Why do UFC fans demand that Champions be more active than top 15 ranked contenders within a WC

[screaminleeman]

This mindset that seems to be the absolute norm among UFC fans is for all intent and purpose "alien" to me!

I strongly feel that the Champion in each division HAS proven his or herself making it to the :top"! I also feel even more strongly that the top 15 ranked contenders in the WC "should be" the men and women required to "prove" themselves as worthy of a title shot.

One thing that CANNOT be disputed is the uproar anytime a title shot is handed out in any of the deepest UFC weightclass divisions.

Currently, the prohibitive vast majority of the UFC fans are up in arms anytime two top 15 ranked fighters in a WC square off, as it potentially derails one of the two "contenders". I cannot explain the confused look on my face at this mindset. That is ENTIRELY what ALL top 15 ranked fighters SHOULD be doing, AND doing it MORE FREQUENTLY then the Champion of the division is defending the belt. Zero kidding, with this argument, what the P.V.M. of UFC fans are clamoring for is that NO top contender EVER fight against another top contender "risking" loosing ranking, and instead do not fight other ranked fighter in the WC holding onto said ranking biding their time for their shot, and at best taking a fight against an unranked can to remain "fresh"?

Yes, McGregor is probably the biggest mystery to me on this topic. I am the biggest etched in concrete factual statistical analyst on this site, and the furthest thing from a fighter nuthugger here on Sherdog.

Here are the hard core FACTS from the UFC 2016 FTW & LW divisions.

Summaries:
- Of the top 15 ranked FTW UFC fighters, only 3 have faced over one "other" top 15 ranked UFC fighter in their WC so far in 2016:
A. Frankie Edgar has two 2016 UFC fights against top 15 ranked UFC FTW's and is 1 - 1 win loss record.
B. Ricardo Lamas has two 2016 UFC fights against top 15 ranked UFC FTW's and is 1 - 1 win loss record.
C. Jeremy Stephens has two 2016 UFC fights against top 15 ranked UFC FTW's and is 1 - 1 win loss record.
D. Seven top 15 ranked UFC FTW contenders have not faced another ranked UFC FTW in 2016 thus far!
E. The remaining five top 15 ranked fighters have faced exactly 1 top 15 ranked UFC FTW opponent in 2016.
F. Note One of these fighters was Charles Oliveira (also sporting his 4th missed weight bout in the UFC!!!!)

- Of the top 15 ranked LW UFC fighters, only 4 have faced over one "other" top 15 ranked UFC fighter in their WC so far in 2016:
A. Eddie Alverez is the ONLY current non-champion with 3 UFC fights vs. other ranked UFC LW's. He is 2-1 in these three, however 2 of the 3 fights WAS with him as champion. (Therefore he really does NOT qualify as a UFC contender that fights other contenders in the WC. This is further proof that THE ONLY ranked UFC fighter expected to fight IS the Champion, and allowing ALL contenders to finger pop themselves without losing ranking!)
B. RDA has fought two top 15 ranked UFC lightweights in 2016 and has a 0 - 2 record to show for it!
C. Edson Barboza is BY FAR the most "successful" active ranked non-champion LW. A MAJOR two contender contests and a 2 - 0 record in them puts him head and antlers above the rest of the WC in defending "ranking"!! I have NEVER heard anyone attempt to make a case that the ONLY ranked UFC lightweight contender NOT finger popping themselves in 2016 to maintain their ranking actually has earned the next title shot at the UFC LW belt!
D. Five top 15 ranked UFC LW contenders have not faced another ranked UFC FTW in 2016 thus far!
E. The remaining six top 15 ranked fighters have faced exactly 1 top 15 ranked UFC FTW opponent in 2016.

OK, absolute proof of activity among the contenders. Here are the details:


................................Featherweight............................... UFC FTW............Vs top 15................2016 W - L Vs.
Rank........................Fighter................. 2016 UFC fights..2016 fights..Ranked UFC FTW'S..top 15 ranked opp
Champ Champion : Conor McGregor......... 3.......................0...........................0
1............................. Jose Aldo......................1...................... 1.......................... 1
2............................. Frankie Edgar.............. 2...................... 2.......................... 2............................... 1 - 1
3............................. Max Holloway............... 1...................... 1.......................... 1
4............................. Ricardo Lamas............ 2...................... 2.......................... 2............................... 1 - 1
5............................. Cub Swanson.............. 2...................... 2.......................... 0
6............................. Anthony Pettis...............3...................... 1.......................... 1
7..............................Jeremy Stephens......... 2...................... 2.......................... 2............................... 1 - 1
8............................. Charles Oliveira............ 2...................... 0.......................... 1
9............................. Dennis Bermudez......... 2...................... 2.......................... 0
10........................... Brian Ortega................. 2.......................2........................... 0
11........................... Yair Rodriguez.............. 2...................... 2........................... 0
12........................... Darren Elkins................ 2...................... 2........................... 0
13........................... Mirsad Bektic................ 1...................... 1............................0
14........................... Dooho Choi................... 1.......................1........................... 0
15........................... Renan Barao................. 2...................... 2...........................1

................................Lightweight............................... UFC LW............Vs top 15................2016 W - L Vs.
Rank........................Fighter................. 2016 UFC fights..2016 fights..Ranked UFC LW'S..top 15 ranked opp
Champ Champion : Conor McGregor............. 3.................... 1........................... 1
1.............................. Khabib Nurmagomedov.. 2.................... 2........................... 1
2.............................. Tony Ferguson................ 2.................... 2........................... 1
3.............................. Eddie Alvarez.................. 3.................... 3........................... 3............................... 2 - 1
4.............................. Rafael Dos Anjos............ 2.................... 2............................ 2.............................. 0 - 2
5.............................. Nate Diaz........................ 2.................... 0............................ 0
6.............................. Edson Barboza............... 2.................... 2............................ 2.............................. 2 - 0
7.............................. Michael Johnson............. 2.................... 2............................ 2.............................. 1 - 1
8.............................. Michael Chiesa................ 1................... 1............................ 1
9.............................. Beneil Dariush................. 3....................3............................ 1
10............................ Donald Cerrone............... 3................... 0............................ 0
11............................ Dustin Poirier................... 3................... 3............................ 1
12............................ Gilbert Melendez...............1................... 1............................ 1
13............................ Francisco Trinaldo........... 3................... 3............................ 0
14............................ Evan Dunham...................1................... 1............................ 0
15............................. Al Iaquinta........................ 0................... 0............................ 0

I am simply supplying MMA/ UFC fans with statistical facts and presenting them in a means to provide an alternate perspective of the relationship of fighter activity within a WC between the Champion and their contenders.

Again, I stress that prohibitive extreme vast majority of UFC fans here on Sherdog hold a 180 degree different opinion than myself. I would like to hear your rational for not believing that contenders should be required to fight as often as the champions to remain ranked, and in contention for ANY title shot possibility.

Honestly, even if your rational is nothing more than "you" as a UFC fan strongly prefer the 180 degree opposite (as an "ideal") of the UFC champion fighting one time per month, and facing the #1 ranked UFC contender in the WC in January, and face the next 11 on the January 1 ranking in the WC one each month until the division (top 12) is cleared out by December.

 

[arkinso]

Because champions have a responsibility.

 

[dontlaugh]

Because they never gave a fuck about it until Conor mentioned Aldo not fighting a lot as the champion.

Now Sherdog demands that champs are supposed to defend often...while Conor himself fought 3 times and even won another belt and still hasn't defended the one he got from the guy he accused of not being an active champion

 

[Ar145984]

didnt read

 

[j18lee]

Didn't read, but if the idea is that champions should fight less often than 3 times a year, it's idiotic.

 

[screaminleeman]

Didn't read, but if the idea is that champions should fight less often than 3 times a year, it's idiotic.

Thank you for stating you opinion.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Champions are held to a higher standard. Or, they should be.

Tired of these vacation champs.

 

[screaminleeman]

didnt read

My apologies to you. I did NOT intend to waste your time. On second thought, since you did not read and typed instead typed 10 irrelevant characters, you did not waste "much time", so I am NOT sorry that I challenged your mental retardation.

 

[AndrewJR]

I totally agree they should fight other top 15 fighters and if they want he shot, they should be more active.

Those guys fought 2 top 15's you mentioned. However, the champ fought 0. Only 2 fights against top 15 is WAY more active in the division than the champ.

And why fight a ton inside the to 15 if it won't earn you a title fight?

 

[Ar145984]

My apologies to you. I did NOT intend to waste your time. On second thought, since you did not read and typed instead typed 10 irrelevant characters, you did not waste "much time", so I am NOT sorry that I challenged your mental retardation.

nah ur posting stats and shit its too much nah

didnt read

 

[STARSCREAM]

Every top 10 guy just wants to wait for their title shot no matter how long it takes it is pretty bogus sometimes

 

[screaminleeman]

Champions are held to a higher standard. Or, they should be.

Tired of these vacation champs.

While I disagree with this, I certainly thank you for stating your opinion.

May I ask if you (unlike myself) care in the least the reason behind a "champion not defending a belt"? I would also like for as frequent of title defenses as possible. I am 100% mandatory title defense time frame however.

I favor setting a time frame for a defense, and enforcing it without exception. A 1 year between title defenses is EXACTLY the same to me if the champion gets into a motorcycle accident and take 365 days to heal, train and comeback to fight, as a champion using the 365 day time frame to set the Guinness book of world record masturbating.

Injuries, jerking off and fighting in different WC's holding up a title defense is EXACTLY the same to me and is not more justified from one excuse to the next!

 

[Swing the Axe]

The complaint against Conor isn't that he's not fighting, it's that hes not fighting in his division, while holding that belt.

 

[screaminleeman]

I totally agree they should fight other top 15 fighters and if they want he shot, they should be more active.

Those guys fought 2 top 15's you mentioned. However, the champ fought 0. Only 2 fights against top 15 is WAY more active in the division than the champ.

And why fight a ton inside the to 15 if it won't earn you a title fight?

I think the first order should be to reduce the overall UFC roster from the 620+ current fighters to a number where every top 15 ranked fighter from every WC supported under the UFC banner so that every top 15 ranked fighter in a WC can 100% expect that the UFC management reserves enough fight slots in a calendar year to get 3 contest vs. other top 15 ranked contenders in the WC. If the UFC LW division did not have 110 fighters (95 ranked outside of the top 15) you would have NO PROBLEM offering the top 15 3-5 UFC fights against other UFC contenders in a single year!

The 620 current UFC fighters on the roster provides 1.4 fights per fighter across the entire UFC roster per year. This is so that contenders may remain ranked fighting 1 (or less) times per year!

Yes, 2 is WAY more than 2. 2 is also WAY MORE than the "average" UFC fighters yearly activity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of the 3 fighters in the FTW division with said two fights (none of the 3 are over a .500 winning percentage in them)! I see nothing that screams from a mountain top where Conor face any of them at this point.

I have said 1,000,000 times, there is VERY NEARLY NO SUCH THING as ANY MMA fighter that forced to fight (ever so slightly active) 4 contests against ranked opponents in a single year DOES NOT LOSE.

They ALL WOULD, and therefore the only difference to the Contenders fighting often for a title shot to those that refuse to fight for one is their win loss record(s) at the time they get their shots!

When EVERYONE was creaming over Cain and JDS, I was the one who made it clear that if they were (forced) to fight frequently, that BOTH would have been laughing stocks rather that "potential GOAT" candidates at the time. The ONLY way these two fighters looked ANY better than the rest of the top 10 HW's is that they never fought and savored a victory for YEARS!

Like you stated 2 is way more than 0 and I put the FTW situation into perspective as such. His 1 in LW is also WAY less than the four contenders 2. Of the 4 LW contenders with 2 contests against other ranked LW's in 2016 Only Eddie Alverez and Edson Barboza actually have "winning records" in them!

Connor's next title defense should still be a LW one. The LW division is far more stacked with more active contenders on winning streaks deserving a title shot than ANY FTW! Unfortunately as I stated, Barboza in this case statistically offers the best next title shot! If not Edson, Eddie is still better suited for a title shot before the next bum FTW fighter even though he was the last to fight McGregor a couple weeks ago!

 

[Siesta]

I'm sure you had some good points...but didn't read.

 

[screaminleeman]

The complaint against Conor isn't that he's not fighting, it's that hes not fighting in his division, while holding that belt.

I agree. There is however clear 100% indisputable evidence that no contenders in the division are fighting one another while "holding their ranking". Again it boils down to who "should" be more responsible to have to "prove" themselves.

I am in the 1% minority I understand believing that it (AGAIN IMO) is worse for contenders to not fight holding a ranking than a champion not fighting holding a belt.

As for the Champion being held to a higher standard than the contenders: This is 100% the entire reason for a ranking system for contenders as a basis for title shots being granted. There can be NO dispute here. I am not making this up. This is what the Zuffa ownership of the UFC sold to us MMA fans well over a decade into the sport. At first, with < 200 UFC fighters Dana and the UFC Brass had a case. With over 620 UFC fighters on the roster, the empirical data going into the ranking system is too little to support an unbiased ranking system. At this point, title shots based on rankings from data of contenders competing against one another is at best an extinct creature, and well more accurately, a blatant lie!

If the ranking system did have enough data of the results of contenders competing against one another, to support this unbiased system of fighter ranking within a WC, than the fighter that gets the title shot IS better than ANY of the lower ranked top 15 fighters in the WC competing against the other ranked fighter in the WC.
By definition, the Champion would always be fighting the #1 contender. The other "ranked" fighters in the WC can therefore face a fighter in the WC ranked no higher than 2 or lower than 15!

On a 1 to 1 fight basis, IMO, the Champion IS being held to a considerably higher standard facing a #1 ranked fighter in the WC that has actively beaten the other ranked fighters in the WC, than the contenders facing the same ranked opponents that the #1 already dispatched of!

 

[UseARubberGuard]

Honestly, I can't believed someone with a red belt posted this. I was expecting this to be a troll account.

Simply put, we're not talking about a division that's been cleared out (FLW), or a division that's struggling to put any semblance of a top 10 together (LHW). 2016 had all the makings of the biggest year in FW history, with worthy challengers like Aldo, Edgar, and Hollaway, instead we had the biggest star in the sport fight two throw-away fights and the worst LW champion in history.

The better question is why should challengers keep fighting, when a title shot won't happen regardless of resume?

 

[Source]

So you're entire argument is that Conor shouldn't defend his belt because there are no worthy challengers at FW? For someone insisting they don't have a bias your bias is obvious.

 

[JoshR86]

Because they never gave a fuck about it until Conor mentioned Aldo not fighting a lot as the champion.

Now Sherdog demands that champs are supposed to defend often...while Conor himself fought 3 times and even won another belt and still hasn't defended the one he got from the guy he accused of not being an active champion

Come on, Aldo was the hardest champ to be a fan of plain and simple, you'd watch impressively unexciting fight, where he would edge out his opponents.

And then he'd be gone until next year.

Aldo has been holding up the division for years.

 

[screaminleeman]

Honestly, I can't believed someone with a red belt posted this. I was expecting this to be a troll account.

Simply put, we're not talking about a division that's been cleared out (FLW), or a division that's struggling to put any semblance of a top 10 together (LHW). 2016 had all the makings of the biggest year in FW history, with worthy challengers like Aldo, Edgar, and Hollaway, instead we had the biggest star in the sport fight two throw-away fights and the worst LW champion in history.

The better question is why should challengers keep fighting, when a title shot won't happen regardless of resume?

Personally I do not follow flyweight. I am not sure what Demetrius Johnson's division has to do with Edgar, Aldo and Hollaway? As for the FTW division, clear it is (BY MMA DEFINITION) EXACTLY what Aldo did to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aldo RAPED the entire UFC FTW division before Conor came into play! CLEARED!!! As in cleared!

Conor blew Aldo out in 13 seconds less than one year ago friend, (if you have forgotten)!
You seem to suffer from senior memory loss a lot like myself. Help me out here. Since Conor took the not fly but featherweight belt (from Aldo LESS THAN 1 year ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) who was it that he scheduled to fight in this next bout? I ask this since as you state (indirectly) that Alverez is the worst LW champion in UFC history.

Help a senior citizen out here. As my failing memory serves me, after Conor took the UFC FTW belt from Aldo 11 months ago, he scheduled his next fight AS A CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT against RDA (How is he for a LW champ ITO?) at LW! It was NOT LW Conor McGregor that "nixed" the LW title fight immediately following the FTW championship fight. It was RDA and a foot injury (LMAO in a training camp mishap just weeks away from the title defense) that voided the contract that he and Conor signed!!! Did Conor at that point with RDA pulling out at the LAST POSSIBLE SECOND crucifying the card turn to WW?

Do you have ANY MEMORY? Hell that GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING NO, Conor did not turn to Diaz because his opponent pulled out of his title shot just days in advance. FFS I defy you to say that the "worthy" Brazilian Aldo that you mention was NOT the fighter offered the title shot at Conor when RDA chickened out at the last second. Granted, RDA's chickening out just days away from his title defense did put the entire thing into a ridiculous short notice situation.

Aldo REFUSED to accept the title fight with Conor due to RDA chickening out FAR TO LATE and FAR TO CLOSE to fight day for it to be worth him accepting the title fight rematch with Conor. Conor can't MAKE Aldo fight him if Aldo REFUSES to, which is EXACTLY what and ONLY what happened here.

RDA and Aldo both shot themselves in the foot, and only nuthuggers could have a mindset to attempt to alter reality here. I don't blame Aldo for not playing proxy for RDA last minute chickening out! For NO REASON should anyone (Like yourself and the McGregor haters) hold it more against Conor than Aldo that the FTW title rematch did not happen after the LW title fell through. It was pure greed that saw Dana refuse to cancel the event that RDA & Aldo murdered, and instead elected to FUCK the UFC fans having Conor fight anyway (a non-title WW contest) to avoid refunds!

Please tell me your memory has been refreshed!

The event SHOULD have been cancelled and EVERY fan given a refund!!!! I agree there was NO GOOD REASON for Conor to fight PERIOD with RDA chickening out, and Aldo refusing to cover his last second disappearing act!