Just three short months after successfully defending his UFC heavyweight crown against Shane Carwin (11-1), Brock Lesnar (5-1) will return to defend his belt again against young gun Cain Velasquez (8-0) on October 23, 2010 at Anaheim, California’s Honda Center as the headlining bout for UFC 121. While the card has not been “officially” announced by the UFC, UFC president Dana White has confirmed this bout as well as two others featuring lightweights “Hands of Stone” Sam Stout (15-6-1) and “Relentless” Paul Taylor (10-6-1) and middleweights Ryan Jensen (15-6) and TUF season eleven winner Court McGee (10-1). Also rumored to be slated for action on this card is the always crowd pleasing “Rampage” Quinton Jackson (28-8). UFC 121 is already shaping up to be a card with ramifications that run deeper than just the UFC’s pecking order and the chief among those is the answer to the most intense debate between MMA journalists in recent months: Is Brock Lesnar the number one heavyweight fighter in the world?
Brock Lesnar definitively finished Shane Carwin in the second round, of that there is no doubt. However, the severe beating, 10-7 on some observers cards, he took in the first causes many fans to feel that he has no right to the title of number one ranked heavyweight. A win against a solid fighter like Velasquez would be a big step in solidifying his claim to that title. While many will fall back to the tired argument that Brock is far larger than his opponent and that Cain, despite his far superior boxing, doesn’t have the power to drop Lesnar, the majority of Brock’s detractors will concede his position as the greatest in the world following a convincing stoppage of the blue chiper turned top ten fighter. Many would ask how this has any real ramifications outside the UFC…after all, rankings are subjective and don’t matter right? Wrong. While rankings are generally mocked by hardcore fans as a meaningless exercise, to the casual fan who doesn’t know any better rankings are a serious drawing power.
This is what I call The Fedor Effect. Any journalist or hardcore fight fan who tells you that the multitudes of casual fans who tuned in to Strikeforce Saturday Night Fights: Fedor vs. Rogers were interested in seeing the Strikeforce middleweight title fight or Werdum vs. Silva is either a fool or a liar. Everyone wanted to see the man all the rankings and websites said was the baddest man on the planet, numero uno, the greatest fighter in the world. The fact is, fans like belts, fans like titles, and fans like rankings to tell them who they need to watch. If Brock beats Cain, Dana White will have to use some creative keystrokes to tweet a big enough smile. Strikeforce devalued their titles by treating champion “Demolition Man” Alistair Overeem (31-11) as second fiddle to Fedor based solely on his ranking, without that top ranked fighter, they have nothing to promote outside of the occasional freak show fight and women’s MMA. If Brock solidifies himself as the top dog by defeating Cain, the UFC will be the home to the number one fighter in every weight class and Strikeforce will be left with nothing to appeal to the casual fan. The CBS deal will fail, the Showtime ratings will fall, and Strikeforce will again fade into the limbo between regional stepping stone and national production.
Either way you slice it, UFC 121 will mark the end of an era by finishing the series of events set in motion by the triangle that choked the world. If Brock wins (something I personally hope for despite the fact I’d normally pull for Cain) every major talent in American MMA will become a part of the UFC within the next 12 months and Strikeforce will once again be no more than stepping stone where fighters struggle to get noticed by Zuffa. If Cain wins, Strikeforce gets a second chance to show that it has the best heavyweights as the UFC Heavyweight division is thrown into disarray as Valasquez, Lesnar, Carwin, dos Santos, and Nelson all fight for promotional domination, a battle that will give Strikeforce the time it needs to do what it should have done in the first place, develop talent and introduce it to the masses.
You forgot about the “UFC” effect. A lot of people think that UFC is the name of the sport. It doesn’t matter who wins since the winner will be seen as the number 1 heavyweight in the world from here on out. They have the most talent. There is no chance that a fighter outside of the UFC will be ranked number 1 in any division. Fedor can beat Werdum and Overeem and he still won’t regain the number 1 position. It’s sad, but true.
I have to disagree there. While the UFC is indeed the globally recognized brand, keep in mind that the rankings are decided by third party sports blogs, news outlets, and websites, many of which are extremely anti-UFC and some of which believe Fedor should STILL be number 1 despite a loss. Now I’m not saying that Cain wont be ranked number 1 if he wins, but Brock will leave absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind if he crushes Cain, and Strikeforce can’t have that. They have put all their eggs in one basket and they cant afford to have a dominate HW champ in the UFC to oppose their HW poster boy. Thats why they are rushing to do Werdum/Fedor to, to regain that dominate single name to oppose the UFC hype machine. It will only work if five guys are all beating each other for UFC gold and isn’t possible if Brock becomes a HW 2007 era Chuck Liddell.
I liken this to college football. A small school can go undefeated against lesser competition and get close to the number 1 ranking, but even a team with 1 loss that plays tougher schools will get the number 1 ranking. The reason why Fedor was ranked #1 was because he was undefeated, and he fought tougher competition at one point in his career (Cro Cop & Nogueira). Now that he has a loss, he’s not gonna be able to regain the top ranking while fighting “inferior” fighters in Strikeforce.
