wrestlingfan
Championship Contender
Just recently in MMA, we witnessed the release of notable fighters who were a part of the Golden Glory Gym, and organization, Some of these fighters include, Marloes Coenen, Jon-Olav Einemo and if it weren't for the fact he's competing in the Grand Prix, Sergei Kharitonov as well. There's also been the release of Fedor Emelianenko and Alistair Overeem, Simple, Fedor suffered 3 consecutive losses in a row, so Zuffa decided to pull the plug, Overeem was released due to not being able to make fight dates due to injuries, and only having 1 fight left on his contract. It might've even been a way to get him into the UFC, But with a departure of the biggest names in Strikeforce, such as Overeem, Fedor, Nick Diaz, Jason Miller, Jake Shields, and possibly Dan Henderson is there really hope for the brand yet?
That's an iffy question, UFC's Divisions are lacking, They're becoming same old-same old and starting to lack in quality specifically the LHW and HW Divisions, Each of the LHW, and HW have their top five, In LHW (excluding the inexperience of Jon Jones): Rampage, Evans, Machida, Rua, & Griffin (all of which have faced one another), for HW: Mir, Carwin, Velasquez, Dos Santos, Lesnar, Excluding Velasquez and Dos Santos do to their recent debuts, Mir, Carwin and Lesnar have all fought each other. The UFC tends to market around certain fighters, which in effect just discourages other fighters ot even try, If you look at the LHW and HW Divisions outside of the Top 5, There's basically just a bunch of Gatekeepers and developing prospects, even busts (i.e. Ryan Bader), If UFC finally pulled the trigger, we would see a wide influx of talent in those two divisions and even other new people in the other divisions.
The Plan For The Future:
Right now it would be best to merge but merging doesn't exactly mean the brand has to shut down, UFC could simply just take Strikeforce's good talent and merge them into the UFC's ranks, The talent thats left could be the first in a long order of developmental fighters, That's right, Zuffa should keep Strikeforce open as a Developmental Brand, and have fighters come their to develop their skills so they're better quality for the UFC, if UFC are willing to do it, they can even have MMA Drafts, and draft superstars from the minor leagues into UFC or Strikeforce, for superstars that may be coming into the company that aren't well known with the fans, This could easily work with the minor companies such as King Of The Cage, Dream, Bellator, etc. It would make good use of talent and help stars grow so that just like I posted above, we don't have to rely on Top 5 Superstars, But if these companies merged here's how I've always dreamed of the roster of being:
Heavyweight: Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, Fedor Emelianenko (Believe it or not, he sells tickets, Zuffa needs him), Sergei Kharitonov, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski (He can make a comeback), Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers (Zuffa will need him to connect with the African-American audience for HW), Bigfoot Silva, Big Nog, Matt Mitrione, Chieck Kongo, Stefan Struve, Jeff Monson, Daniel Cormier, Shane Del Rosario, Chad Griggs, Travis Browne, Pat Barry, Roy Nelson, Brendan Schaub, Mike Russow. Cole Konrad (If Lesnar could help draft him into the UFC)
Light Heavyweight: Jon Jones, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, Shogun Rua, Forrest Griffin, Vladimir Matyushenko, Tito Ortiz, Keith Jardine (If he stays consistent), Ryan Bader, Lil Nog, Rich Franklin, Phil Davis, Alexander Gustaffsson, Dan Henderson, Christian M'Pumbu (If he is picked by the UFC Draft), Rafael Cavalcante, Gegard Mousasi, Renato Sobral, Mike Kyle, Muhammad Lawal, Roger Gracie, Thiago Silva, Brandon Vera,
Middleweight: Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen, Yushin Okami, Vitor Belfort, Hector Lombard/Alexander Shlemnko (if drafted), Ronaldo Souza, Tim Kennedy, Brian Stann, Mayhem Miller, Michael Bisping, Mark Munoz, Jorge Santiago, Chris Leben, Alan Belcher, Aaron Simpson, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Chris Weidman, Demian Maia, Rousimar Palhares, Cung Le, Eric Lawson/Luke Rockhold, Robbie Lawler, Melvin Manhoef, and Nate Marquardt if he gets reinstated
Welterweight: GSP, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, The Diaz Brothers, Carlos Condit, B.J. Penn, Tyron Woodley, Paul Daley, Marius Zaromskis, Tarec Saffedine, Rory MacDonald, Josh Koscheck, Thiago Alves, Rick Story, Diego Sanchez, Charlie Bremmenem, Martin Kampmann, Jake Ellenberger, Dong Hyun Kim, Matt Hughes, Anthony Johnson, Ben Askren (if drafted), Jay Hieron (if drafted), Dan Hardy, Mike Pyle,
Lightweight: Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Gilbert Melendez, Eddie Alvarez (if drafted), John Tompson, Billy Evangelista, Shinya Aoki, Clay Guida, Jim Miller, Ben Henderson, Melvin Guillard, Anthony Pettis, Dennis Siver, Sean Sherk, Takanori Gomi, George Sotriopoulos, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Donald Cerrone, Evan Dunham, Joe Lauzon, and other On the Cusp fighters.
Featherweight/Bantamweight (If I had it my way and if it were possible I would simply just unify the Divisions into one weight class and cancel the Flyweight Division: Urijah Faber, Dominick Cruz, Jose Aldo, Zack Makovsky/Joe Warren (if they are drafted), Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Brian Bowles, Hatsu Hioki, Manny Gamburyan, Tyson Griffin, Joseph Benavidez, Diego Nunes, Rani Yahya, Demetrious Johnson, Scott Jorgenson, Takeya Mizugaki, Eddie Wineland, Damacio Page, Miguel Torres, Mark Hominick, Brad Pickett, Norifumi Yamamoto, Chad Sung Jung, others.
WMMA (It has to survive if MMA wants a female audience): Cyborg Santos, Gina Carano, Marloes Coenen (if she's resigned they need her), Miesha Tate, Megumi Fujii, Michelle Waterson, Sarah Kaufman, Liz Carmouche, Amanda Nunes, Lisa Ward, Rosi Sexton, Kyra Gracie, (more scouting will be done)
That's an iffy question, UFC's Divisions are lacking, They're becoming same old-same old and starting to lack in quality specifically the LHW and HW Divisions, Each of the LHW, and HW have their top five, In LHW (excluding the inexperience of Jon Jones): Rampage, Evans, Machida, Rua, & Griffin (all of which have faced one another), for HW: Mir, Carwin, Velasquez, Dos Santos, Lesnar, Excluding Velasquez and Dos Santos do to their recent debuts, Mir, Carwin and Lesnar have all fought each other. The UFC tends to market around certain fighters, which in effect just discourages other fighters ot even try, If you look at the LHW and HW Divisions outside of the Top 5, There's basically just a bunch of Gatekeepers and developing prospects, even busts (i.e. Ryan Bader), If UFC finally pulled the trigger, we would see a wide influx of talent in those two divisions and even other new people in the other divisions.
The Plan For The Future:
Right now it would be best to merge but merging doesn't exactly mean the brand has to shut down, UFC could simply just take Strikeforce's good talent and merge them into the UFC's ranks, The talent thats left could be the first in a long order of developmental fighters, That's right, Zuffa should keep Strikeforce open as a Developmental Brand, and have fighters come their to develop their skills so they're better quality for the UFC, if UFC are willing to do it, they can even have MMA Drafts, and draft superstars from the minor leagues into UFC or Strikeforce, for superstars that may be coming into the company that aren't well known with the fans, This could easily work with the minor companies such as King Of The Cage, Dream, Bellator, etc. It would make good use of talent and help stars grow so that just like I posted above, we don't have to rely on Top 5 Superstars, But if these companies merged here's how I've always dreamed of the roster of being:
Heavyweight: Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, Fedor Emelianenko (Believe it or not, he sells tickets, Zuffa needs him), Sergei Kharitonov, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski (He can make a comeback), Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers (Zuffa will need him to connect with the African-American audience for HW), Bigfoot Silva, Big Nog, Matt Mitrione, Chieck Kongo, Stefan Struve, Jeff Monson, Daniel Cormier, Shane Del Rosario, Chad Griggs, Travis Browne, Pat Barry, Roy Nelson, Brendan Schaub, Mike Russow. Cole Konrad (If Lesnar could help draft him into the UFC)
Light Heavyweight: Jon Jones, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, Shogun Rua, Forrest Griffin, Vladimir Matyushenko, Tito Ortiz, Keith Jardine (If he stays consistent), Ryan Bader, Lil Nog, Rich Franklin, Phil Davis, Alexander Gustaffsson, Dan Henderson, Christian M'Pumbu (If he is picked by the UFC Draft), Rafael Cavalcante, Gegard Mousasi, Renato Sobral, Mike Kyle, Muhammad Lawal, Roger Gracie, Thiago Silva, Brandon Vera,
Middleweight: Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen, Yushin Okami, Vitor Belfort, Hector Lombard/Alexander Shlemnko (if drafted), Ronaldo Souza, Tim Kennedy, Brian Stann, Mayhem Miller, Michael Bisping, Mark Munoz, Jorge Santiago, Chris Leben, Alan Belcher, Aaron Simpson, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Chris Weidman, Demian Maia, Rousimar Palhares, Cung Le, Eric Lawson/Luke Rockhold, Robbie Lawler, Melvin Manhoef, and Nate Marquardt if he gets reinstated
Welterweight: GSP, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, The Diaz Brothers, Carlos Condit, B.J. Penn, Tyron Woodley, Paul Daley, Marius Zaromskis, Tarec Saffedine, Rory MacDonald, Josh Koscheck, Thiago Alves, Rick Story, Diego Sanchez, Charlie Bremmenem, Martin Kampmann, Jake Ellenberger, Dong Hyun Kim, Matt Hughes, Anthony Johnson, Ben Askren (if drafted), Jay Hieron (if drafted), Dan Hardy, Mike Pyle,
Lightweight: Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Gilbert Melendez, Eddie Alvarez (if drafted), John Tompson, Billy Evangelista, Shinya Aoki, Clay Guida, Jim Miller, Ben Henderson, Melvin Guillard, Anthony Pettis, Dennis Siver, Sean Sherk, Takanori Gomi, George Sotriopoulos, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Donald Cerrone, Evan Dunham, Joe Lauzon, and other On the Cusp fighters.
Featherweight/Bantamweight (If I had it my way and if it were possible I would simply just unify the Divisions into one weight class and cancel the Flyweight Division: Urijah Faber, Dominick Cruz, Jose Aldo, Zack Makovsky/Joe Warren (if they are drafted), Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Brian Bowles, Hatsu Hioki, Manny Gamburyan, Tyson Griffin, Joseph Benavidez, Diego Nunes, Rani Yahya, Demetrious Johnson, Scott Jorgenson, Takeya Mizugaki, Eddie Wineland, Damacio Page, Miguel Torres, Mark Hominick, Brad Pickett, Norifumi Yamamoto, Chad Sung Jung, others.
WMMA (It has to survive if MMA wants a female audience): Cyborg Santos, Gina Carano, Marloes Coenen (if she's resigned they need her), Miesha Tate, Megumi Fujii, Michelle Waterson, Sarah Kaufman, Liz Carmouche, Amanda Nunes, Lisa Ward, Rosi Sexton, Kyra Gracie, (more scouting will be done)
