Whoever wins 'Most Impressively' gets LHW Title Shot...

So in the new Dana Blog, he says the fans didn't like Shogun/Vera winner getting the title shot...so he has changed it to whoever wins 'most impressively' out of the Main and Co-Main will get the shot.


So it's either Shogun, Vera, Bader, or Machida.....all 4 guys who Jones has brutally finished haha. Still fail...

Here's the vid BTW...

* Edited at 07.31.2012, 5:57 PM ET *

Great card except for the main event matching. At first I thought, "good, so even if Vera wins, Machida or Bader will likely get it instead" but then I thought, "wait a minute, if Vera wins, that would be extremely impressive, even if Shogun isn't 100%", so we're still in a bad situation here, folks. I like Vera's fights, it's just...bad matching.

Like I said, I would've rather seen Rua vs Bader for contender's match and Vera vs Machida for co-main, but hey, what can you do.

I think Machida still poses an interesting style for Jones and Bader's improved a lot since he fought Jones so I'm good with either of them getting the rematch.  I think Gustafsson and Glover should be given at least a fight or two each before going up against the champ.

It's almost sad that barely anyone even talks about the possibility of these guys facing Hendo.
Makes sense though, I don't see how Hendo possibly wins this fight, even with the TRT.

So basically SOMEONE IS STILL GETTING A FAQING REMATCH!!!!!!!

Jones has cleaned out the LHW division so much faster than anyone expected.  Shogun, Machida, Rampage, Vera, Evans, Bader, Matyushenko, Hamil, Bonnar.  Who would have thought?  He's gone through the division like an electric knife through butter.  

To just feed him his recycled rejects will not inspire fan enthusiam.  I'd like to see him fight Gusstafsson, but don't see him having any undue problems with him.  

If Jones remains in LHW, all the title fights will turn into a Bum of the Month Club, like with Joe Louis in the 1940's.  Sad to say, but Jones will need to move up within a year, if he wants interesting, competitive tests, and for the good of the sport.

Well since it's going to be a rematch no matter what I would like Shogun to get it. I think he has the best skills out of all 4 contenders and poses the biggest "threat" to JBJ. Eventually I hope JBJ fights Phil Davis and Alexander Gustaffson when they're ready.

Gustafsson should get the fight. Let the winner of Shogun/Vera and Bader/Machida get a fight (hopefully Shogun vs. Machida 3) for number 1 contender.

This card looks better than some of the PPVs we've had this year. 

The thing is, they can't send him every prospect that is coming up because then there isn't anyone that can be built up to be a reasonable contender down the road. I think for now it is fine to show his dominance over former champs for a while longer until someone comes along that has a chance. 

@hiblet - Good point.  I've seen it suggested that he take a fight with a mid-level heavyweight while waiting for another legit LHW challenger comes to the surface.  I don't know that that's ideal either, but it's something.

I miss the days when 205 was the deepest pool in the UFC.

This situation has made it vividly clear that 205 is now a shallow mud-puddle.

205 would be pretty competitive if it wasn't for JBJ. If he moved up to HW, it would open the LHW division again and we would probably see the belt move around like a hot potato again.

Do you want that? The word "champion" should mean something

* Edited at 08.01.2012, 12:01 AM ET *

Clearly the ufc needs a few heavyweights to cut to lhw.. no sense in middleweights moving up, jbj's got a hw frame

Not sure why 4 fighters who have already been finished by jones decisively and havent beaten great competition since (damn machida didnt even fight since he lost to jones, rua is 1-1, bader beat brilz and lost to freakin tito and vera... well, is being vera) should get a title shot, while Phil Davis who has only lost once and hasnt fought Jones yet fights a newcomer on the same card and Gustafsson has not fought in about 4 months. Maybe the ufc wants to give these two an impressive streak so that they could hype a potential fight with jones. Anyway,  the situation right now is highly unsatisfying and I am not interested in any of these 4 potential rematches (mainly due to the fact that i dont see why the outcome should be much different than in the first bout).
I do agree with @OldNick though, that it would be slightly different if the two winners or rua/vera and machida/bader would meet, as Rua vs Machida 3, both coming of a win, would be a great fight (and also more deserving of a number one contender match).

Yeah, Light Heavyweight is looking pretty ugly right now.   While it does kinda suck, I'm actually not against the rematch route in this case, since there really isn't anybody else that they can throw at Jones right now.  Here's my take on the ones that Jones hasn't beaten.

-Gustaffson has beaten some pretty good guys, but none of his victories are against top 10 Light Heavies (Thiago Silva being the closest thing to being that and frankly, Silva's won 1 fight in the last 4 years....against Keith Jardine, sorry that's not top 10 material).  He's probably got a good chance at dethroning Jones.... but he's not ready yet.  He's another fight away (against a top 5-10 guy this time).

- Davis is an interesting fight, but he lost his last fight against Evans and now is fighting a guy making his UFC debut.  Davis is a solid wrestler, but his game needs a little evolving to make him more of a threat.  Plus, he'll probably need a couple straight wins before being considered. 

- Lil' Nog is 3-2 in the UFC, but has lost to the best two guys his fought (Bader and Davis).  Definitely not a threat to Jones right now.

- Teixeira is a great choice, but he's only fought once in the UFC so far, so he'll have to fight a couple of big names to get the recognition he needs to sell the fight.  

- Griffin is 3-1 in his last 4 fights, but 2 of those were against Tito Ortiz and the other win was against a Rich Franklin that was always better as a Middleweight than a Light Heavyweight.  The best 205er he fought in that stretch was Rua, who beat him down quickly.  I wouldn't be completely opposed to Forrest if he fights and beats a top 5-10 Light Heavy next fight, but I doubt he can pull that off even in this weakened division anymore.  


Just a crappy situation for the division right now.  All the guys who are up for a title shot right now (Machida, Rua, Bader, Vera) have been beaten by Jones in the last 2.5 years.  But do you do that rematch and get the rest of your division figured out?  Or do you rush someone that clearly isn't ready for a title shot just to give Jones a new guy to fight?  Tough spot for the UFC to be in... i don't envy their position at all.

But doesn't the fact that, assuming they both win, Shogun will have had three fights since he lost to Jones - two wins plus an extremely narrow loss in what is universally agreed upon to have been at least the Fight Of The Year for 2011 - while Machida will have had only one fight since his loss to Jones, count for something, as does the additional fact that Shogun was the defending champion going into his Jones fight?

And better yet to most observers, I'm sure - though not to me - you can always have Machida rematch Rashad next, no matter what he does against Ryan Bader, if Shogun does win; indeed, if Machida loses to Bader, Machida-Evans 2 is arguably even more marketable since in that case they would both be coming off losses (two in Machida's case and one in Rashad's).  By contrast, what do you do with Shogun if both he and Machida win and Machida is given the next title shot?  Not a Hendo rematch because Hendo has stated that he will likely move back down to 185 to rematch Anderson Silva if (LOL!) things don't work out for him against Jones.

Damm Joe Rogan looks slot like Louis Spence in that vid.

I think it's a good idea that any 4 of them can get a title shot. It's suppose to be a sport not a wrestling organisation where who ever's most popular should get the chance's who ever is performing best and is rightly ranked should get the shot ... dunno how Vera's found him self in the mix like but he's there (and part of me he could be a wild card and beat Rua)