I think the top heavyweights in Strikeforce are just as good as the top heavyweights in the UFC, but most people don’t see it that way. Unless someone can start collecting as much as talent as the UFC, the UFC champ will be seen as the number in their weight division. That’s why I desperately want Strikeforce to get their act together and give the UFC a run for their money.
I believe you still aren’t seeing the big picture here. First, on some sites, Fedor is STILL number one, not many, but some. A few others even have Werdum as number one. True most have Brock as number 1, as it should be, but not all. Either way, that isn’t the point at all. Strikeforce doesn’t need Fedor to be number 1, they just need the UFC to NOT have a dominate number 1 heavyweight. If Brock loses, Cain may well be number 1 on most sites, but that wont hurt SF nearly as much as Brock becoming a truly dominate number 1. The big picture is if Cain wins, the number 1 concensus ranking becomes a non-issue as everyone will say “Yeah Cain is number one now, but will he be number 1 for longer than a couple of months? Brock sure wasn’t” if Brock wins, the UFC has an undeniable dominant champion who is beating everyone who faces him AND is ranked number 1. As long as that number 1 ranking bounces around from fighter to fighter, it can’t be used to lock in the interest of the casual fans. The instant one fighter locks down that ranking for any signifigant period of time, then it becomes useful to the promotion. Thats why Dana rushed Brock back into the cage so quickly (he actually wanted this fight to be in August or September) he knows that if Brock locks down that number one spot, SF is dead to the casual fan.
And on another note, if Brock, Velasquez, Carwin, and Dos Santos are all losing to each other and Fedor beats Wedrum and Overeem, or even Overeem and Bigfoot, he will take the number 1 ranking back. With the possible exception of Sherdog, no site that currently has a long standing ranking system is neutral, most of the are in fact very anti-UFC and will jump at the earliest excuse to put their PRIDE hero back in the number one spot.
It is in my opinion that a fighter needs to clean out a division with notable wins first to claim the top spot. Brock has not been in the sport long enough nor does he have the record to prove he is the best. If he gets by Cain there is still Nelson, JDS that he would have to take out. Does this impact Strikeforce, I don’t believe it does. I agree with the above that if Fedor beats Silva or Overeem he would regain the spot. I think we need to see if Brock can defend his title against the rest of the contenders first before he claims the best on the world
I think if Brock loses to Cain then it actually helps Strikeforce. Cain will not vault to number one if he beats Brock rather I believe it throws the rankings into a distorted mess.
Strikeforce will use that to develop either Overeem or Fedor and put them atop the rankings. If Brock beats Cain then Strikeforce will have a very difficult time trying to claim they have the top heavyweight in the world.
Thats EXACTLY my point Turk, cain winning muddles the rankings by making it a 5 way war in the UFC HW division and helps SF regain some momentum with Fedor Overeem Werdum and Silva. I believe a Brock Lesnar win will cripple Strikeforce with the casual fan. Hardcore guys like us will always watch strikeforce but its the loss of the “Fedor is the best” gimmick will cripple them if the UFC has an undisputed reigning champ in Brock. WE all know he still has JDS and Nelson to deal with to truly rule the division, but the casual fan doesn’t see it that way. They live in a world where its all about the last 6 months.
I just want to make it clear that I’m with you guys, but you have to remember that the casual fan doesn’t watch anything outside of the UFC. They’d rather watch a UFC replay on Spike rather than a Strikeforce event.
Turk, I really wish that you were right about Strikeforce, but I haven’t seen anything that shows me that they’re developing anything. They just don’t see the big picture. They don’t build guys up. If that’s one thing that the UFC does very well is they build up contenders.
Noksucow, you are absolutely right about SF mishandling fighters and not building talent. and the casual fan doesnt care about Strikeforce…but they DID care about Fedor. if Fedor cant remain relevant in that respect, SF will die on the national stage
I agree completely dan you put 2 big wins over undefeated fighters with the brock lesnar wwe idots fans draw power add in fedors rookie mistake loss 2 a ufc wash out not to mention the fact lesnar looks like a mma champ u would see in some movie add in the loss of the sf middle wieght champ to the ufc and what you get is sf going back 2 being a home for has beens and up and comers wait with the execption of a hand full of fighters thats what they are any way so a lesnar win just drives the final nail in the sf coffin
noksucow, I agree that they do not develop talent at all. They have dropped the ball numerous times with this. However if Brock loses it is a “second chance” of sorts for Strikeforce and this is where I see them starting to develop talent. If Brock does not lose then we very well could be see the end of days for SF.
I DONT KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD BRING UP SF ITS NOT NO WHERE NEAR THE LEVEL OF THE UFC , AND FEDOR WOULD B NOTHING INTHE UFC. CAIN WILL DEFEAT BROCK LESNAR HES IMPROVING IN EVERY FIGHT AND I BELIEVE THAT HE IS THE #1HW IN THE WORLD I RATHER WATCH B OXING THAN SF!!
BROCK LESNAR R.I.P.
Guess now we’ll see if Im right about SF making a move. They will if they are smart/