I'm sick of these things. It's always the bloody heavyweights. [url]http://www.fightline.com/fl/news/2011/0111/535442/junior-dos-santos/[/url] There's no one for him to fight for the belt except Brock Lesnar if he wants it. Or Carwin. ****, I'd love to see Carwin vs. JDS.
There shouldn't be an interim title. No one deserves a shot at any type of title at the moment, other than Dos Santos.
Agreed. The thing is, this could be the worst thing ever if JDS takes out another competitor. They don't have the numbers for another challenger. If JDS cleans out one potential future candidate, then when the Cain fight eventually rolls around, neither man are gonna have anyone to take on. As much as I'd like to see Carwin fight JDS, I seriously think he should be left to rebuild for a fight or two. He should get another shot at the belt, because really, who else is there? Struve? Mir? Lesnar? Come on...
So you'd rather dos Santos faced someone like Ben Rothwell or Sean McCorkle instead of someone near his caliber? Who else then? Only 6 guys in the UFC heavyweight division can really be considered championship material. Of those the champ is out for a long time with injury, two of the other 5 are coming back from injury, 3 of the 6 are coming off a loss, and once you remove dos Santos and Velasquez from that group the only guy coming off a win is Mir over Cro Cop. Based on current matchmaking, Lesnar makes the most sense. Here's your top UFC heavyweights: Velasquez - champ - out til fall with injury Lesnar - available, coming off a loss to Velasquez dos Santos - was going to face Velasquez, Velasquez is injured and he wants to stay active, scheduled to be in interim championship match Carwin - coming back from injury, per Sherdog would begin training again in early 2011, coming off a loss to Lesnar Mir - faces Nelson Memorial Day weekend, could obviously change, coming off bad win vs. Cro Cop and before that loss to Carwin Nogueira - coming back from injury, says he's aiming to fight again in Rio in August, coming off loss to Velasquez Past here you get into Nelson, Rothwell, and Schaub, none of which should be in any discussion for the title based on recent results/being built up. Choosing between Lesnar/Mir/Carwin, Lesnar should get it since he beat both of them most recently.
That's not what I'm saying whatsoever, that's the issue with the interim title this time. It's a two man race, and one of them has had to stop running. It reminds me of the scene in Rocky where Apollo Creed's scrambling for a challenger and he's like "Then get me Buddy Shaw. Hell he's ranked fifth!" You've got 3 choices. Lesnar, Mir or Carwin. All of them have problems, the least being Carwin. Lesnar does make the most sense, but if he did beat JDS, it would set up a rematch between Cain vs. Lesnar. It might sell still, but it wouldn't be at all competitive, and I really don't think Brock's interested. However, if he is, this is the most likeliest option. Dana might throw a whole load of money at him guessing like most people that JDS can finish him for good. I don't think Lesnar'll bite though and if he does somehow win I think it'd be awful to see Cain beat him up again. Mir's another possible encounter but the problem is he's not in the league to fight either guys. He'll be shitcanned by JDS way before Cain comes back. Like Lesnar, he'd be just a feeding to JDS and I think he could be the most likely. Then there's Carwin, who's coming off a loss but would make the fight the most exciting and competitive. Problem is he should be reserved for Nelson (which he isn't, apparently Nelson's fighting Mir, which I wouldn't put too much faith in considering the circumstances) where he can raise his stock again and get the shot. If JDS whoops him, which I think they will, they'd be eliminating another challenger when they've got so few to choose from. Personally, I'd go with Mir if they can't get Lesnar. They can't risk losing Carwin and Lesnar's not going to bite, Mir's always faithful and he's always a laugh. Other than that there's nothing really to choose from. Tournament anyone?
In Brocks case, I understood because it was a real possibility he may not return but Cain has a normal injury, which he is expected to come back from.
Exactly. It's a tough spot because there's nothing out there but it doesn't mean Dos Santos should have to fight for an interim title. I think he should just fight on and not be able to lose his #1 slot no matter what happens. That way if he does get beat you've got another guy to give a shot to afterwards whilst not throwing JDS completely down the drain. An Interim Title is completely pointless. Especially considering JDS is obviously going to win it, and we already know he's the challenger. Interim's should be kept for when there's two challengers and no champion. GSP vs. Penn would be a perfect example back before the Hughes fight.
I agree. IF JDS chooses, he can have another fight and put his number 1 slot on the line. Should he lose, someone else is in line and one win later you could put JDS back in there. It would only deepen the division. I'm sure JDS could dispatch of someone good in an interesting fight. Maybe someone like Mittrione or Barry, perhaps a notch above. Carwin vs JDS for the interim might be interesting though.
Boy isnt this a surprise. Geez the UFC are desperate to have an "active" champion. They may as well just give him the belt. Unless they want him to fight Carwin of course. Boy wouldn't that put a spanner in the works.
News just in: Lesnar has been replaced by Todd Duffee in this match! Woo hoo! With a win - Dos Santos will be the greatest of all time!!! Oh wait - that was OVereem that fought Duffee. My bad. :yep
I could see Carwin vs. JDS happening, I don't think it's entirely a coincidence that Carwin started talking about his comeback shortly after Velasquez pulled out of the Dos Santos fight with injury. The UFC heavyweight division needs a big fight before Velasquez returns and with Brock still on the sidelines this is the obvious choice. Interim title fight at UFC 131, put it in your diaries. :deal