On Saturday night in the main event of UFC 161, light heavyweight legends Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans meet in a three-round fight that, as far as we know, holds absolutely no title implications in the UFC’s 205-pound division.
Evans, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, has lost two straight fights — to champion Jon Jones and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira — disappointing defeats that have really dropped his stock in the division. Once considered the second-best light heavyweight in the world, he’s now just an afterthought at 205.
As for Henderson, he was supposed to fight Jones at UFC 151 for the title, but after injuring his knee and pulling out of the fight, he lost the opportunity to fight Jones, and instead had to fight Lyoto Machida in what UFC president Dana White billed as a #1 contender’s match at UFC 157. But, after a closely-fought 15 minutes, Machida earned a split decision victory and was awarded the title shot, leaving Henderson on the outside looking in.
But this is the UFC, and as we know very well, just because a fight is billed as a #1 contender’s fight, that doesn’t mean much, if anything. If it did, then Machida would definitely be next in line to fight Jones; instead, he’s fighting Phil Davis at UFC 163, even though he’s won two straight bouts that White billed as title eliminators.
Right now, Jones is recovering from that nasty toe injury he incurred in his UFC 159 fight with Chael Sonnen, but he said on Twitter yesterday that his next fight will be announced soon. Speculation is that he’ll be taking on Alexander Gustafsson sometime this fall, but there’s been no official confirmation yet that that’s indeed the UFC’s plan.
Although I admit that Gustafsson vs. Jones is an interesting matchup, I don’t believe that Gustafsson has automatically earned the title shot. Sure, he took out Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC on FOX 5, but I don’t think beating Rua earns anyone an automatic title shot in this day and age. And remember, he was supposed to fight Gegard Mousasi at UFC on FUEL TV 9, but had to pull out with a cut.
So Gustafsson pulled out of a fight, and automatically should get the next shot vs. Jones? It doesn’t make sense to me. If anything, Mousasi should get it, considering he actually fought (and won), but he won’t, both because he’s injured and because he’s not a big enough name yet. It seems, from my point of view, that Gustafsson is being thrown into this title fight almost by default, and of course he won’t turn the opportunity down if it arises.
But with UFC 161 this weekend, the UFC will have another option for Jones. If Henderson defeats Evans on Saturday night, especially if it’s in dominant fashion, the UFC should give him the next title shot against Jones, and then they should set up Gustafsson in a #1 contender’s bout against either Glover Teixeira or Daniel Cormier, assuming Cormier decides to drop to 205.
It makes sense. Henderson vs. Jones is a very interesting fight, and these guys obviously have a rivalry. Although we never got to see this fight last fall, we should get to see it now because it’s a great fight, as well as arguably the most intriguing out of all the possible fights Jones could have this fall (not including Cormier) because of Henderson’s wrestling background and knockout power.
I know that Henderson lost to Machida earlier this year, but Machida hardly deserved to win that fight, and that’s why the UFC is making him fight Davis now. Prior to that fight – which I actually thought Henderson won, by the way – Henderson had reeled off four straight wins, including a “Fight of the Year” victory over Rua and a KO win over Fedor Emelianenko. This is one of the best fighters in the history of the sport, and he deserves to fight for a UFC title one more time if he can take out Evans this weekend.
We’ll see what plan the UFC has up its sleeve, but it would be in the promotion’s best interest to wait and see what happens between Evans and Henderson before they announce Jones’ next opponent.
**********
UFC 161: Evans vs. Henderson is due to take place on June 15, 2013 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC 161 will be.
No steroid cheat "should" earn a title shot IMO.
Its bad enough that they're employed at all.