BJ Penn and Sean Sherk will fight, sometime in the semi-near future, for the UFC’s lightweight title. There is no set date, as of yet, but it’s safe to say that the next person in line will have to either wait several months, or fight again in the mean time.
Franky Edgar is, at this point, in position to lock himself into a title shot with one more victory over another top contender. Tyson Griffin and Spencer Fischer were both top contenders for the title until Edgar won decisively over each fighter. Those two wins were enough to earn Edgar a #10-worldwide ranking in the lightweight division (behind Stevenson, Sherk and Penn) by Sherdog.com. There is only one question: Who deserves a chance to catapult themselves into a title shot with a win over Edgar?
At 8-0, Edgar is one of only four fighters in his division to sport an unbeaten record. Of the other three, the most impressive record is that of Wander Braga. But, Braga has yet to fight inside of the Octagon and hasn’t had any wins over a notable opponent. The latter can also be said for Gray Maynard and Corey Hill. With only six wins between them, they combin for little more than half the amount of wins in the current win-streak of Roger Huerta.
Roger “El Matador” Huerta:
Roger Huerta is an excellent choice for two reasons. First, his win over Clay “The Carpenter” Guida showed that the talent behind his hype was worthy of its praises. He was rocked badly and showed enough toughness and tenacity to pull guard; in a dazed and confused state, no less. When you consider the fights that Guida gave Griffin, Thomas and Gilbert Melendez, that has to reflect well on what Huerta was able to accomplish—an early finish.
Winner of Florian/Lauzon fight on April 2 in Broomfield, Colo.:
Kenny Florian would seem an obvious choice. His hard-fought decision-loss to Sherk showed that he can hang with the best and his dismantling of veterans Dokonjonosuke Mishima and Din Thomas were impressive, to say the least. Florian, however, still has to win his fight over “Creepy” Joe Lauzon one month from next Saturday. It’s a tough fight to call. Lauzon has shown us that he has loads of talent, and he has started training with “The Prodigy” BJ Penn. One could argue that if Lauzon were to beat Florian, he should be next in line for a title-shot opportunity.
Kurt Pellegrino:
Kurt Pellegrino has a solid resume. His only loss was a unanimous-decision loss to Stevenson. But Pellegrino has looked impressive and put up a good fight, especially in the second round, during the Stevenson fight. Also, in a direct comparison to Huerta, he was stunned early in his last fight, but battled back to completely destroy Alberto Crane. To add to that, Pellegrino grew up in Point Pleasant, N.J., just 20 minutes from Edgar’s hometown of Toms River. It would also give Pellegrino a chance to do what his training partner, Hermes Franca, was unable to do.
Nate Diaz:
Nate Diaz’s fight game can be summed up in one word: slick. The younger brother of welterweight-standout Nick Diaz has shown that the amazing submission-game is probably in the genes. I’m sure training under Caesar Gracie doesn’t hurt either. Alvin Robinson, while not the best in the division, was a solid test for Diaz, who passed it with flying colors; and a triangle choke. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner would also be a nice counterweight to Edgar’s wrestling skills.
I hear that Edgar will appear on the UFN 13 card in Colorado. No opponent has yet been scheduled.
If he appears on such an already stacked card. Chances are that he wont be matched up against an elite opponent. Too bad, cause Edgar is a GAME fighter who will bring it against anyone.
Edgar vs Florian i thought was the obvious choice, even before the Huerta/Guida fight took place. He should get a title shot though if he beats someone like Florian or Huerta though.
If the UFC corks out a deal with Gomi. I would love to see them to go at it.
Edgar vs Gomi ??? John..put me on to something on this being a possible match up..which would be sick.
I think Edgar vs Diaz stylistically would be a great fight to see. Diaz wasn’t hurt in his last fight. So they can set that one up.
I would think that Nate Diaz would LOVE to fight Frankie Edgard. Frankie has shown that he can take people down. Nate has showed that he can submit just about anyone from his guard. Sounds like a matchup taylor made for Nate.
Although Edgar beat Tyson Griffin, I see Tyson Griffin being a more diffiucult fight for Nate than Edgar.
Phil Balmant….is that you PHILQNY? Edgar vs. Gomi came from my most reliable source….so I haven’t ruled it out yet. Hopefully they introduce Gomi as an official UFC fighter at UFC 81 this saturday. I haven’t heard anything about an announcement, I am just speculating so dont hold me too it!
Edgar vs Gomi?!?!? Fell through!
http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2008/01/…falls-through/
Had this deal come to fruition, the Lightweight Division would look more and more like the LHW division with all the big-time names coming in.
Also, Edgar would have been a REALLY good fight for Gomi because it would have shown Edgar’s skills and also how well Gomi does against guys that have strong Wrestling backgrounds.
Too bad this didn’t happen…but who knows, there’s still time for a deal!
This news didnt come from my source who informed me about the fight in the 1st place. This is just some stuff some other dude posted…dont know how legit it is.
BAD BAD NEWS!!!!
UFC’s deal with Takanori Gomi fell through. No word yet as too why it fell through or if him signing with the UFC is even still a possability. The UFC is still interested…not sure he is.
Way to go Dana, you failed to sign another of the worlds best fighters. What did Dana do this time call Gomi’s camp a crazy bunch of Japanease dudes?
Or did he try to BS Gomi to death with foolish clauses like he did Fedor.
The UFC’s terms for Gomi’s contract:
1.No more eating with chop-sticks, while under contract with the UFC.
2. No rice, Sake and/or any form of Rice products are to be consumed while under contract with the UFC.
3.Gomi Must try to open his eyes more while condcting UFC sanctioned interviews…..Dana is rediculous!
I dont want to offend anyone…but I am just trying to illustrate how bad Dana is with dealing with other cultures. Not so much the Brazilians, because they have been down to fight in the USA for a long time. But he sucks with other cultures and BS contractual clauses.
Looks like Edgar will be added to that UFN…..lets hope not because that would mean bumping another good fight already schedlued for that event, off of the televised portion of the event. I want to see all the fights scheduled for that night. No need to waste Edgar by adding him to a stacked card
Mania sent me this e-mail, i am sure most of you also got it:
Guys-
Jesse is going to start working with you guys on monitoring/editing MMAcraze. For the most part we’re thrilled — there’s some great stuff going up and the blog is really start to get some nice looks. There are some kinks, however, that we need to iron out before we start featuring on Mania. I think we’re about two weeks away from that if Jesse can get up to speed and everything begins to fall into place.
Jesse will be the one who eventually selects what pieces are selected and put on Mania. In addition, since this your site, feel free to come up with some features or create an identity (much like mania has the quick quotes, props, predictions, betting columns, etc.) for the site. Again, it’s up to you guys. This will be what you make it. Def. brainstorm some ideas if you think it’s necessary or create “beats” that everyone covers — whatever.
So we have to get together and get organized. Figure out who is doing what, so that we all don’t post the same things. Lets give it a couple days so that everyone can read this and then we are gonna have to figure some things out.
Mania and Jesse will take care of the pics if we have trouble getting them up.