Is Dominance In The UFC A Problem?
At UFC 111 Georges St.-Pierre fought and dominated Dan Hardy in their Welterweight match-up. Not surprising. This Saturday night Anderson Silva and BJ Penn defend their titles and once again are far and away the favorites.
But are dominating champions good for the UFC?
Surely, there are some fans that enjoy watching fighters running roughshod through their entire division. Other fans would rather have a deep and talented division with the belt changing hands multiple times. But when the domination isn't limited to one fighter or one division it creates the perception that the talent pool in that given organization is top heavy. That's what's happening currently with the UFC.
[photogallerylink id=15795 align=left]It's not as if Penn, GSP and Silva are even seen as being in danger. There's hope for upsets, but how realistic those hopes can be are questionable at best right now. UFC Championship fights have grown to be too predictable. St.-Pierre vs. Hardy is the latest example. Most predictions if not all of them called the fight correctly. We all figured GSP would take the fight to the ground and smoke the Englishman.
The Lightweight and Middleweight divisions are so much a one man band that Penn and Silva have moved up in weight for the sake of a challenge and may do it again. The latest rumor swirling is that if Penn beats Frankie Edgar at UFC 112 that he'll attempt to move up to welterweight again to find a challenge. Silva's all over the map division wise to the point where a while back people were calling for him to move up to Heavyweight (that move is now unlikely with the division experiencing a rebirth).
The ultimate problem is that the perception is far from the truth. UFC has the deepest roster in MMA history. The fact is, is that GSP, Penn and Silva are so incredibly talented that they're a cut above the rest. And as long as the champs continue to improve, it's going to be tough to overcome the current situation.
The real hope as a fight fan is that the young up and coming fighters climb the ladder and challenge the cream of the crop. The challenge for fight fans is to hold on to a faithful optimism that GSP, Penn and Silva eventually meet their match, instead of shredding through fighters that have more holes in their fight game than they do. Until that moment becomes a reality, we'll have no other option than to witness the closest example of perfection we have in the octagon – GSP, Penn and Silva.
