Andrei Arlovski faced Frank Mir on Sept 5. If Arlovski wins, he SHOULD get a title shot. Most fans feel that Arlovski already was a contender. But if Mir wins, he probably still needs to win another fight in order to be in the title picture. After all, he recently lost 4 straight before bouncing back. JDS last defeated Stipe, which is a highly impressive win. He does not have a next fight confirmed. Stipe is facing Big Ben on Oct 5. Stipe should also be ready for a title shot if he wins that, but the loss to JDS makes it a little sour IMO. The Reem seems to have cleaned up his act a bit, with wins over Struve and Nelson. But that's been the story of his career and he is probably ripe for a letdown/gasout/TKO. Also, his record of 3-3 in the UFC isn't really contender-worthy. We have 3 guys with old victories over the current champ (Reem, Arlovski, JDS). On top of that, Fox News reports that Cain has officially "earned" a rematch with Werdum, with the date yet to be determined. http://www.foxsports.com/ufc/story/ufc-cain-velasquez-fabricio-werdum-rematch-081215 This rematch obviously won't happen anytime in 2015. So what if both Arlovski and Stipe win big? Who gets it? What if Cain wins the rematch? Does Werdum get a rematch in that case? And if Cain wins, how much more time will he take off before fighting again? The next HW title fight probably won't happen till late 2016, and probably early 2017. And possibly late 2017/early 2018. All the contenders will be forced to take other fights if that's the case. Yuck. IMO, this is the worst planning and matchmaking I've ever seen. It's the instant rematch that messes everything up.
Meanwhile Cro Cop is fighting a nobody. Between the shit matchingmaking of Joe Silva and Cain's time on the bench, HW is pretty much fucked for a good long while. Edit: It's like the UFC just doesn't want to give AA a shot. Bad blood or something? I'm scratching my head as to why the UFC wants MIA champ Cain back in gold with a quick unearned title shot.
If Arlovski beats Mir I have to believe he gets the shot over Stipe. Surely the win streak is too long to ignore at that point.
All I know is I wanna watch Cain vs Stipe and JDS vs Reem, then Reem vs Rothwell. I don't see how Cain earned a rematch, but much weirder things have happened.
All I want to know is why the hell doesn't Oliynyk have a fight set up? He just cold-KO'd Rosholt, submitted Hamilton, and submitted Cro Cop with an 11-fight win streak...
The problem with your plan is that Arlovski would beat Mir in a few weeks. The date for Werdum/Cain isn't even set yet, and will be early 2016 at the earliest. If one of them gets injured late, then somebody has to "step up" and fight at short notice, and basically screw their career (like Mendes did). Furthermore, after Werdum/Cain, the champ may not fight again until 2017. So you think Arlovski would defeat Mir, and then go sit on his ass for a year and a half waiting for the title shot?
Josh Barnett will beat roy. AA will beat Mir. Werdum will beat cain then lose the belt to arvloski. They will set a rematch up and AA will beat Werdum and be the champ. While Werdum is getting ready for the rubber match with AA he will get hurt and josh Barnett will be last second replacement and will beat Aa. Josh Barnett hw champ 2016. You heard it here first.
you think there are going to be 4 HW title fights in 2016? That is the most unbelievable part of this.
Both HW and LHW title challenges are coming off a loss in which they were both finished. Lol. Reem vs JDS is supposed to be being set up.
