So I’ve got good news for everyone. As you all know, 1920s boxer Diego Sanchez will be fighting BJ Penn in an upcoming UFC event. This is great, cause it means that we get to see two of the most exciting lightweights square off against each other. Furthermore, this is great because it’s a title fight, which seems to be an endangered species these days. While it’s questionable as to if Diego deserves this title shot or not, he is certainly in the right place at the right time to meet up with Penn. There are some other fighters who arguably have rights to meet up with Penn but due to fight scheduling and the like, Sanchez gets the nod. This will be a good fight though, so even if the title contention is lopsided, the excitement factor is there. Everyone likes seeing TUF winners go for belts too.
Moving up a weight class we have the least injured of remaining champions. Georges St. Pierre is suffering from a groin injury received during his most recent title defense against Thiago Alves. Georges’ fight was back in July and he’s had a bit of time to recover already. In order to give him ample time to fully recover and prepare himself for his next title defense (against a yet unknown opponent), don’t look to see St. Pierre in the cage until Spring at the earliest.
Next up is Anderson Silva. He’s undergone surgery very recently to remove bone spurs from his elbow. While not a major surgery, it still requires a few months of recovery and then, of course, the requisite time to train up for the next bout. Silva will likely be facing either Dan Henderson or Nate Marquardt. Vitor Belfort was the UFC’s pick to face Silva, but Vitor declined the offer, stating he was not ready yet to face Silva. Despite this, things may change in the future as different cash figures and offers are spread around. All things considered, I would not be surprised to see Silva/Belfort as TUF coaches to face off for the title at the end of the season. Either way, Henderson and Marquardt are the next legitimate contenders. Silva holds a win over both fighters, but both of them have since rallied against tough competition to look very impressive and deserving of a new shot. Once again, don’t expect to see the champ until Spring.
At 205 we have hotly disputed champion Lyoto Machida. He is coming off a razor thin, controversial decision over challenger Mauricio Shogun Rua. Shogun has already been assured of an impending rematch as soon as Machida recovers from the beating that was delivered by Shogun’s kicks. Machida’s hand is in a serious state of disrepair and will require until Spring at the earliest for him to be fight ready. Once that happens, we will have to see whether or not he’s found an answer for Shogun, who surely won’t allow him a second gift decision.
Mr. Lesnar has mono. He was pushed back to UFC 108 to face Shane Carwin due to being sick. However, just recently he has been pulled from UFC 108 upon discovering that he does in fact have mono. Mononucleosis is a sickness that can affect people for months to over a year. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this. I can’t see the UFC allowing a champ to be sidelined for an entire year, so we may see another dreaded interim belt appear in the mean time. Likely contenders for an interim belt would be Big Nog, Cain Valesquez and Junior Dos Santos. We have to play it by ear on this one and see where Lesnar and the UFC want to take it.
