There has been a fair amount of controversy throughout the last few UFC cards, eye pokes, low blows, controversial referee calls and somewhat poor referee decision-making have all influenced fights in ways that they should not have in the past month. The UFC is in a somewhat unique position for an organization as large as it is. The UFC is basically at the will of government regulations and are nearly unable to make decisions about their own organization.

If the NFL wanted to change first downs from being ten yards to fifteen yards they would be able to make that decision themselves, internally. There might be some push back from players, fans, coaches or owners, but it is the league’s decision to make. If the MLB wanted to make Home Runs worth two runs to encourage more homers, then they could do it. If the UFC wants to change the ruling of what constitutes an illegal blow, they are unable to do it without appealing for change to the athletic commissions and government bodies that regulate and enforce the Unified Rules of MMA.

Despite this red tape that holds the UFC back, they have promised to urge athletic commissions to consider some changes to the rules that need to be made. In support of the UFC here are four rule changes that these athletic commissions need to at least consider.

1)    Eye Pokes

Close fight in the third round? Getting tired and think your opponent might start an epic comeback? Poke him in the eye. Under the current rules, there is really no punishment for poking your opponent in the eyes, so long as you make it look like an unintentional foul. At UFC 159 Gian Villante was poked in the eye, and the referee immediately asked him if he could see, when he responded no, the bout was immediately stopped. It awarded his opponent Ovince St. Preux a technical decision victory in a very close bout that Villante could easily have stolen in the third round.

I cringe almost every time I hear Joe Rogan talk about the need for new gloves in MMA and blah blah, although recent reports are that the UFC is in the early development stages of bringing in a newly designed glove to prevent eye pokes. Whether or not these gloves ever make it into the octagon remains to be seen, in the meantime there are however some changes that need to be made immediately.

First of all, there needs to be a better enforcement and a stiffer punishment for eye pokes. Oftentimes the poke is the result of carelessness from fighters, either stepping in or stepping backwards with open hands. Fighters need to be automatically deducted a point for eye pokes, initially this will cause many fighters to lose points, but a stiff punishment will teach fighters that they can’t be careless. I will guarantee that the first time a fighter loses a win bonus because of an eye poke, many others will ensure that they keep their hands closed.
The other problem with eye pokes is the treatment of the foul from referees. With low blows fighters who are fouled are given five minutes of recovery time. With eye pokes, referees can either stop the fight or allow a recovery period based on their discretion. The absurdity of this is hilarious, firstly referees aren’t doctors and they shouldn’t be making decisions about whether or not fighters can continue fighting after an eye poke. The fighter should be given a five minute rest period similar to other unintentional fouls, however, due to the severity of a possible eye poke they should be inspected by the cage side doctor before being allowed to continue. Doctors should be the ones stopping bouts for medical reasons and there needs to be a proper amount of time given for fighters to gather themselves.

2)    Definition of a Downed Opponent

The current rules enforce that a ‘three-point stance’ constitutes a downed opponent. As long as the fighter has three points of contact with the mat, he is considered a downed opponent. Since this means their opponents are unable to deliver knees or kicks, this rule is being downright abused by fighters and is used as a stall tactic when a fighter is in a precarious position.

I agree with the rules of being unable to knee or kick the head of a downed opponent, as those strikes specifically soccer kicks or head stomps can cause serious damage to fighters. However, the definition of a downed opponent needs some tweaks. This rule should be used to protect fighters who are in a dangerous position, it should not be used by fighters who are trying to draw their opponents into accidental fouls or as a stall tactic.

My proposition for this is to use the knees or back as definitions of a grounded opponent. If a fighter has a knee on the mat, he is most certainly downed, similarly if the fighter’s back is making contact with the mat, he is also downed. By enforcing these guidelines to define a downed opponent it will increase clarity for the attacking fighter and will reduce the number of fighters who try to use this rule as a stall tactic, since dropping to their back or their knees would open them up to significant danger.

3)    Marijuana Metabolites as a Performance Enhancing Drug

A number of fighters have recently failed their post-fight drug tests due to ‘marijuana metabolites.’ However many current fighters, including the recently released Matt Riddle and the always controversial Diaz brothers are medical marijuana users, who are registered in their state to use marijuana legally. In addition to that some states have legalized marijuana and it appears as though many more may join in with legalizing or de-criminalizing the use of marijuana.

Despite what your personal opinion is on weed, it’s hard to argue that it’s a performance-enhancing drug. Especially when the only thing that is found in a test is the metabolites. Despite what many people think about Nick Diaz, his recent case against the Nevada State Athletic Commission after his failed drug test brings up a number of interesting points. First of all, his lawyer points out that marijuana is the only substance that is prohibited according to the NSAC, not marijuana metabolites. There is a significant difference between testing positive for marijuana as opposed to marijuana metabolites (which is basically an inactive ingredient as Diaz’s lawyer called it.) According to the World Anti-Doping Agency marijuana metabolites are not prohibited as a performance-enhancing drug.

The only case made for marijuana being performance enhancing is that it’s effects can dull pain, which would obviously be advantageous in a fist fight, however, the metabolites can remain in the system for weeks or months, which is certainly not affecting that fighters performance on fight night. In cases where fighters can be using marijuana legally they should not be punished unless they pop for marijuana on the test.

4)    Definition of the Back of the Head and Blows to the Back of the Head

The Association of Boxing Commissions has clearly laid out the ‘illegal striking zone’ at several times and has a visual definition in their files. The basic gist of the rule is that a strike that touches the ear or forward is legal, while anything behind the ear or towards the neck area is illegal. This definition is fairly widely accepted among all athletic commissions, but the enforcement of the rule about illegal blows needs to be more defined.

Throughout the past year in the UFC alone some fighters have been deducted points for striking the back of the head, some fighters have been disqualified for rendering their opponents unable to continue due to illegal strikes, some fighters have received no punishment at all for striking the back of the head and some fighters have received warnings for it. That’s a very wide gap in enforcement of this rule. Many referees abide by the generalization that if the blows come as the result of trying to land legal blows, they receive warning.

Let’s look at a recent fight between Gabriel Gonzaga and Travis Browne. Browne won the bout via TKO in the first round, due to standing elbow strikes, several of which landed illegally to the back of the head. In this bout he wasn’t even warned about the strikes, and the referee stated that he landed legal blows before and was trying to land legal blows, thus he let the illegal blows end the fight. This ruling in my opinion is pretty terrible.

First of all, that rule is there for a reason as rabbit punches and shots to the back of the head can do serious damage to fighters. Secondly, the onus needs to be on the fighter delivering the strikes. In other sports similar rules are enforce with the onus being on the attacker. It’s not easy for 300-pound lineman to not hit a quarterback after he throws the ball, but it’s expected of him and if he doesn’t do it, he’s punished. The same needs to be said for fighters. There needs to be immediate point deductions for strikes to the back of the head. Like my opinion on eye pokes, fighters who realize that they will be punished severely for these strikes will learn to adapt quickly.

The other side of that coin is fighters turtling up and trying to expose the back of their heads in a chance to earn a brief timeout or get a point deducted from their opponent. By the same token offer a stiff penalty for fighters who act in an unsportsmanlike manner and open themselves up to these shots. Tell fighters that if they turn the back of their heads when covering up, the fight will be stopped immediately. Again, I guarantee that fighters will not be exposing the back of their heads if it means they’ll lose immediately.

Anderson Silva: Like Water

GSP – The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva – MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting

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Cristiane Cyborg vs. Ronda Rousey is the fight that won’t go away. The biggest WMMA fight that the UFC could make has taken on a life of its own. While fans were always led to believe that weight kept these two apart a new report claims that the real issue was the money.

Mike Chiapetta at MMAFighting.com breaks down the timeline of events that led to the monster grudge fight slipping through the UFC’s fingers. For months we were always told that Cyborg couldn’t get down to 135 and Rousey would not move up five pounds. However at the end of the day it appears that money once again is the root of the problem.

Chiapetta talked to one of the sparring partners from Cyborg’s management team, George Prajin. Prajin told Chiapetta , “They were compensating Ronda like she was the only attraction of the fight.” The money and promotion Rousey would have received was much bigger than Santos and while weight was always an issue, there was a belief that for the right price Cyborg would make 135.

Chiapetta also reports that Cyborg’s contract was the other issue. Santos already had a contract with Zuffa, specifically fights remaining on her Strikeforce deal. The story reports that Cyborg made $66,000 on her last fight. Both sides were willing to renegotiate but the UFC wanted an eight-fight deal while Cyborg’s camp did not want her committed to the UFC at 135 pounds for more than three fights.

“Basically, her fighting at 135 is handicapping her,” said Prajin. “We were willing to do that, and cut down and go work with Mike and get to 135 to do the fight because Cris wanted to fight Ronda. However, when they said we had to do it for eight fights? She doesn’t want to do the cut eight times when all she wants to do is fight Ronda and beat Ronda. After Ronda, there is really nothing left for her.”

What is good news here in the story is that this fight is a long way away from dead. According to the story, Cyborg’s deal with Invicta gives her an out-clause after her second fight. The idea behind this was to open up negotiations with the UFC at this point, should Cyborg remain undefeated. The other interesting nugget here was that according to the story, Cyborg’s deal with Invicta is paying her more than the UFC deal.

That could answer the question as to why she went there in the first place. The UFC and Invicta had an arrangement on the table wherein the company would farm Cyborg out to Invicta while she was under a UFC contract. Most wondered at the time why she would not remain with UFC and fight in Invicta as opposed to leaving the UFC altogether to get to the same place. If this is true, that would make sense.

It is hard to say who has the leverage here. The UFC did better than expected numbers for Rousey’s debut against Liz Carmouche and Rousey has been a media darling ever since. Rousey will get a ton of exposure off of the next The Ultimate Fighter but as UFC 159 showed, a great season of TUF doesn’t necessarily mean a blockbuster buyrate.

What is interesting to me about all of this is that the UFC were ready to go with this fight for Rousey’s debut. The UFC has a ton of stock invested into Rousey and that could have taken a nose dive if Cyborg won or even worse destroyed her. In a sense, this is almost playing out like a Rocky vs. Clubber Lang story. At some point if these two women stay undefeated you’d think that this fight just has to be made.

It is becoming clear that the UFC has a lot of trouble closing the deal on super fights. The fighters know that they have the leverage and most demand outrageous money for these fights. I can’t imagine that Cyborg was making any outrageous demands but the fact that the UFC would let five fights on a contract stop this fight from being made is just ridiculous, and to be fair I am sure there was more involved. Yet at the end of the day this is just another super fight hanging out there that the UFC can’t close and that is really all anyone cares about.

Anderson Silva: Like Water

Anderson Silva – MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting

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It is a rare occasion when you get an inside look at Anderson Silva. Like Water shows a fascinating backstory behind one of the greatest fights and fighters in UFC history yet still left plenty of unanswered questions about who Anderson Silva really is.

I recently found some time to watch the Silva doc which is on Netflix and I have to say that I thought it was very good. It certainly wasn’t the best sports documentary I have ever seen but it was better than the average. The documentary follows Silva as he prepares for what turned out to be arguably the greatest championship fight in UFC history against Chael Sonnen at UFC 117.

If you are expecting to learn a lot about The Spider I think you’ll be disappointed. They certainly cover Silva’s beginnings and his entry into MMA. But the background is very brief which I found unfortunate. I would have loved to know when the greatest fighter of all time evolved, struggles early on, lessons he learned, stories about training with Wanderlei and his team, Pride FC, etc. They just aren’t here. This is more a simple story about the champion preparing for a fight than it is about Anderson Silva’s story.

