The UFC was put in tough spot by Saturday's draw, but it's an even tougher spot for the reigning WEC champ.
Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard have reason to be disappointed after Saturday's draw at UFC 125.
After all, a tie is said to be "like kissing your sister."
But in their cases, it’s more about what they didn’t get a chance to experience.
Maynard dropped his opportunity to be a UFC champion for the first time, while Edgar lost a shot to avenge the only loss of his career.
However, the person getting the biggest shaft has to be Anthony Pettis.
By winning the WEC lightweight title last month in an impressive five-round win over champion Ben Henderson, Pettis earned the shot at the UFC belt and unifying the two. But now he'll have to sit and wait. Or so he assumes.
As of Monday night, Pettis said he had yet to receive any personal call from the UFC. No apology, no explanation. He's still not even sure what's next for him. All he knows is he was preparing to face whoever emerged from Saturday's fight with the belt, and he was never told otherwise.
But, like the rest of the fans and the media, it was made public that the UFC will make Edgar-Maynard III first.
Pettis, who said he felt Edgar definitely won the fight, is not thrilled about it.
"I have to sit down and let it sink in that I’m not getting the UFC lightweight title shot," Pettis said Monday. "Initially after the fight they announced I will be, but I don’t know what happened, somebody changed their mind.
"Now I have to ... get my thoughts together and figure out what my next step is."
I've always applauded the UFC for trying to give the fans what they want. When they've announced big fights to which the fan reaction was lukewarm, they've often changed course and scrapped them.
This is another example.
After White initially insisted in the moments following Saturday's main-event draw that Pettis will indeed still get the next title shot, less than a couple hours later, he was obliging the fans who wanted to see Edgar and Maynard settle the score properly.
However, I personally think they are missing out on an opportunity by not going with the initial plans involving Pettis.
They need to cash in on the notoriety gained by the "Showtime kick" -- the one off the cage that sealed his victory against Henderson -- and that time is now, not in another six months.
Pettis himself is surprised by the attention that "kick heard round the world" is getting.
"At the time, I didn't really think it was going to be as big of a deal as it became," Pettis admitted. “I mean No. 8 of all sports for the whole year on (ESPN's) Sportscenter. It was covered by CNN. It definitely got my stock up. But I guess not enough to get a title shot.”
It’s a tough situation that the UFC was placed in as a result of the draw decision. Either way, someone is going to have a legitimate complaint.
But personally, I don't think Maynard earned his chance at the rematch. He came out strong and had the champion down at least 10-8 in the first round. All he needed to do from that point on was to win two of the next four rounds, on at least two of the judges' scorecards and he would be the owner of the belt right now.
But he couldn't do it.
When Maynard had Edgar on the ropes, he couldn't finish, nor could he carry it through beyond that round.
The challenger had his chance to dethrone the champ and whether you agree with the judges' scores or not, you have to admit he didn't do it. At least he didn’t do it convincingly.
“Gray Maynard didn’t take the belt away from the champ,” Pettis insisted.
I personally scored the fight the same way as Pettis: first round 10-8 for Maynard and then Edgar 10-9 for each of the four rounds the rest of the way.
While Maynard may not have a loss on his record, it certainly feels like he does to me.
Bottom line, I was more impressed with Edgar's ability to survive, come back and then dominate for four rounds -- or at the very least three of the next four, as supported by the FightMetric stats -- than I was with Maynard's ability to land a few rocking (but not finishing) shots in the first round.
For those clamouring for an immediate rematch, are you sure you want that?
Edgar-Maynard II was a great fight, no doubt about it and an early candidate for fight of the year. I would love to see them do it again, IF we will see something similar.
But who's to say if they meet again that it won't be like Saturday's fight and more like the first meeting between the two or like many of Maynard's fights over the years that were not terribly exciting.
Maynard will likely have to change his game-plan, because if he fights like he did for the final four rounds against Edgar, he won't be walking away with the belt.
Let's be clear: Maynard is a great fighter, a legitimate No. 1 contender and gave Edgar a great challenge. But he ultimately failed. And I think Pettis deserves his shot more than Maynard deserves another.
Options for Showtime:
Assuming the UFC doesn't change its mind again or an injury befalls either Edgar or Maynard, Pettis will likely have to make a decision soon as to what he will do at this point. There are a few options, but none of them is ideal, especially with him holding the WEC lightweight title.
If he is to fight someone else in the meantime rather than wait for Edgar-Maynard to do it again, will it be some kind of "interim" championship bout? It would certainly be awkward to fight for a WEC belt under the UFC banner, and what happens to the belt if he loses?
While Pettis says there's a lot of guys he think would make a good opponent for him, he says it's too early to speculate.
"My hopes were set on either Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard," Pettis said. "I haven't even thought about the rest of the division yet."
