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[BonesKnows]

Originally Posted by Sakara=Excitement

Two champions thing? What is this? The WWE?

I don't care if your Momma gave you a belt and named you the champion of the living room, once you enter the UFC, all belts are null in void.

How can you be a champion of an organization that doesn't exist?

Well Hendo seemed to pull it off pretty well. UFC 75 was actually called Champion vs Champion and UFC 82 was called Pride of a Champion.

Correct me if im wrong, but didnt Hendo come out with the Pride belts for both fights?

[Goremire]

Originally Posted by BonesKnows

Another top opponent...because he has a long list of those already....

It's not a list of Hendricks proportions but it's longer than anyone elses at middleweight. He also has the benefit of not having wins over top guys sandwiched between losses, unlike every other middleweight currently in the mix right now.

The exception being Rockhold of course - I'd argue his wins over Maia and Munoz trump wins over Jacare and Kennedy but that's subjective. We won't really know until the latter compete against some top ten UFC competition.

[iced]

Originally Posted by BonesKnows

Well Hendo seemed to pull it off pretty well. UFC 75 was actually called Champion vs Champion and UFC 82 was called Pride of a Champion.

Correct me if im wrong, but didnt Hendo come out with the Pride belts for both fights?

sure did!

....i like the idea of a rockhold fight. makes the most sense to me right now. either that or some sort of super fight w Anderson (vs bones ...or rashad or someone). As long as it ain't some bs like cung next haha

[Uvall]

Originally Posted by BonesKnows

Well Hendo seemed to pull it off pretty well. UFC 75 was actually called Champion vs Champion and UFC 82 was called Pride of a Champion.

Correct me if im wrong, but didnt Hendo come out with the Pride belts for both fights?

Pride had a huge fan-base and UFC knew it. They wanted this fan-base. Pride was big enough to give these fighters great exposure/hype, during its time. I'm sure this is why UFC did as you said. Stirkeforce on the other hand was mediocre at best. Sure the die-hards watched and payed attention to what was going on within the organization. But they definitely didn't give the fighters they had anywhere close to half the exposure Pride had given theirs. That being said, I doubt the UFC really banked on gaining much of a 'new' fan-base from the absorption, like they had when taking over and absorbing Pride. Because the Champions don't have as much weight behind their names yet. I mean, look at what happened to Jake Shields when he came over. And he actually had a little bit of that weight behind his name.

@ Mr. Cornute,
How many of these WEC Champs got an immediate Title Fight when they came over after WEC was absorbed? I don't think your comparison of these 'situations' hold any water because, as I stated above, it is actually a completely different situation. The only similarity with this is that they were absorbed by the UFC. You can't necessarily dismiss the organization known as Pride, its fan-base, and what it stood for within that fan-base to compare these situations. Pride gave its fighters a heck of a lot more exposure/hype, even after its death, because of its legacy. This is what the UFC feeds off of to further hype and sell their fights. Strikeforce didn't come close to giving it's fighters this kind of exposure, even during its prime. So they can't be compared.

[roaddawg]

Originally Posted by Sakara=Excitement

Two champions thing? What is this? The WWE?

I don't care if your Momma gave you a belt and named you the champion of the living room, once you enter the UFC, all belts are null in void.

How can you be a champion of an organization that doesn't exist?

Despite your feelings on the matter you can't stick your head in the sand and attempt to revise history. A champion is a champion until defeated.

Some people are clearly fans of revisionist history. I am not amongst them.


P.S. Tell me you had a problem with the title unification bout between Henderson/Rampage. You likely won't because of Henderon's popularity amongst hardcore fans.

[Ashy Larry]

I'm pretty sure rockhold has gone on record saying he wasn't ready for Anderson. While I believe weidman is the clear no 1 contender I think it would be in his best interest to have one more fight before Anderson. Did anyone else notice him in baders corner? He looked very.......doughy

[MickeyKnox]

Originally Posted by BonesKnows

Another top opponent...because he has a long list of those already....

I forgot that fighters in the UFC usually rack up long lists of top opponents for some people to even consider them. Whoops.

[AnchorPunch]

Originally Posted by roaddawg

Despite your feelings on the matter you can't stick your head in the sand and attempt to revise history. A champion is a champion until defeated.

Some people are clearly fans of revisionist history. I am not amongst them

The equation has been pretty straightforward: other org champs don't get title shots. Hendo is really one of the only exceptions. Even Nog didn't get an immediate shot (anyone know why?).

As far as history, you're the one ignoring the fact that the vast majority of champs from other orgs didn't get the shot. WEC, Bellator, SF, it's been the same story every time. As S=E has said many times, Rockhold isn't a champ. His org is gone.

I'm fine with Rockhold getting the shot (largely because I think anyone, like Weidman, coming off a long injury needs to have one fight before title talks), but to say others on the forum are ignoring history on this matter is hilariously naive; you're clearly throwing out a huge amount of history yourself. And we've covered that, repeatedly.

Originally Posted by Ashy Larry

I'm pretty sure rockhold has gone on record saying he wasn't ready for Anderson. While I believe weidman is the clear no 1 contender I think it would be in his best interest to have one more fight before Anderson. Did anyone else notice him in baders corner? He looked very.......doughy

I never realized just how big Weidman's frame is until seeing him next to Bader. I saw that and immediately wondered how he gets to 185... pretty nuts.

[BonesKnows]

Originally Posted by MickeyKnox

I forgot that fighters in the UFC usually rack up long lists of top opponents for some people to even consider them. Whoops.

well he should have at least one or two... but we are beating a dead horse with this one.

[Dr. MMA]

Originally Posted by roaddawg

Despite your feelings on the matter you can't stick your head in the sand and attempt to revise history. A champion is a champion until defeated.

Some people are clearly fans of revisionist history. I am not amongst them.


P.S. Tell me you had a problem with the title unification bout between Henderson/Rampage. You likely won't because of Henderon's popularity amongst hardcore fans.

Pride is nothing similar to Strikeforce. Pride and UFC were considered top tier organizations where rankings were quite split to have fighters from both organizations in them. Strikeforce isn't in the same calibre. Also, the actual ranking matters. The reason Henderson got a shot at both Rampage and Anderson is because he was the #3 LHW (behind #2 rampage and #1 shogun) and #2 MW behind Anderson. Melendez is getting a shot because he is considered #2 or #3 LW in most rankings. The reason fighters like Condit and Lombard didn't get those shots are because of their rankings.

You'd be crazy to think that Volkov would get the shot against Cain if he got signed, or M'Pumbu against Jones if he got signed. Askren, Chandler, and Curran actually have rankings to actually claim a shot.

Rockhold is an interesting position though. He would've definitely not gotten the title shot based on his ranking. However, a lot of contenders above him just got knocked off with a loss (including Bisping, Boetsch, Munoz), Vitor already lost to Anderson and Weidman is still injured. If Rockhold got the shot, he was just in the right place at the right time.

Originally Posted by AnchorPunch

The equation has been pretty straightforward: other org champs don't get title shots. Hendo is really one of the only exceptions. Even Nog didn't get an immediate shot (anyone know why?).

Nog wasn't the champ in Pride. Don't you remember Fedor beating the hell out of him 4 years prior to the end of Pride to take the title? I have to add the gifs: