The results in the final month of the UFC calendar point to a changing of the guard when it resumes in 2009.
Some shocking results at UFC 92, as well as other surprising finishes in 2008, have foreshadowed what appears to be a changing of the guard amongst the upper echelon in the UFC rankings.
Wanderlei Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira both lost at UFC 92 in Las Vegas last week, and Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell also have suffered defeat recently, which signals that Father Time might be catching up with some of the sport's legends and that 2009 will belong to the next generation.
Rampage Jackson is back after quickly disposing of his arch-nemesis Silva with a brutal knockout in Las Vegas. The new and improved Rampage looked focused in the bout and it appears that his decision to relocate to England and train with the Wolfslair has paid off. His victory may earn him a title shot but I can't say I agree.
After his fight, Rampage made it clear that a rematch with Forrest Griffin, who defeated him in a controversial decision, is what keeps him up at night. I would much rather see that fight than Rampage and current champ, Rashad Evans.
Silva is now at a crossroads in his career. He has suffered three knockouts in his past five fights with many wondering if it's time to weigh his health vs. the demand to see him fight. I doubt he will retire but even if he does, he will still be regarded as one of the greatest fighters in the sport's history. It appears he would like to return at UFC 100 in July and if he does, perhaps a long-awaited move to the middleweight division is in order. He is too small for the light heavyweight division and at 185-pounds he would be a menace to deal with.
Frank Mir's destruction of Nogueira has set the stage for a unification bout with superstar Brock Lesnar, who silenced the critics by taking out Couture at UFC 91. Lesnar's only MMA loss is to Mir and while Lesnar was hoping for this rematch, Mir's performance made it clear that Lesnar should be careful what he wishes for.
Mir's combination right jab / left cross / right uppercut was a site to behold at UFC 92. Nogueira could not stop this combination and kudos go to Mir's Muay Thai trainer, Ken Hahn, for putting together the perfect stand-up strategy against the Brazilian. He must now keep Mir focused on the unification bout against Lesnar and I'm excited to see what he has in store for Lesnar's ever-improving striking game as well as his power. Will Hahn develop a knockout strategy, a stick-and-move game plan, or strikes to encourage a clinch game?
In Nogueira, we saw a very slow fighter on Saturday night, a warrior who once could take a beating, but now appears to be unable to recover as he once did. When the fight hit the ground and he was unable to control Mir's wrists and balance, I saw a fighter whose advantage looks to have slipped away.
In previous bouts, Nogueira was known for his incredible grip strength when he had his opponents in his guard; making it just a matter of time before he would systematically lock in a submission hold. There is talk now that Nogueira is hoping to take on Couture, but it remains to be seen which fight Couture accepts, as well as which weight class he decides to return to.
With Griffin losing the lightweight strap, Couture is weighing the possibility of returning to light heavyweight. When Forrest was champ, it made no sense for him to compete in a division with one of his teammates as champion. Now that Forrest is no longer the champ, the dangling carrot looks to be within Couture's grasp.
Griffin's performance on Saturday night was impressive. He was very methodical in his game plan; there were no glaring errors, his striking was tight and his combinations were crisp. He simply lost to a better man on this night. There are many possible fights for him, the first being a rematch with Keith Jardine.
The most underrated and potentially biggest star appears to be Evans, who knocked out Liddell at UFC 88 before taking down Griffin to become the undisputed champion in the UFC's most stacked division.
There is an abundance of criticism regarding Rashad's showboating tactics and while I am not the biggest fan of showboating, I do not have a problem with fighters who can back it up. With that being said, there is nothing better than a fighter who looks the fool once his showboating gets the best of him.
With all the talk of Jackson being Evan's first title defence, I would much rather see the winner of Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva get the first crack. One of them will still be undefeated after the UFC 94 bout and will have proved that they deserve the shot. But I already see the UFC scratching this bout in favour of the Rampage / Evans tangle instead, figuring it will sell better on pay-per-view.
I believe Evans is one submission victory away from being mentioned in the same sentence as Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, B.J. Penn and his own teammate, Georges St-Pierre. Should Evans be able to pull off a submission victory over a top contender in 2009, he will rise to the ranks of those four: fighters who can defeat anyone, anytime, with whatever method they need.
I look for 2009 to be the year when Evans is listed as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet.
