Even if you had Cain Velasquez defeating Minotauro Nogueira, no chance I'm believing you if you predicted first-round knockout. Nogueira was the popular pick among fans and media. And while the consensus was that Velasquez was good, and win or lose he'd remain a future champion, Saturday night in Sydney he shocked Nogueira and everyone by proving he's damn good.
Velasquez looked awesome and is no doubt championship material. For now he'll have to wait his turn. The winner of Frank Mir-Shane Carwin next month at UFC 111 will determine the No. 1 contender to Brock Lesnar's title, but if the victor is forced on a lengthy medical suspension, Dana White said Saturday night that Velasquez will step right into the top spot.
The heavyweight division was once on life support. Now with three viable top contenders - the winner of Junior dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga becomes the fourth - this group is deep and getting stronger. Where in Strikeforce depth is a major problem, the UFC is building a foundation that will keep life pumping into the organization for years. In other words, Zuffa is winning the battle against complacency - at least in 2010
“Five years ago, there is no comparison to the way it is now,” White said during the UFC 110 post-fight press conference. “We had nobody like Cain. Nobody. All we had then was Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski and that was it. The division was terrible. It sucked and [Sylvia] and Andrei kept knocking each other out. Now, you go down the list and you see guy after guy and you go, ‘He’s the real deal. He’s the real deal. He’s the real deal.’ We’re full of them right now. I can’t wait to see some of these fights. It’s going to be sick.”
Nogueira, 33, is finished as a top contender, but still remains a tough out. You can't forget how impressive he was against Randy Couture, who is suddenly a threat at 205. In Velasquez Minotauro ran into a buzzsaw who took a quantum leap. The same can be said about a division once ruled (via an interim title) by the legend from Brazil.
“The young lions are definitely coming,” said Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, who himself mustered a needed win at UFC 110 over late replacement Anthony Perosh. “The heavyweight division is better than it’s ever been.”
If I were matchmaker, assuming Mir or Carwin emerge from UFC 111 healthy, I'd pit Velasquez against the dos Santos-Gonzaga winner (the two battle on the UFC's debut show on Versus). Seeing that health and injuries can wipe out Plan A (see UFC 112 and Anderson Silva's next opponent), a good Plan B would be Roy Nelson if he gets by Stefan Struve. The bottom line is you don't want Velasquez sitting idle for nearly a year waiting for an opponent of either Lesnar, Mir or Carwin to emerge.
Speaking of Mir-Carwin, UFC 111 is the next UFC pay-per-view. It takes place in Newark, N.J., in the shadow of New York City, where Zuffa is hell-bent on placing its flag by early 2011. It's no coincidence that Mir-Carwin is the co-main event with Georges St. Pierre-Dan Hardy - the focus of Spike's second UFC Primetime special debuting March 10.
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