Urijah Faber: Best of the Rest

If Urijah Faber manages to pull off the upset against Renan Barao, on Feb 1, he will be adorned with UFC gold. If he fails, however, he may be the recipient of another crown - the best fighter in UFC history to have never won a title.

This unwanted and unfortunate honour has a few potential candidates, Kenny Florian and Dan Henderson perhaps being the most noteworthy. Faber is slightly unique though, he can't quite win a world title but he is head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. 

He is the best of the rest.

Faber has had 36 professional fights - 30 wins and 6 losses. All six of his losses came in title fights. In fact, he is 0-5 in his last five opportunities to become a world champion. Never though has he lost a non-title fight, those he usually wins comprehensively. 

He occupies an unusual space in the MMA landscape, mere yards below the champions but a mile above everyone else. The Team Alpha Male leader is trapped in no-man's-land.

It must be a frustrating position to be in, akin to finishing in fourth place at the Olympics. Good, just not good enough for something shiny. 

His last successful title bout was a defence of his WEC featherweight championship against Jens Pulver. Yeah, it was that long ago. Since then Faber is 9-5. All nine wins were obtained in non-title fights and all five losses came when challenging for a belt - the story of Faber's career.

Of those nine victories, seven were finished inside the distance - all by submission. The two bouts that did go the distance were unanimous decisions. This highlights Faber's dominance - when not competing for a championship. He has strong boxing, wrestling and wicked chokes. There are no holes in his game which is why he is only ever beaten by pure class.

He may reign over the rest of the division but the fact that he has lost his last five title fights suggests that, maybe, he just isn't at the level needed to be a UFC champion.

That might not be the whole story though.

Perhaps he is merely a victim of circumstance. Unlucky that the champions in his way have been as elite as it gets. Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao, the men at the top of the bantamweight division, are unbeaten in the UFC and hold a combined record of 8-0. 

UFC 169 will be Faber's third attempt for the UFC bantamweight title. Considering he is 0-2 in his previous endeavours, it seems rather likely that this will be his last opportunity to take home the bantamweight strap.

That, however, was the consensus after his last failed attempt - a loss to Dominick Cruz - and yet here we are. His popularity and dominance over the remainder of the division continues to supersede his age and poor track record in title fights. So this may not be Faber's last chance after all, if he continues to be the best of the rest.

Chris Weidman: Breaking Free of Anderson Silva

Chris Weidman has now beaten Anderson Silva, the man universally regarded as the greatest of all time, twice. First, to win the UFC middleweight title and then to retain it. So one week on, Weidman has been soaking up the plaudits. Right? Well, not quite.

I know Weidman has a world championship belt and functional limbs but he, too, can be considered rather unfortunate following his duels with Silva.

Bear with me.

Weidman's victories, life changing career-propelling wins, can both conceivably be called flukes. If not flukes, then certainly the results of freak occurrences.

The manner in which his wins were obtained is inescapable. Naysayers will always be able to point to their fluky nature. In many ways, the magnitude of his accomplishments have been diminished and by no fault of his own. 

In the lead up to those defining moments, Weidman was dominating but Silva toyed in the first and then toiled in the second. As a result, everyone was robbed of a conventional result. Most importantly, Chris Weidman was robbed. He was robbed of a definitive win over the greatest of all time, twice.  

The nature of the wins caused the aftermath, on each occasion, to be focused on Silva's shortcomings. The adulation, the praise, it has all been diluted for Weidman.

Which is unfortunate because it can be argued, and argued convincingly, that both wins were as a result of Weidman's competence as a fighter. Perhaps each occasion was merely a case of his skill and preparation being presented with an opportunity. Nevertheless, there will always be an asterisk beside those wins.

As fight fans, we want decisive answers. We dislike what ifs and maybes. It is why we yearned to see Mayweather vs. Pacquiao and why questionable decisions urk us so much. We need closure.

This is something we didn't get and likely never will from Weidman fighting Silva.

So not only does Weidman have to follow Silva's historic reign as middleweight champion, he has to do it with a monkey on his back.

Weidman will have to face a murderers row straight away. Fighters like Vitor Belfort, Lyoto Machida, Jacare Souza and Gegard Mousasi are waiting in the wings.

Luckily, and I use the term lightly, Belfort is up next for Weidman. I say lucky because Weidman needs a guy like Belfort next. He has been on an absolute tear and will provide an excellent litmus test for the champion. 

Following the bizarre nature of the Silva fights, this bout will be pivotal. If Weidman wins then he will have proven himself to the doubters and if he loses many will consider the Silva fights to be flukes.

As Jon Jones has shown, it only takes a couple of years and a string of big wins to forge a legacy. Weidman now has this opportunity and he has to take it if he is to break free and leave the shadow of Anderson Silva.

Benson Henderson: The Hunt for Recognition and Redemption

Benson Henderson currently occupies an unusual space, he has reached the pinnacle of his profession, winning and retaining a world title, but he is not yet a star. At UFC 164, he will be fighting for recognition, something that has so far eluded his tenure as champion, and, because of the opponent, redemption.

As a lightweight in the UFC, Henderson is 7-0 and 4-0 in title fights. That is an impressive feat. The manner of many of his victories, however, has been less so. In seven fights, he has failed to finish a single opponent and two of his three title defenses have been split decisions. 

Henderson is the king of his division but he has just been eeking by his opponents. He has not yet achieved that career-defining win. Until that happens, he will remain in the mid to low region of the pound-for-pound rankings and will continue to be an uncelebrated champion.

He is the king of his division, he just has to encapsulate that into a single performance. Destroy the next best guy in the division. The king needs to unquestionably be the king. So far, Henderson has beaten everyone he has needed to at lightweight, just never in spectacular fashion. This is why he is currently treading water as a champion who is not yet a star, still chasing recognition.

In his 13 fights within the WEC and UFC, only one man has beaten Henderson. That man is Anthony Pettis. It was at the last ever WEC event, WEC 53, and Henderson was attempting to defend his lightweight title in his home state of Arizona. 

As if losing his title in his home state wasn't bad enough, Henderson was victim to perhaps the most jaw dropping moment in MMA history. In the final minute of the final round, Pettis pulled off the kick heard around the world. The 'Showtime Kick' is one of the sport's greatest highlight reels and Henderson is the recipient. 

Redemption is a powerful motivational tool though and Henderson has said that he is looking forward to erasing "that Pettis stain on my soul". 

At UFC 164, Henderson will get the chance to kill two birds with one stone. If he beats Pettis, and retains his belt, he will avenge his only loss in the last six years. If he beats him decisively, he can silence the naysayers. Recognition and redemption will be his.

Condit and Kampmann: Fighting for Relevancy at UFC Fight Night 27

The main event at UFC Fight Night 27 will pit two perennial welterweight contenders against each other in a fight for relevancy. In terms of title contention, one man will be fighting to stay relevant and the other will be fighting to become relevant.

Carlos Condit and Martin Kampmann will fight each other for the second time next Wednesday (Aug. 28) on Fox Sports 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana. In their first bout Kampmann defeated Condit via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28), it was Condit's promotional debut and only Kampmann's second fight as a welterweight in the UFC. Now, however, they are both seasoned campaigners in the division with UFC gold on their minds.

Since their first meeting, and despite losing, it is Condit who has had more success. Following that split decision loss in 2009, Condit has gone 5-2 in the UFC. It was a run that included a five fight winning streak that only came to an end when he faced Georges St-Pierre, unsuccessfully, for the UFC welterweight championship. He is currently the number two ranked welterweight in the UFC and his last six fights have produced five post-fight bonuses and an interim title.

Kampmann, on the other hand, is 5-4 since he fought Condit and two of those losses were via TKO in the first round. His path has not been laden with gold nor has it come even come close. Instead, he has spent his 11 fight spell as a welterweight in the UFC stuck in the lower half of the top 10. He is currently ranked at number six in the UFC's official rankings.

They both have three opponents in common and, interestingly, they share the same results. They both lost to Jake Shields, beat JakeEllenberger and they were both beaten by number one contender Johny Hendricks in their last outing. So MMA math is especially useless here.

Condit has worn both UFC and WEC gold and is still under 30, he is firmly entrenched in the upper echelon of the welterweight division. This territory, occupied by a small number of elite fighters, is one that Condit is fighting to remain in and Kampmann is fighting to break into. Kampmann has always been on the outside looking in, a couple of big wins are usually followed by a loss and his progression up the rankings stalls.

After dropping back to back fights, Condit's back is up against the wall, a win is pretty much a necessity if he has any intention of remaining relevant in the title picture. Kampmann, however, is at a crossroads. A win thrusts him into the title picture and a loss condemns him as a perennial 5-10 ranked welterweight, completely irrelevant as a title threat.

This headline fight is intriguingly poised, it is a rare non-title fight with real consequences. They will both, under different circumstances, be fighting for relevancy. 

The Last Chance Saloon for Shogun and Sonnen

The main event at UFC Fight Night 26 is Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs Chael Sonnen. They are both in the twilight of their careers and they are both coming into this fight off a loss, two in Sonnen's case. To continue being someone who matters, a win on Saturday night is pretty much a necessity. 

Since defeating Chuck Liddell in the first round in 2009, Shogun has traded wins and losses in the UFC. His overall record in the company is 6-6. Sonnen's record in the UFC, in two separate stints, is strikingly similar at 5-5. A combined record of 11-11 is not something you would expect from participants in the headline bout of a UFC card. However, their records are more of a testament to the level of competition they have faced rather than a knock on their talent or lack thereof. 

Interestingly, despite seeming very similar, their records in the UFC, upon closer examination, can be quite contrasting. Both are .500 fighters whose losses came against only the best. Their wins, however, are quite different. The five victories in Shogun's UFC career were against opponents who are 7-16 over the last four years. Sonnen's victories in the UFC came against opponents who, conversely, are 29-17 in the last four years.

Other than his title winning effort against Lyoto Machida, Shogun's wins in the UFC have come against Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin and Brandon Vera. All of whom were aging fighters past their prime by the time Shogun met them in the octagon. Sonnen's wins, on the other hand, were against legitimate contenders. Fighters like Yushin Okami, Nate Marquardt, Brian Stann and Michael Bisping.

This, perhaps, partly explains why Sonnen is currently the favorite despite the fact that he has never won in the UFC as a light heavyweight and Shogun is the former UFC light heavyweight champion. There are, of course, other factors that determine Sonnen's status as favorite. Neither wrestling nor cardio is Shogun's strong suit but Sonnen excels in both. A troublesome combination for Shogun, especially in a five round fight.

These two fighters are battling to swim against the current. They are in the autumn of their careers and title opportunities are moving further and further away. The loser will almost certainly never be thought of as a contender again.  

Since he lost his title, Shogun has twice lost to fellow contenders and is now firmly behind in the pecking order. Alexander Gustaffson will be the next man to face Jon Jones then there is Glover Teixeira, Daniel Cormier and Phil Davis waiting in the wings. Sonnen has lost all three of his title fights in the UFC. In fact, his last two fights were defeats in title bouts, in two different divisions. Both men are in desperate need of a win if they are to remain relevant.

Sonnen, however, is in a slightly better position than Shogun. He recently announced that he has signed a new five-fight contract with the UFC and will be moving back down to middleweight following the fight with Shogun. The consequences of a Sonnen loss, therefore, have been greatly diminished now he is leaving the light heavyweight division behind. Whereas Shogun is in danger of falling out of the top ten should he be defeated on Saturday night. 

Luckily for Sonnen, Anderson Silva lost his belt and the middleweight division has opened up for him. Sonnen was likely to never get another shot at Silva and the middleweight title again. But now Chris Weidman is the champion, fighters like Sonnen and Belfort are back in the running for a shot at the belt (providing Weidman retains his belt at UFC 168). 

Also, Sonnen has been, rather vocally, targeting Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva lately. So there are, at least, some interesting potential match-ups in his future. The same can't really be said for Shogun. A loss would be devastating. Rather than making runs at the title, he would instead, should his career continue, take on the role as gatekeeper for entry into the upper echelon of the division. A depressing duty for a legendary fighter to undertake. There is just something so sad about witnessing the gradual decline of a former champion, the transformation from a lion into just the guy in a lion's suit.

The outcome of the main event at UFC Fight Night 26 will very likely reinvigorate the career of the victor whilst killing the career of the defeated. One man's prospects may be sunnier than the others but both men, to some extent, are in the last chance saloon. 

UFC 163: A Makeshift Event

UFC 163 has been broken, fixed, broken and put back together again. The event is an unwanted return to the injury-ravaged cards that plagued 2012 for the UFC. 

The injury bug has returned with a vengeance and UFC 163 bore the brunt of the damage. The main card in particular has been bit hard, all but one of the bouts have either been altered or removed altogether due to injuries. Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis is the only fight on the main card that has remained unchanged. 

First, the original main event, Jose Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis, fell through. This, unquestionably, would have been one of the biggest fights of the year. Both are astonishingly talented and have the potential to be multi-divisional champions. The thought of those two sharing a cage really whet the appetite of the MMA community. It wasn't to be though, Pettis injured his knee and was replaced by Jung Chan-Sung - or the Korean Zombie as the UFC has, solely, marketed him in all of their promotional content.

Even though this is almost guaranteed to be a fun fight, it is still somewhat of a mismatch. 

The Zombie may be the most exciting fighter in MMA. In the past three years, he has won two fight of the year awards which sandwiched a submission of the year honor. Nevertheless, Aldo is a top three pound-for-pound fighter and the Zombie is just three fights removed from a two fight losing streak that featured Leonard Garcia and George Roop. According to BestFightOdds, Aldo is a big favorite in the -800 range. If Aldo fails to defend his belt on Saturday night it will be considered a sizable upset.

After the replacement main event was announced in June, main card fights began dropping like flies in July. The first victim was Josh Koscheck, after his injury, his proposed bout with Demian Maia was removed from the card. Then on the same day a week later, Phil Harris and Clint Hester suffered injuries and were replaced with unknown Brazilians Jose Maria Tome and Thiago Santos. 

