Preach it Yeti

I think it's a huge thing for the UFC that its, say, top four or five contenders, in every division, stand to become champions the instant they enter any other organization. With the exception of M-1 Global's HW division, of course.

On the one hand it's true that there is (currently) nobody left to compete against Silva, GSP or Penn in their respective divisions. They each are such masters that they make it all look so easy, to the shattering heartbreak of umpteen chumps who figure they can do it too, only to have their faces pushed in :)

At the same time, that's what makes them champions. Great ones. The world loves a great champion, and the admiration and respect that people as fans have for them and their accomplishments increases the value of these belts immeasurably. This because no one can forsee any of these three losing without some sort of divine intervention.

Perfect example is Mike Tyson. For any of us who are old enough to have seen him rampaging through people when he was in his prime, in the pre-Robin Givens days, it was a major thing to see Iron Mike in action. There was nobody who was competing at his level for a certain window of time, and for those of us who witnessed the mastery then look back and color ourselves lucky for having seen it.

These are the stars of today, right now, and we musn't diminish them because they can't find worthy opponents. It's the opponents who are lacking at present, and the onus is on them to establish their worthiness to go for the title.

@dinksmack-agreed

i'll enjoy every second of this Primetime and this fight... watching gsp perform is like watching Jordan in his prime... its fkn beautiful.

i appoligise for that your right but he did beat better guys in more impressive ways. hardy yes has more wins in the ufc. hes also been in the ufc alot longer.

@Lorenzoe553

Paul Daley is higher in the rankings according to whom? I cannot find him any higher than 7, where Hardy is 5. Daley is 2-0 Hardy is 4-0. Hardy has 2 less losses than Daley on their overall mma record (same number of wins).

I'm no Hardy apologist, and I think Daley would have a better chance, but c'mon you guys!

id definately prefer paul dailey. tko'd campman and knocked out hazelett clean. hardys gone to decision split with unfocused marcus davis and unanimus against a mike swick that hasnt been himself in the last couple of fights. hes famous for knocking out some random nobody. daleys even higher in the division rankings so why he has to even go up against koscheck is messed up to me. gsp should win either way.

I think it will be a exciting fight and i do agree that hardy isn't worthy a title shot but who is at this point? I don't see anyone other that is worthy and GSP can't wait forever to defend his title.

they definitely shouldnt waste promotions on hardy. but to say that theres better competition in other organizations is true in the fact that other organizations dont have champions as good as the ufc. in the example of ufc vs. strikeforce melendez vs. bj, bj no contest. diaz vs. st. pierre obvious. silva vs. shields....really? machida vs. mousasi...catch on yet. and lesner vs. overeem....yeah. the "contenders" in the ufc would not only be better competition for strikeforce but a good portion of them would become champions wherever they went if they went to any other organization.

^^^ agreed. Even guys like Keith Jardine could dominate in another organization - which is why Dana is not likely to cut people who fall from the top 10 rankings but still put on good fights.

@bringbackDouchealu - Seriously, when you've got guys that are sooooo completely dominant in their divisions like GSP, BJ, and Anderson Silva they make it look super easy. Well, I guess you will have to watch some old re-runs f the Golden Girls on May 8th... enjoy. :)

Bringbackbabalu says:

"Maia, Hardy, and Edgar all have something in common...even in Strikeforce, or in Japan Dream/WVR, these guys would be mid-carders."


Yeah, no, that is incorrect. Over and over we've seen that guys leave the UFC and are instant contenders, champions, and headliners in other orgs. Just wanted to point out that your hyperbole got away from you on that one.

Gee Babalu... if you're going to complain so much, at least propose a better opponent. If Hardy doesn't deserve a shot, who does?

Why must they waste a primetime on this fight. I don't care what they do, or how much they hype it, I still have no interest in this fight. Hardy isn't even a legit top 10 WW, with horrible style to fight Georges. Why does anyone care about this in the least? MW and LW are the same, who cares what happens when the best fighters are not in the UFC fighting for the title. Hardy, Maia, and Edgar all have a few things in common. First, they don't deserve a title shot, they haven't even been winning fights. Well Hardy I guess, but he isn't even close to top level. Maia, Hardy, and Edgar all have something in common...even in Strikeforce, or in Japan Dream/WVR, these guys would be mid-carders. They have no place fighting for the title, and if the UFC is going to push fights like this, the titles mean nothing. Last year they had 1 single title fight that was interesting to me, Shogun vs Machida, and Shogun got robbed, but still that was a true example of a pair of top guys in the division having a war. Alves vs GSP too, and I might be forgetting a couple, THEY DO OCCUR, albeit rarely.

My point again, why try and hype this fight? GSP is going to be roughly -1000 over Hardy, and no amount of shows or interviews or talking are going to make me watch this. If they try to force it on me, Im just going to push right back and not buy all these shit PPVs they are putting on. It's sad the Versus fight night is a better card than any of the ones following for the next month or two.

Weeeeed and Satan! Hardy w/the upset:0

+500 awesome. Clearly Dan Hardy has got this, he said so after all. I'm gonna place some irresponsible bets and win the big prize!