On the UFC 155 card there are two major middleweight fights with title implications Boetsch vs Philippou and Okami vs Belcher. My question is which fight do you view as more important for the structure of the division now that Weidman has dropped out of the fight. I'm aware Boetsch has put together a reasonable run of late and that Philippou is in need of stiffer competition but Philippou has yet to beat a highly ranked opponent and Boestch although he has been winning has not looked particularly impressive. On the other hand Alan Belcher has looked very impressive but hasn't beaten a top 10 fighter yet while Okami was a top 10 fighter for a long time but was KO'd by Boetsch. My question is would you value a win from Okami or Belcher more than a win by Boetsch or Philippou and vice versa?
I agree with boetsch & belcher have been lookin good. If either 1 or both win big I definetly see new contenders
Depends who wins and how they look. For instance, if Belcher destroys Okami in round 1 and then Boetsch wins unimpressively against Phillipou, I think Belcher should be ahead of Boetsch.
I agree but it would also be hard to argue against Boetsch's resume in that case. Even though Belcher will have been far more impressive Boetsch will still be unbeaten at mw in 4 fights Edit: 5 if he were to win
Phillipou got a lucky draw here this can launch him pretty far. He hasn't really earned that fight, but it's definitely the least skilled guy in the top 10 of the division. Boetsch is tough, don't get me wrong, but he's only top 10 for getting in a couple nice shots at the end of his fight with Okami after being man-raped for 3 rounds, and winning a very close lackluster decision against the worst Lombard the world has ever seen who was extremely over-hyped to begin with. Boetsch never really looks good, but he keeps winning at 185. Eventually that has to count for something and that's why he's breaking into the title contention picture. A win over Phillipou probably won't help him much though. Weidman was a much better fight for him because even though he is tougher it would get him somewhere to win, and not hurt his stock too much too lose. Okami and Belcher both have a lot riding on this fight. Belcher has a strong win streak to keep up and an impressive win here could easily launch him to being neck and neck with Weidman for a title shot, easily top 3. Okami needs to prove he's still in the game after the loss to Boetsch and the lame performance against Roberts. I'm thinking Belcher gets the furthest here. A big win for him will have everyone talking about him and Weidman doing a title eliminator fight. I don't really see that happening with anyone else winning, even if it's really impressive. They'll likely wait for Bisping/Belfort to find an opponent for Weidman in the title eliminator.
Belcher will have his 5th consecutive win Also, all impressive 1st round finishes too. his last loss was the Akiyama split dec. many thought he won, and he won 2 before that. So belcher would be going to 7 of his last 8, with many impressive finishes, and the only loss being a highly debated split decision.
and here we go with Lombard stalking Palhares and playing it cool. The MW mess starts with this ko. The other contenders need to finish to keep up
