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Sherdog,
For argument sake, I have compiled all fights where the contender was either unranked or not a top 10 in his division. Official rankings went up in february 2013, so I'm starting there:
Jones vs Sonnen: april 2013. Sonnen was the #9 MW and unranked at LHW. It followed a TUF with both fighters on opposing teams. That was Jones' 5th title defense.
Dillashaw vs Soto: august 2014. Soto was a last moment replacement for Renan Barão, who failed to make weight and was hospitalized. It was Dillashaw's first title defense.
Bisping vs Henderson: october 2016. Henderson was ranked #13 MW. It was Bisping's first title defense.
Alvarez vs McGregor: october 2016. McGregor was the FW champion. It was Alvarez' first title defense.
Johnson vs Elliot: December 2016. Elliot won TUF: tournament of champions, which was a competition with flyweight champions of other companies, and the winner would get a shot at the title.
During the Zuffa era, since the rankings went up, this situation happened twice in three years, with an average of 0.66 per year. One of the fights was a last moment replacement with a recently signed fighter, so I think that was excusable.
WME bidded it's $4 billion to purchase the UFC in july of 2016. Since then, we already had 3 fights where the contender wasn't in the top 10. We have a worded second title defense for Bisping against a fighter that's not ranked. And now we have word that Tyron Woodley is defending his belt in july, and we are guessing it's not gonna be against a ranked fighter.
Lots of people on sherdog maintain that UFC has always been like that and nothing changed with regards to title fights. And while McGregor would certainly get his shot regardless, just the sheer frequency in which these unthinkable 'money' fights are being entertained by champions and pushed forward by the company, shows to me that things did change. If this new format is unsustainable or not, only time will tell. As a fan, I'm sick of it and hope it goes away.
For argument sake, I have compiled all fights where the contender was either unranked or not a top 10 in his division. Official rankings went up in february 2013, so I'm starting there:
Jones vs Sonnen: april 2013. Sonnen was the #9 MW and unranked at LHW. It followed a TUF with both fighters on opposing teams. That was Jones' 5th title defense.
Dillashaw vs Soto: august 2014. Soto was a last moment replacement for Renan Barão, who failed to make weight and was hospitalized. It was Dillashaw's first title defense.
Bisping vs Henderson: october 2016. Henderson was ranked #13 MW. It was Bisping's first title defense.
Alvarez vs McGregor: october 2016. McGregor was the FW champion. It was Alvarez' first title defense.
Johnson vs Elliot: December 2016. Elliot won TUF: tournament of champions, which was a competition with flyweight champions of other companies, and the winner would get a shot at the title.
During the Zuffa era, since the rankings went up, this situation happened twice in three years, with an average of 0.66 per year. One of the fights was a last moment replacement with a recently signed fighter, so I think that was excusable.
WME bidded it's $4 billion to purchase the UFC in july of 2016. Since then, we already had 3 fights where the contender wasn't in the top 10. We have a worded second title defense for Bisping against a fighter that's not ranked. And now we have word that Tyron Woodley is defending his belt in july, and we are guessing it's not gonna be against a ranked fighter.
Lots of people on sherdog maintain that UFC has always been like that and nothing changed with regards to title fights. And while McGregor would certainly get his shot regardless, just the sheer frequency in which these unthinkable 'money' fights are being entertained by champions and pushed forward by the company, shows to me that things did change. If this new format is unsustainable or not, only time will tell. As a fan, I'm sick of it and hope it goes away.