The timeline here in Silva’s career makes this documentary even better. Silva is coming off a controversial win over Demian Maia at UFC 112. Silva and the UFC are at odds with Dana White basically threatening Silva’s job if he repeats that same performance against Chael. Ironically Silva never actually addresses this issue which seems kind of bizarre considering how big of a story this was and the fact that Dana actually addresses this in the documentary.

Silva leaves his family for three months and comes to the United States to train for the fight. Silva appears to be having a great time with his MMA family and friends. The film shows a different side of Silva during this time as a coach, a side you don’t see in the UFC. Silva is working with a protégé and winds up seconding him at a small MMA show. Silva is intense as a coach and shows more emotion during these few minutes than he often shows during his own fights. One of the biggest criticisms that Silva’s critics have of him is a lack of passion. He’s got passion, but where he shows it is the biggest question for me.

One of the biggest takeaways I had from this movie is that none of the trash talking Chael Sonnen did leading up to UFC 117 got to Silva. Anderson didn’t seem bothered at all and Silva’s manager Ed Soares appeared to find Sonnen’s insults more amusing than offensive. It’s funny because going into UFC 117 you had a lot of MMA fans and reporters playing up this story about Sonnen being in Silva’s head. He just wasn’t. Silva was more home sick than he was motivated by Sonnen’s promos.

Remember following UFC 117 and Silva said that he had injured ribs coming into the fight? I looked out during his training for this injury because Sonnen and some others accused Silva of lying about it. It happened. Silva did hurt his ribs close to the fight but it is really hard to ascertain how badly they were injured. There is a scene where he is warming up a day or so before the fight and he has to stop because they were bothering him. They certainly weren’t broken but there absolutely was some kind of rib injury prior to the fight.

I had mixed feelings about seeing Silva with his fans. Silva seems to have a really good time meeting fans and taking pictures. However, there is a scene where Ed is asking Anderson if he mocked the fans in his foreign tongue which Silva says he didn’t. Obviously for that question to be asked it must have happened before. There is also another scene where Silva is playing around and has to be dragged kicking and screaming to an autograph signing.

The other biggest takeaway for me was the scene where Silva and his team were practicing for the exact same scenario that ended the fight with Sonnen. Silva and his team were practicing Silva getting a triangle from his back. What is interesting here is that it appeared that Silva was having a bit of a hard time getting it during training, which of course could be due to the magic of editing. Nonetheless I was blown away to see him actually preparing for that same scenario which ended the fight.

On a side note if you watch the UFC 148 behind the scenes special that has aired on Fuel TV, you can see Sonnen practicing the spinning backfist quite a bit.

Other than the fight the most dramatic scene in the movie is probably the call Dana White makes to Ed Soares after the infamous UFC 117 media call. Silva gives one word answers throughout the conference call as Ed is seen just shaking his head in a remote location, obviously frustrated with his friend and client. Immediately after the call Dana calls Ed and basically threatens Silva’s job. Ed took it seriously and you have to feel for the guy who is caught in between White and Silva at a time when Silva was on the hot seat.

Even at that rate it still boggles my mind as to why the UFC never promoted this piece. One of the biggest problems they have with Silva is his lack of desire to do promotion. Here is a great vehicle to show fans and media another side of their biggest star. Maybe the fact that Chael comes back with a hot PED test dissuaded them from wanting to push the movie? I don’t know but it seemed like a natural and yet I don’t recall the UFC ever doing one second of promotion for it.

The biggest disappointment here is that you still don’t get to know the Spider in this documentary. Sure you follow him in training but there is not a whole lot learned here. If the fight didn’t turn out to be as legendary as it has, I wonder if the documentary would have been half as interesting. Lucky for them it didn’t and helped create a compelling movie with Like Water.

