Here we go again. The UFC’s Lightweight division is in turmoil once more and being held up. It’s not McGregor’s fault this time. Except, it sort of is. If Conor and team hadn’t goaded Khabib into jumping the fence and taking wild swings at Dillon Danis and the rest of the Irishman’s entourage, then he and the Dagestani would not be facing sanctions. And if the pair of them were truly interested in keeping things moving, neither one would have requested (and been granted) continuations to delay both their cases into the new year.
There’s an interesting phenomenon that comes of fighting (and beating) McGregor the megastar: you get paid so much that the idea of going back to regular fights for regular pay feels like an insult (which is fair enough). Nate Diaz has not been seen since his last big payday, and Khabib is in no rush to go back to earning a few hundred thousand dollars per fight, even with his legal complications. He’s busy touring the world, soaking up the adulation that comes of getting the better of the mouthy Irishman. McGregor, well he’s got whiskey to sell so he won’t be in any major hurry to return to the Octagon either.
Must be nice for them, but for those left behind – Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier, for example – it’s a frustrating, irritating experience. Take Dustin, for example. He recently gave an interview saying that he needs clarity on the situation, clarity that he’s unlikely to receive. He’s also done about the only thing that makes sense and called out the next best guy, Tony Ferguson, who is also sitting on his hands until the various cases are dealt with. But Tony isn’t having any of it, telling Poirier to sit down.
What’s Tony’s problem? It’s not that he thinks Poirier isn’t enough of a challenge (although that’s what he has said). No, he wants to get paid, just like everyone else, so he is waiting for the big boys to come out to play – if they ever do. And in the meantime… nothing happens. Fortunately for the UFC, NetBet have the solution, a brilliant, exciting and wonderful solution that we’re happy to give away for free because we’re fans of the sport and we don’t like all this sitting around any more than anyone else: an 8-man Lightweight Tournament for an eventual shot at the title.
Back to where it all began
When it was created, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was never intended to live long enough to become an acronym, let alone a legitimate sport. It was a freak show, a one-off event that was intended to answer schoolyard queries such as ‘can a boxer beat a wrestler?’ In order to find these answers, they devised a tournament structure. There were no weight classes, no rounds and barely any rules. The match could only be won by submission, knockout or by a cornerman throwing in the towel. The 8-man tournament took place over the course of a single night, with Royce Gracie coming out on top. The event was a huge success, with 85,000 Pay-per-View subscribers. So what the hell, they decided to run it again.
It was not until UFC 5 that the promotion hosted its first single match. In many ways, this makes sense that this is the case. After all, you don’t have any big names when you are building a sport from the ground up from scratch. It took the previous four tournament-based shows for the names Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock to become recognisable enough to headline an event. But the tournaments continued, even if the cracks had started to appear in the format. Fighters could often win their bracket but then retire injured, being replaced by an alternate who might be going into a final or semi-final considerably fresher than their opponent. Others retired injured and could not be replaced and if more than one fighter did so, the whole thing might grind to a halt. If the best guys in a particular division are tied up with tournaments, it makes finding opponents for all the others much trickier, and filling spots in PPVs also becomes a problem. For these and various other reasons, the UFC has not put on an 8-man tournament since 1999.
That does not mean they have not made a few token attempts. In 2012, the UFC created their inaugural Flyweight division. In order to find a champion, Joseph Benavidez, Demetrious Johnson, Ian McCall and Yasuhiro Urushitani fought in a mini-tournament, the winner of which would be given the belt. Benavidez beat Urushitani relatively easily, leaving DJ to take on Ian McCall. Their first fight ended in a controversial draw, but DJ was eventually victorious, beat Benavidez and then remained champion until this year.
There was even an attempt last year to put together a tournament this year. Before Conor lost his damn mind and started lobbing trolleys at a bus, the UFC was considering putting together something special. A four-man tournament between Khabib, McGregor, Nate Diaz and GSP. Doesn’t that sound great? Well, not to GSP, who was not impressed at the thought of fighting Nate. Plus, he had injury issues that have sidelined him all year, so it was not the best timing.
The competition holds competitions
Just because the UFC doesn’t want to do a thing, it doesn’t mean that other promotions must follow suit. Pride put on some amazing and memorable tournaments featuring fighters such as Rampage Jackson, Shogun Rua and Wanderlei Silva. Rizin FF has put on some great Grand Prix tourneys and Bellator, probably the closest competitor to the UFC, has featured a couple of high-profile tournaments in the last year.
Admittedly, they needed to something to create a bit of interest in their heavyweight division, which had been effectively stalled for the last four years. The former heavyweight champ, Vitaly Minakov, vacated his title in 2016, and had not defended it since 2014. Having collected a decent group of ageing heavyweights from the UFC under their banner, Bellator decided to run a heavyweight tournament that was more than a partial nod to the Pride tournaments of yesteryear. Rampage, Fedor, Chael Sonnen and Frank Mir matched up against some (slightly) younger fighters in Ryan Bader, Roy Nelson, Matt Mitrione and King Mo. The final will take place on 26th January between Fedor and Bader, and while these aging legends are not likely to set the world on fire in terms of making money, it has elevated all of these match-ups to a level they would not be able to reach on their own.
The same is true of the Welterweight tournament that is currently running. The names in this competition – Rory MacDonald, Michael “Venom” Page and Neiman Gracie (a Gracie!) – have good brand recognition and could easily headline their own PPVs. But putting them all together not only heightens the appeal of those fights, it keeps things moving. UFC, are you paying attention?
We have a cunning plan
Which brings us to the current situation in the UFC. Even with Khabib and Conor embroiled in the legal fallout from UFC 229, Lightweight is undoubtedly one of the most exciting divisions in MMA at the moment. A tournament at this level, played out during 2019, would be absolutely huge. Just look at the potential list:
- Conor McGregor
- Nate Diaz
- Kevin Lee
- Tony Ferguson
- Justin Gaethje
- Dustin Poirier
- Anthony Pettis
That’s seven top-level, in-form, headlining Lightweight fighters straight off the top of my head, all of whom could fight for the opportunity to face Khabib for the title. It barely scratches the surface of what is possible. Would GSP be more interested in this sort of thing than a four-man tourney? What about Max Holloway, who has already been picked to face Khabib, would he go up in weight for an opportunity like this? The UFC’s new trade, Ben Askren may be a Welterweight at the moment but has expressed interest in fighting just about everyone and anyone on the UFC’s roster. Could he lose the weight and come down?
There is speculation that as well as a hefty fine, Khabib will be banned for 9 months, meaning that we would see him back in the Octagon no sooner than July. You could have had at least the first round of a tournament by then, maybe even have decided the finalists if everything goes well. At least half of the guys on our list would have fought each other by then anyway, but would Conor and Tony fight anyone else, or just keep waiting for Khabib? It seems unlikely that anything other than a multi-million-dollar super fight could coax Nate Diaz out of his cave. A tournament, if the money is right, could put paid to all this posturing and waiting around. All the fighters get their shot, the fans get to see more quality Lightweight fights and the UFC potentially have their best year ever. Everybody wins.