Replacements haven't only affected the fighters, the UFC's commentary team has also been subject to change. For the first time since UFC 134, also held in Brazil, Joe Rogan will be absent from a PPV. Instead, the recently retired Brian Stann will take his place.

The plethora of changes has significantly impacted the event. UFC 163 was once a deep card with a main event that fans were chomping at the bit to see. Now, however, it has become almost the opposite. Other than the main and co-main event, there is very little top shelf talent featured and the main event, which before was bordering on a super fight, is now a relative mismatch.

The disarranged card will have even the most hardcore of MMA fans Googling the names of some of the fighters competing. As is always the case with events in Brazil, the card is loaded with Brazilians and, due to the number of late replacements, many are unknown to the majority of fans. Six fighters on the card don't even have a Wikipedia page, Sherdog will have to suffice for research purposes. The third fight on the PPV, a spot usually reserved for well-known fighters in the upper echelon of their division, will be Cezar Ferreira vs. Thiago Santos. Those who don't watch TUF: Brazil, or have in-depth knowledge of the local MMA circuit in the country, will likely have no idea who Ferreira and Santos are. This is a common scenario throughout the card.

As long as the pesky non-Brazilians don't win, the card will likely be a hit with the crowd. Especially if, like the last time he fought in Rio de Janiero, Aldo wins by spectacular knockout and then runs into the crowd to celebrate with the fans. However, outside of Brazil, its popularity may be slightly lacking. The patchwork, makeshift nature of the card has dampened some of the enthusiasm it once mustered. Big fights and popular names have fallen by the wayside and the buy rate for this PPV will likely take the hit.

Demetrious Johnson: A Champion but not a Star

At UFC on Fox 8, UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson will fight John Moraga in defense of his belt. He will also be fighting for recognition, something that has so far eluded his tenure as champion. 

His fight, on Fox, Saturday night will continue his run of being the only UFC champion to have never headlined a pay-per-view event. The flyweight champion currently occupies an unusual space, he has reached the pinnacle of his profession, winning a world title, but he is not yet a star. This is the gap that Johnson and the UFC are trying to bridge.

His omission from pay-per-view main events has little to nothing to do with his talent, as of right now he just simply does not have the star power to carry a pay-per-view on his own. 

Instead he will defend his title for the second consecutive time on free television. Which, of course, has its benefits. Fighting on Fox garners much more exposure than fighting on a PPV would. Johnson's last title defense on Fox, for example, was watched by an average of 3.78 million according to TVbytheNumbers.com. 

Johnson is a relatively new champion in a relatively new division, so it is understandable that the UFC are trying to build his profile before giving him a PPV main event slot. The 125 pound division was only introduced in March 2012 when a tournament consisting of four flyweights began at UFC on FX 2. Johnson went on to win the flyweight title in September 2012 at UFC 152 by beating Joseph Benavidez in the tournament final. His title reign and division are in their infancy. Maybe this is the sole reason why audiences haven't quite connected with Johnson, maybe they just haven't seen enough of him and the flyweights.

But maybe not.

Johnson's fighting style is one that does not translate well with casual fans. Whilst MMA purists may applaud his technique and athleticism, his style lacks the drama and brutality that fans on the periphery of MMA are attracted to. There is a core group of MMA fans who will pretty much watch any event that the UFC puts on, so viewing figures are really determined by how many casual fans decide to tune in. It is this group of people that Johnson needs to appeal to in order to become a star.

The issue is, as previously stated, that casual fans have not taken to his style. He has been consistently branded with the 'boring' moniker. 

Johnson is 5-1-1 in the UFC and all five of those wins came by decision. Combining his UFC and WEC stints, Johnson has participated in ten fights. In only one of those has he managed to finish his opponent, a third round submission victory over Damacio Page at WEC 52. Furthermore, in his four fights at flyweight in the UFC so far, he has yet to truly dominate his opponent. Those four fights all ended in close decisions, including one draw and a split decision. 

However, it must also be noted that since moving down to flyweight, in just four fights, he has won two fight of the night bonuses. This again showcases the polarizing nature of Demetrious Johnson. To some he is a technical wonder whose performances are impressive displays of skill. Whereas, others see a dull fight lacking in excitement and violence. 

His position is similar to that of Benson Henderson, they are both the kings of their divisions but they seem to be just eeking by their opponents. They have not yet achieved that definitive career-defining win. Until that happens, they will continue to hover around the mid to low spots on the pound-for-pound rankings and be the uncelebrated champions.

Johnson is unquestionably the best flyweight in the world. He just has to encapsulate that into a single performance. Destroy the next best guy in the division. The king needs to unquestionably be the king. So far Johnson has beaten everyone he has needed to at flyweight, just never in spectacular fashion. This is why he is currently treading water as a champion who is not yet a star.