it. The Prodigy recently told MMA Weekly that he's 170-bound no matter what happens in tomorrow night's main event:
"I'd feel okay facing anyone for the welterweight title...It would be great to put on a big fight with me and St-Pierre, but then again, it’s about me fighting the best fighter and if Fitch goes down and proves he’s the best fighter, then he’s the man."
I get the feeling that becoming the lightweight champ was merely the means to an end for Penn, and he really, really, doesn't want anything to do with being a 155-pounder. Maybe he sees welterweight as more of a marquee division in the UFC than the lightweights. Maybe he just misses eating what he wants.
Sorta related: Though we passed along the rumor that a potential year-end superfight between Penn and GSP might go down in Montreal, Fightlinker points out that the Bell Centre is pretty much booked solid in November and December thanks to Montreal Canadiens home games, aside from the first two Saturdays in November:
Considering the UFC already has UFC 89 on October 18th and UFC 90 on October 25th, I doubt they’d be throwing another event together for the beginning of November. So there you go: No Montreal show, unless they’re hardcore enough to try that stadium thing.
Considering UFC 83 was a rapid 21,000-seat sellout, maybe taking it to the next level wouldn't be that crazy of an idea...
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Comments
mmaCanada Says:
21,000 seats sold out by presale and a 2 minute ticketmaster blitz.
I don't think it'd be that far fetched to say they could sell 50,000+ tickets in the Olympic stadium (it seats 70,000 I think)... imagine the live gate of that sucker!
sol Says:
i wouldn't cal it far fetched to try a stadium. Aside from St.Pierre getting his remtach I dont really remember any exciting fights to look forward to in the build-up.
Imagine the kinda fights they could put together on a card with BJ Penn vs GSP. That shit would sell out faster possibly.
sol Says:
meant to say St.Pierre getting his rematch with Serra and no exciting fights on that card.
ThatsRowdy Says:
Is Florian wearing a Mr. Rogers cardigan sweater?!?! haha.
Jeffro Says:
Holy shit. UFC in a Stadium would be epic. Even if it was in America jr.
Hot damn them Canadians love them some Gorge St. Pierre. They should call him Captian Canadia!
neon Says:
canada is a loyal country!! GO GSP!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous Says:
Good! I remember being disappointed in May when they first announced huerta florian to b an eliminator for the title. No matter what dana white says about his lightweight division in my opinion it is the ufc's weakest even weaker than their HW division. They have alot of fighters but imo only sherk and penn can really b considered top ten LW. Penn is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world no doubt. Sherk is probably very dependent on his next fight to stay in the top ten of the division. So if anything florian huerta could b an eliminator to see who gets sherk next and a chance to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. I will now list a few of the LightWeights that other organizations have that i consider to b far superior to both florian and huerta...in no particular order....Shinya Aoki, Joachim Hansen, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gesias Calvacante, Eddie Alvarez, Josh Thomson, Takanori Gomi, and Gilbert Melendez. NOw I ask u HOW the heck the ufc can make these claims about their lightweight division when the only fighter to b consistently considered better than these fighters i named is penn in their whole LW division??
Anonymous Says:
Last post by was by Jonny Cinquo sorry forgot to type a name to go along with my rant.
Dana White Says:
jonny ur a fag..u no nothing about mma.i am mma mothafucka!!
UFC Defender Says:
Good idea to post as anonymous --- calling the UFC's lightweight division weak. Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen is a "decent" fighter but, like others before him, would likely fail in the UFC. Big ditto for Gomi, who lacks a wrestling game and has poor jui-jitsu defense. The UFC has BIG, strong lightweights. These are the kind of lightweights that git fits to guys like Hansen (who makes heavy use of his strength advantage) and Gomi (who can't wrestle). Gomi lost to Nick Diaz, in part because of a size disparity. Florian and Huerta probably should fight to see who gets a crack at Sherk. Sherk and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson are probably a step above those guys because of their size. Ken-Flo and Huerta have great skill, but muscle can win a lot of fights (see Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck for examples). Sherk may look (ahem, BE) one-dimensional, but he's ridiculously strong and I'd put serious green on Sherk over Hanson, Gomi, or any Japanese 155lb fighter.
Penn is clearly the number one 155'er on the planet. No question. Still, I like the UFC's stable of 155's, even without Penn, more than any other organization out there.
As a side note ---- Just how awesome is Penn? He's the best 155 on the planet and is still a top 10 welterweight, too. He should stay in his division and rule it. A big money fight with GSP makes financial sense, but GSP is just too much man for him now. Look at how Hughes used strength to overcome the skill advantage in his last fight with Penn. Then look at how much stronger than Hughes GSP has been in their last two fights. GSP is just too physically powerful for Penn. Oh, and GSP is also far more skilled than Hughes, so the skill advantage for Penn would be less than it was against Hughes. GSP would annihilate Penn at 170. Now, if GSP dropped to 155...