Although GSP established himself as one of the top performers in the UFC at the 2007 year end pay per view by destroying Matt Hughes, are there fighters in the UFC now that are must see TV?

I will start off with my least favorite division, the heavyweights.  I may be slightly biased here because I personally enjoy a smooth moving, fast flowing match, which many of the UFC heavyweights cannot provide.  Especially the one who the UFC seems destined to make its champion again, Tim Silvia.  His long reach and counter punching style keep me bored almost the entire fight.  His opponents generally are reluctant to shoot to take him down, unless you are the man Randy Couture.  So this forces them to stay on the outside where they cannot get close enough to engage Silvia.  Now this is not Silvia's fault at all.  However, I prefer to have a finisher as a champion, a la Chuck Liddle, Rampage Jackson, etc. then someone who is content to take a stand up jab fest victory, such as the one Silvia performed withAndrei Arlovski at UFC 61: Bitter Rivals.

The heavyweight division could be saved however, if Dana White can put together some deals to bring the top fighters to the top MMA organization.  Getting a deal done with Fedor Emelianenko is obviously the biggest challenge and draw in the sport.  However, is White can sign free agents such as Josh Barnett the division immediately becomes more exciting.

Now that the heavyweight rant is over, I will move on to one of my favorite divisions the light heavyweights.  Quinton Rampage Jackson is at the top and easily one of my favorite guys to watch.  2008 should bring some good challenges to Jackson as well with the return of Liddel into the title picture this could setup a rematch in the end of the year potentially.  However, I believe that Liddle will have to get by one more fight and Jackson will be set to face Forest Griffin when TUF 7 concludes in April.

The question then becomes who will Liddle be facing in his next match?  There are some intriguing matches out there for him.  Mauricio Rua, Ricardo Arona and maybe even a rematch with Keith Jardine to avenge Liddle's last loss are all great possibilities and any of these matches could headline a UFC card or possibly co main event with the Jackson v. Griffin fight.

With all this said I have just one request for the UFC for this coming year.  More mega fight cards please!  While I am a fan of any 2 fighters can make a good fight, the really great cards feature the mixed martial arts worlds best fighters.  Give me more fight cards that feature fights that warrent co main event status.  If this means having less shows, but better events then this is what I want.  While I enjoy the lightweight division even a title fight to me does not warrent Main Event status.  If this was a co main event fight with someone such as Chuck Liddel, Rampage Jackson or Anderson Silva then you would have me hook, line and sinker.  But as the fight card stands now, I will more then likely wait for it to come out on Spike.

Filed under: General UFC