Champions who actually want to defend against contenders

[blaseblah]

I took a look at the current list of champions. The only two fighters who actually want to be active champions and haven't been plagued with injury are Jon Jones and Valentina Shevchenko. These are all very talented fighters but is this the weakest group of champions in UFC history as far as actually defending titles? I don't remember this many standing champions wanting to sit out and not defend their belts.

 

[Frank McEdgar]

What about Woodley??

And Shev hasn't even defended her belt yet....

 

[thetimegauntlet]

Jon Jones is fighting Anthony Smith next, which is much less of a danger to him than a superfight at heavy.

 

[CoyeWolfe]

What about Woodley??

And Shev hasn't even defended her belt yet....

She wants to, but there's a lack of challengers. Jessica Eye was supposed to be next but wants to wait until June.

 

[blaseblah]

What about Woodley??

And Shev hasn't even defended her belt yet....

She's calling out to fight as quickly as possible. The holdup is Eye who wants to delay the fight until June.

Woodley was injured all of 2018 and fought once.

 

[cws80us]

What about Woodley??

<45><45><45>

 

[Thenewguysnm1]

Woodley
Jones
Whittaker when healthy
That’s it

 

[Arrrrgh]

Jones has been inactive more than most because of his choices. I get your point but he is a bad example of active champions.

Whittaker's recent injury bug is really disappointing. I wish him the best getting and staying healthy.
Cejudo is active enough. 5 months between winning the belt and your first title defense, against another champion no less, is solid. We'll see if he holds up the division chasing other belts or if he gets in the cage at 125 1-2 more times in the next 6 months. 3x per rolling 12 months is acceptable activity in my opinion.

But otherwise you are correct.
Holloway looks active next to the rest of the champions.

 

[Deleted member 538955]

When JBJ is not doing his crazy stuff outside of the octagon, he is pretty active. And my girl Val does not shy away either. Good call.

 

[Vincentsky]

Cejudo!

Edit: and Halloway!

 

[kibz]

DJ wanted to do that but everyone hated it. He dominated his division so badly ppl wanted him to go fight in another division.

Now that Cejudo knocked him off and he’s gone, if Cejudo wanted to do that ppl would hate him after a few title defenses too. Luckily he got that out the way early by fighting TJ but if he stays at 125 from here on out, ppl will moan.

 

[Stevanchez]

Uhh....Didn't both Khabib and Cormier just defend against the #3 guy in their respective divisions? Or did I dream that?

 

[blaseblah]

Cejudo!

Edit: and Halloway!

Cejudo is campaigning for a fight at 135 instead of defending his title. Holloway pulled out of three consecutive fights before the Ortega fight and is now looking to fight for an interim at lightweight, despite only defending his title once in 2018. Neither of those count.

 

[blaseblah]

Uhh....Didn't both Khabib and Cormier just defend against the #3 guy in their respective divisions? Or did I dream that?

Cormier is out injured, got stripped of his light heavyweight belt, and only wants to fight Brock. Khabib is talking about sitting out until November and calling for GSP. Neither of them are active champs who want to fight contenders.

 

[Vincentsky]

Cejudo is campaigning for a fight at 135 instead of defending his title. Holloway pulled out of three consecutive fights before the Ortega fight and is now looking to fight for an interim at lightweight, despite only defending his title once in 2018. Neither of those count.

I don’t know if I agree. Cejudo just defended against the toughest challenge he could’ve possible had. Max’s pull outs were out of his control, and he fought Aldo twice,Ortega, was willing to with Edgar and is constantly saying he needs to defend and go on a long run to be considered a goat FW.

 

[Joshuaace]

.....are called contenders

 

[snackgod]

Cejudo is campaigning for a fight at 135 instead of defending his title. Holloway pulled out of three consecutive fights before the Ortega fight and is now looking to fight for an interim at lightweight, despite only defending his title once in 2018. Neither of those count.

you do understand ufc is shutting down 125 so that why he getting the 135 rematch not defending again at 125.

 

[snackgod]

Cormier is out injured, got stripped of his light heavyweight belt, and only wants to fight Brock. Khabib is talking about sitting out until November and calling for GSP. Neither of them are active champs who want to fight contenders.

to bad his suspention took him off ufc 235 so he cant fight before ramadan so not he fight tonyo or dustin on the first big ppv in vegas after the holiday so what the problem.

 

[Stevanchez]

Cormier is out injured, got stripped of his light heavyweight belt, and only wants to fight Brock. Khabib is talking about sitting out until November and calling for GSP. Neither of them are active champs who want to fight contenders.

But they both have, by definition, already defended against top contenders.

 

[SpecialDelivery]

Or is it that the FANS need to have a shiny gold belt on the line in order watch certain matches?
Kinda sounds like WWE fans if you ask me