Anderson Silva: Like Water

Anderson Silva – MMA Instruction Manual: The Muay Thai Clinch, Takedowns, Takedown Defense, and Ground Fighting

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Daniel Cormier and the UFC appear to be on two different pages. Cormier seems steadfast in staying at heavyweight, at least for the time being while the UFC would like him to drop to 205. Dana White has upped the stakes by offering Cormier a fast track at the championship.

I have to be honest and tell you that watching Cormier and his safe game plan against Frank Mir didn’t exactly have me thinking title shot. Cormier did win his UFC debut over Mir but it wasn’t the exciting fight you would have expected from D.C. Fortunately for him impressing me means nothing because it would appear from all accounts he has impressed the boss.

Dana White has mentioned in the past that he would shoot Cormier to the front of the line to fight for the UFC light heavyweight title if he could get Cormier to drop to 205. White is again dangling that carrot out there for the former Olympiad as he indicated last week.

“He could drop to 205 and get a shot at the title in my opinion, on day one,” he said. “Look at the guys he’s beat at heavyweight. I actually prefer him at 205,” he said. “This heavyweight division isn’t like other heavyweight divisions. And in saying that, he beat Josh Barnett. That’s a big deal. I just don’t think he has the punching power at heavyweight that he’d have at 205.“

Cormier isn’t so hot on the idea. Cormier had a weight cut go wrong during the Olympics when his kidneys shut down as he dropped to 211 pounds. Cormier has been very non committal to the drop and has even said he’d take a fight with training partner and current UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez if he stayed at heavyweight.

My problem with this is that I have watched now two guys get UFC light heavyweight title shots in a row who had not fought in the division for years. Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen both wound up with title shots in cases where legitimate top contenders like Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida sat on the sidelines. Here we go again with a third potential challenger in a row with not even one fight at light heavyweight in his career.

I like Cormier but White has to be kidding himself if he thinks fans are going to buy into Cormier earning a shot at the light heavyweight title because he beat Giant Silva, Josh Barnett, and Frank Mir. Additionally, he was not even that impressive over Mir. The interest for a Jones vs. Cormier fight won’t be where it needs to be without Cormier getting at least 1 impressive win the division first.

Jones is already talking about wanting to fight Alexander Gustafsson. I can’t imagine that Jones would be interested in fighting a guy who has no wins in the division. Reportedly there was some kind of issue between Cormier and Jones so maybe there is some interest. I just think the UFC has to really limit these championship fights going to undeserving contenders. Awarding a shot to Cormier is not the way to go here.

The title shot will probably wait for a variety of reasons. The most important being that it appears the UFC is going to move towards a Roy Nelson vs. Daniel Cormier and Jones is hurt. So what happens if Cormier beats Nelson? Does he deserve a crack at Jones then? I just don’t see it.

Georges St-Pierre: The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva: Like Water

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Dana White needs to stop any future talk about Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva because it is clear GSP isn’t interested. Now if he wants to set his sights on GSP vs. Benson Henderson, he may have better luck according to the UFC welterweight champ.

The UFC president was at it again last week when he told the media that he was going to make another attempt to sign the Silva vs. GSP super fight. White said that he expected an answer from GSP last week but never followed up with the media on it. GSP on the other hand was glad to talk to the media on it and it isn’t happening, at least not now.

GSP is doing media for his new autobiography “The Way of the Fight” and sat down with UFC color commentator Joe Rogan on Rogan’s podcast to talk about the book. Of course the subject immediately shifted to Anderson Silva and GSP gave what I think is one of the most honest answers you’ll ever hear from a fighter that isn’t interested in a fight he doesn’t think he will win.

“Anderson Silva is very big,” St-Pierre said. “He’s 230 pounds. He’s a very big guy walking around, and I’m 190 pounds. It’s a lot of weight difference. If this fight happens one day, we’re going to have to decide what weight class and everything.”

Not all is lost. GSP told Rogan that if Silva can come down to welterweight, he’d take the fight.

“If he can make 170, he can weigh 170, I can weigh 170, and everything is fine.”

From the start of this Silva vs. St-Pierre talk, GSP has been rather consistent in his worry about the size difference between the two fighters. GSP has said numerous times that he would have to come up in weight and he isn’t comfortable with that. As a fan as much as I admire GSP I have said from the start that I felt Silva was too big for him. There is a big size difference there and as fun as the fight is on paper, MMA has weight classes for a reason.

These comments are also interesting in regards to what GSP’s current trainer and ex-manager have said in recent interviews. Both have said that GSP had a three-fight plan and that the plan was Diaz, Silva, Hendricks, and then retirement. GSP seemed to indicate that he would take the fight with Johny Hendricks next and stay at 170. Hendricks can now relax because it appears that he is getting his title shot.

Now that said, not all talk about super fights is dead. GSP told Rogan that a move to 155 pounds is something that he’d actually entertain. He told Rogan that the 155 pound fighters walk around at 190 which is what he weighs. UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has talked about wanting to fight GSP. Maybe Dana White and the UFC need to start working on the super fight that they can actually sign instead of chasing the ones they can’t.

GSP never said the Silva fight is dead, but unless the Spider is dropping to 170 (which he has said he’d do), it isn’t happening anytime soon.

Georges St-Pierre: The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva: Like Water

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Leave it to Jon Jones to crush the hopes and dreams of UFC fans. Just days after UFC president Dana White told the media that the UFC had plans for a Jones vs. Anderson Silva fight in the fall, Bones made sure to remind fans that super fights in the UFC are simply more myth than reality.

The ironic thing about super fights in the UFC is that these big dream fights are often talked about for years yet rarely ever signed. I’ll give the UFC credit for pulling off Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz after a couple of failed attempts but their inability to sign the mega bouts is a hump that the company just seem to get over.

In the case of Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones it appeared that there was some real activity here in regards to this fight actually being made. After saying no for almost two years, the Spider had a recent change of heart and has started talking openly about his desire to fight Jones. Dana White quickly hopped on that bandwagon and both he and the UFC middleweight champ even seemed to have a date in mind, the 20th anniversary event.

And then Jon Jones came along to remind you that dream fights in the UFC don’t happen that easily.

Jones is doing media for his upcoming UFC 159 headliner with Chael Sonnen and was asked about fighting Silva on Monday’s conference call.

Jon Jones has his eyes set on bigger fish than Anderson Silva. Jones is eyeing Tito Ortiz, specifically Ortiz’s record of five UFC light heavyweight title defenses. Saturday’s fight against Sonnen will tie that record. Jones wants to break it and according to the champ, that is more important than any super fight. Jones told the media that after Sonnen he wants to defend the title in November before entertaining super fights. When asked specifically about the Silva fight Jones responded, “I said what I said.”

Likable guy isn’t he?

Now I will say this before I declare the November fight dead with Silva. This could simply be a public negotiating ploy by Jones. Silva is saying yes, the UFC certainly wants it, so at this point Jones does have all the cards when it comes to negotiating. Jones has said no to fights in the past that wound up being signed, such as the one this Saturday. Maybe this is nothing more than a negotiating tactic.

Jones likes to call himself a “business man.” What kind of sane business man would pass up an opportunity to make the most money he has ever made by fighting Silva (on the anniversary show nonetheless) for a title defense against Lyoto Machida?

Jones is a wealthy man but he doesn’t draw big buyrates and he hasn’t been on top that long. He is preparing for a fight now that has less interest than any championship fight he has participated in on pay per view. The Silva fight would be a life changer for him. He can go chase Tito’s record after the Silva fight. Timing is everything and fighting Silva on the 20th anniversary show would give the UFC its biggest fight ever. If he is sincere, passing that pay day up for a record that quite honestly nobody really cares about is just insane.

This would also explain Dana White’s recent statements regarding Anderson Silva vs. GSP. That super fight (which White guaranteed) was dead. GSP was scheduled to fight Johny Hendricks and the company was looking at Silva vs. Jones for the fall. Out of nowhere White told reporters last week that the company was making another play for that fight and were waiting on GSP for an answer. Maybe Jones is serious and now realizing that they have no mega fight set up for the 20th anniversary show, the UFC went back to the GSP-Silva well?

There also has to be some responsibility placed on the UFC here. It is one thing when boxing dream fights can’t be made due to rival promoters. The UFC promotes all of these guys and yet fails time and time again to pull off these mega fights. Nobody is forcing these guys to fight so unless you have verbal agreements from these guys, it is time to stop teasing the public with talk of these mega fights that never deliver.

Georges St-Pierre: The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva: Like Water

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I have always been a fan of Georges St-Pierre and found him to be a stand up guy. Yet his reluctance to fight the true number one contender is troubling, in addition to the UFC support behind it. It’s time fight Johny Hendricks or vacate the title and abolish the rankings.

It appeared coming out of UFC 158 that everything was on target for a big UFC welterweight championship fight. Johny Hendricks won his sixth fight in a row against elite competition in the UFC and was guaranteed the next fight with GSP by UFC officials. Several weeks later and an interesting comment later, that fight is no closer to taking place than it was before Hendricks stepped into the octagon with Carlos Condit.

UFC president Dana White made what I thought was a shocking statement last week. White told the media that the UFC were once again making a play for a Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva fight.

“If Georges says to me, ‘I want to fight Anderson Silva,’ you think I’m going to go, ‘No you’re not – you’re fighting Johny Hendricks. We’ll talk about that later’?”

White then told the media that St-Pierre would not have to vacate the title to fight Silva. White said that the plan would be for GSP to move up and then move back down and defend the title against Hendricks.

Come again?

I am so sick of this proposed Silva vs. GSP talk. Remember when Dana White guaranteed that he was going to make the fight happen after GSP vs. Condit? Either move on or don’t say another word about it until you have bout agreements signed by all parties. It’s freaking pathetic already.

But what about Hendricks? I’ll admit that I was in favor of the UFC passing Hendricks over for Nick Diaz in regards to GSP’s last fight. That was probably a mistake and Hendricks proved me wrong when he came out victorious over the former interim champion. At this point enough is enough. The guy just beat the former interim champ, won his sixth in a row, and has been promised the next fight with GSP. It’s time to do what is right and give the guy his title shot.

The UFC introduced rankings a few months back. Dana said at the time that the rankings wouldn’t have influence over match making which begs the question as to why even have them in the first place. I know FOX wanted them but what’s the point if they mean nothing. If Hendricks has to sit again and wait I say abolish these rankings altogether, at least at welterweight. There is zero credibility if this happens.

I don’t know what happened because the plan seemed fairly clear the last few weeks. Chris Weidman would fight Silva, GSP would fight Hendricks, and then Silva would fight Jon Jones at the 20th Anniversary event. How we got back to GSP vs. Silva is a great question. Considering the fact that GSP has a movie coming up and probably wouldn’t be fighting until the fall, a fight with Silva would require Hendricks to sit out a year or more for his title shot. It’s just ridiculous.

Again I get it and the UFC has made it perfectly clear that this is a business. Unfortunately this company has lost more credibility in the last year because of this. I think at this point there are enough people excited about seeing Hendricks fight for the title that the idea of putting the fight the off seems bizarre. Is the UFC worried that Hendricks will beat GSP and thus want to shoot the GSP vs. Silva fight now? It sounds like a dumb question but when you really look at the big picture, why else would they steal the guy’s title shot that they have promised him twice?

Hendricks may have to show up at GSP’s camp to get his title shot after all.

Georges St-Pierre: The Way of the Fight Book

Anderson Silva: Like Water

UFC shirts and videos on Amazon.com