Saturday sees one of the most vastly overlooked UFC cards in recent memory. With Liddell/Ortiz slated for December, most MMA fans seemed to have forgotten about the upcoming dual-title fight laden offering.After the Ultimate Fight finale, however, I started getting back into the swing of things. The seemingly endless buildup with Georges St Pierre and Matt Hughes taking swipes at each other was fun to start with, but got tiresome quickly. The last Hughes/St Pierre fight was well worth watching, and after seeing GSP’s progression into more of a fighting machine than he was in their previous meeting, the fight the world is about to witness may be one of the best this century.
However, people seem to have overlooked in general, the heavyweight fight of the night. Tim “The Maineiac” Sylvia is going up against Jeff “The Snowman” Monson, and whilst Sylvia’s staggering 6’8 frame is a stark contrast to the 6 feet of Snowman, Monson’s recent winning streak of 16 matches could either come to a drastic halt, or scream on into 2007, tasting the gold which has been carried around Sylvia’s waist to not only fights, but a variety of his own personal functions.
It amazes me that the UFC seemingly put absolutely no hype into their Heavyweight division at all; sure, the fight was mentioned on a few commercials, but Hughes/Pierre and Liddell/Ortiz are being given the “you cannot miss this fight” treatment. Given that the UFC’s heavyweight division is lackluster compared to it’s PRIDE counterpart, you’d think Dana White would see to it that they at least TRIED to push it.
With only two losses in his career, however, Tim Sylvia looks to be the favorite against the much shorter Monson. Looking to the future, it is unclear as to who the pride and joy of the Miletich Camp would fight next.
Speaking in a recent interview, Sylvia didn’t exactly back down from hard work.
"I want to fight Fedor." He stated, calmly delivering the news he wants to fight the world’s most dangerous man. Forget Shamrock, Fedor is where it’s at. He added; "We're the two champs, we're the two best in the world in our weight class. I want to prove I'm the best.”
He, however, might be looking at the wrong Emelianenko. Aleksandr, Fedor’s younger brother, recently said in an interview that he was looking into the possibility of a multi-fight contract in the UFC, where he would look to gain credibility as a world class heavyweight, instead of living in the shadow of the world’s greatest fighter in Japan.
On the flipside of the card, Matt Hughes has been rumoured recently to be considering the option of retirement in a couple of fights time; if true, this would no doubt be accelerated further by a loss of the title belt on Saturday eve.
In conclusion, this could be a good night for the UFC. Their penultimate PPV of 2006 could see the world’s “greatest fighting group”, the Miletich Fighting Systems, with two less straps, and that would surely lead to some interesting rematches and brand new matchups in the new year.
Until then, it’s been a pleasure.
theLUKE
www.myspace.com/samoaluke
2 comments: on "UFC 65 Preview"
I can't wait to see GSP get crowned
Frank, i disgaree with the comment that the talent isn't so strong with the big men; perhaps so in the UFC, but looking around in other organisations, most obviously PRIDE, the heavyweight division is by far their most exciting.
This is where PRIDE have the advantage, and the UFC are failing. If they could restore credibility to the Heavyweight division, some of the PRIDE-marks would quit with the "OMG FEDOR WILL WINZ" attitude.
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