Mixed martial arts is becoming more like its “big brother,” boxing, because promoters are more and more focusing on the value of their shows’ main events. UFC 183 is a prime example of this, as the card is only about the return of Anderson Silva, as he faces one of the sport’s more well-known fighters: Nick Diaz. However, this main event is nothing more than an entertainment-based spectacle; the fights that are truly valuable to the sport will occur earlier in the night. Looking at the card as a whole, there’s a lot more to UFC 183 than its narrow spotlight suggests.
Even though the UFC lists Anderson Silva as the top-ranked middleweight contender, that position would be widely contested by many experts within the sport. Coming off of two devastating losses, the Brazilian athlete who long reigned over this division should be lower in the standings. Fighters such as Ronaldo Souza, Yoel Romero, and Luke Rockhold have been much more successful in recent memory, but find themselves behind the curve with the UFC’s panelists.
What makes this situation even more perplexing is that Silva is expected to be named the next title challenger if he beats Diaz. That’s correct: winning one fight against a welterweight who has not won a fight in nearly four years will be enough for Silva to earn a shot at the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 184, even though the champion has dominated him twice.
Mixed martial arts: sports or spectacle? The main event of UFC 183 is certainly the latter.
But what about the rest of the card? While the idea of the Silva-Diaz winner earning a title shot is laughable, that is not the case for other matchups on the card. In fact, by the time the main event begins, three different fighters could put themselves in prime position to challenge the champions of their respective weight classes.
Kelvin Gastelum has already emerged as a fighter to watch in 2015 based on his 2014 campaign. A win over Tyron Woodley, ranked by the UFC as a Top 5 contender at welterweight, could help him push towards a title shot at some point in this year. At a time when The Ultimate Fighter has failed to produce many new stars on the men’s side, Gastelum has the opportunity to buck that trend on Saturday.
The preliminary card has a very interesting “main event,” as Sara McMann and Miesha Tate are due to fight. Even though both women have been soundly defeated by Ronda Rousey, the winner of this fight will remain “in the mix” for a title shot in the women’s bantamweight division. Holly Holm and Bethe Correia may be the frontrunners to be the next woman to challenge Rousey (assuming she defeats Cat Zingano at UFC 184), but the path to that title shot will go through the winner of McMann vs. Tate.
That leaves the flyweight fight between Ian McCall and John Lineker, a fight that was originally the co-main event for UFC Fight Night 56, but was pulled due to McCall’s health issues. Now that the fight has been rebooked, it is slated to be the fifth fight of the night. This is a grave injustice to both men, and to the division as a whole. Even in comparison than the main event, the stakes of this fight are greater than any other contest on the card, as the winner of this fight will be next in line for the current flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson. Unfortunately, the UFC refuses to successfully market the smallest division in its ranks, and this is another such example. The fight that should be touted as the most relevant is being treated as an afterthought.
No one can blame the Ultimate Fighting Championship for doing all it can to bring in the most business possible. And as long as pay-per-view is a major driver for the UFC’s revenue, entertainment value will always have more prominence than sporting value. Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz is a fight that may be fun to watch, but the most significant fights sporting-wise will occur long before these two men step into the Octagon. The fighters involved in these fights might not have the biggest names in the sport, nor are they known for moving the proverbial needle, but their fights will push their divisions forward. That’s value to MMA fans that goes beyond name recognition.
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UFC 183: Silva vs. Diaz is due to take place on January 31, 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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