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Originally Posted by Adambomb  You see fighting Bones as a cherrypicked bout? Isn't Bones a far more distinguished and seemingly more difficult opponent than Weidman?
The title should be defended regularly, but if there isn't a distinguished #1 contender then forcing a champ to fight inferior & opponents is both bad business & bad for the sport. How are fights like Silva-Maia, Silva-Leites, or GSP-Hardy a good thing?
Their last 2 fights are the only ones that mean anything. How are Weidman's previous bouts worth anything more than Bisping's? Winning streaks are irrelevant when they come against sub-par competition. It's not like Tom Lawlor, Jesse Bongfeldt, & Alessio Sakara are any better than Mayhem Miller, Jorge Rivera, Yoshihiro Akiyama, & Dan Miller. In fact, I'd say that on average Bisping has faced far superior competition over the last 3 years. Bisping has only lost one of his last 6 (7 if he beats Vitor) & that was against Sonnen in a razor close decision.
I totally agree that the titles don't get defended often enough (I think GSP & Carlos Condit were posterboys for that). However, I'd much rather see Anderson in competitive fights than defending his title against far inferior opponents that haven't distinguished themselves like Maia & Leites. If the competition doesn't appear to be available at 185 then Silva should be allowed fight elsewhere. |
I'm a huge Silva fan, but my beef here is not that anyone's waiting for a legit contender, but that:
1. Silva is actively involved in the process. That always bugs me. It bugs me when employees at my work try and pick their jobs while simultaneously moving up the ladder, it bugs me when champions do it. There's a clear definition of the job and this isn't part of it.
2. More importantly: There's no active criteria for defining the legit contenders. If DW made it clear, contenders were given a chance and knew the rules, then fine. It's a little wonky, but at least it's fair and at least it clearly defines what the belt is or isn't. And it stops this crap where we all sit around waiting for someone to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are a contender. That's just too high a bar and one that isn't used in other divisions with other champions.