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[Adambomb]

Originally Posted by The Donosaur

How about he defends the middle weight title against the number one contender. If he wins that then he can defend it against the new number one contender, and then the next.

With a win over Vitor Bisping would be the legit #1 contender. Beating Stann & Belfort would prepare Bisping for Silva a hell of a lot more than Wediman fighting Maia & Munoz has. Anderson won't be shooting double legs or pulling guard the first chance he gets.

Also, past #1 contenders at 185 have included Thales Leites & Damian Maia and we know how those fights went. Anderson tends to have the majority of the middleweight division far outclassed. Just because someone appears to be the best of the rest doesn't mean he can compete with Anderson.

If any champ has earned the opportunity to pursue superfights & put the division on hold until a legit challenger emerges it's Anderson.

[rivethead]

Originally Posted by Adambomb

If any champ has earned the opportunity to pursue superfights & put the division on hold until a legit challenger emerges it's Anderson.

That's the crux of it.

Some people accept this bullshit as an inevitability, or can convince themselves that Anderson is different from everyone else in the sport, and some people can't.

I'm one of the latter.

I'd actually rather have Anderson retire than fight six more years of cherrypicked bouts, and I say that as an Anderson fan.

rh

[The Donosaur]

Originally Posted by Adambomb

With a win over Vitor Bisping would be the legit #1 contender. Beating Stann & Belfort would prepare Bisping for Silva a hell of a lot more than Wediman fighting Maia & Munoz has. Anderson won't be shooting double legs or pulling guard the first chance he gets.

Also, past #1 contenders at 185 have included Thales Leites & Damian Maia and we know how those fights went. Anderson tends to have the majority of the middleweight division far outclassed. Just because someone appears to be the best of the rest doesn't mean he can compete with Anderson.

If any champ has earned the opportunity to pursue superfights & put the division on hold until a legit challenger emerges it's Anderson.

I disagree completely and your comparing only their last two fights which completely discounts Weidmans other wins on his winning streak. If Bisping wins (which I would be willing to bet that he won't) he will be the number 3 contender.

The basic problem with everything is that title don't get defended often enough, and Silva is the poster boy for it.

[Eric T Smith]

Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of Bisping. With that said, he gets more hate around here than he deserves. His only losses have come to Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Rashad Evans and Chael Sonnen. The only one of those fights that he lost decisively was Hendo. The other 3 losses were close decisions. A lot of people even had him winning against Sonnen and the Rashad fight was a split decision at 205. Maybe his list of wins aren't against a who's who of top notch fighters, but I think we all agree that the 185 division isn't exactly full of hall of famers. He was impressive against solid (though not great) fighters like Mayhem, Jorge Rivera and Stann. With a win over Vitor he is definately right up around the top of the division. Again, I am NOT a Bisping fan and I hope Vitor Hendo's him when they fight. But if he beats Vitor, I would have no problem seeing him fight Anderson.

[BlunTForcE]

Originally Posted by rivethead

That's the crux of it.

Some people accept this bullshit as an inevitability, or can convince themselves that Anderson is different from everyone else in the sport, and some people can't.

I'm one of the latter.

I'd actually rather have Anderson retire than fight six more years of cherrypicked bouts, and I say that as an Anderson fan.

rh

I'm on the fence. I'm an Anderson fan as well (only over the past maybe 2 years though). I'm not particularly for Anderson-Jones or Anderson-GSP (as GSP/Jones are my top two fighters with Silva in the top 5 I'd say)... I would like to see him keep fighting though at MW regardless if it's against Weidman, Bisping, etc.

I know he's pretty much cleared out MW and is looking for super-fights / hand-picked fights, but I'd like to see him keep dominating at 185 til he retires I think.

I'd still buy the super-fight cards though.

[Adambomb]

Originally Posted by rivethead

That's the crux of it.

Some people accept this bullshit as an inevitability, or can convince themselves that Anderson is different from everyone else in the sport, and some people can't.

I'm one of the latter.

I'd actually rather have Anderson retire than fight six more years of cherrypicked bouts, and I say that as an Anderson fan.

rh

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?

Originally Posted by The Donosaur

I disagree completely and your comparing only their last two fights which completely discounts Weidmans other wins on his winning streak. If Bisping wins (which I would be willing to bet that he won't) he will be the number 3 contender.

The basic problem with everything is that title don't get defended often enough, and Silva is the poster boy for it.

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.

[CtGreat]

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.

indeed

[roaddawg]

Originally Posted by The Donosaur

How about he defends the middle weight title against the number one contender. If he wins that then he can defend it against the new number one contender, and then the next.

The UFC is in the business of making money and putting on fights that the"majority" of fans want to see.

Also a fight should mean something to both the champion and challenger otherwise whats the point?

[Sniggles]

Originally Posted by roaddawg

Also a fight should mean something to both the champion and challenger otherwise whats the point?

It's not all about Anderson.

There's this concept called the purity of the sport that you often overlook.

[Sniggles]

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?

List of cherry-picked bouts (IMO):

Thales Leites, Demian Maia, James Irvin, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar