According to Brazilian sources close to Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio, it is confirmed that Aurelio will rematch Takanori Gomi for the PRIDE lightweight championship at the Bushido Grand Prix Welterweight finale on November 5th at Yokohama Arena.
In one of the biggest upsets in a year full of surprises, Aurelio choked out the lightweight division kingpin at the tenth installment of Bushido this past April. However, the ramifications of the non-title match became somewhat more complex, as Aurelio was defeated two months later by Mitsuhiro Ishida at the following Bushido card.
Dream Stage Entertainment boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara has stated since June that Gomi would defend his championship in November, and said that Ishida and Aurelio were both candidates to face Gomi, but that he felt Aurelio was the leading candidate.
Dream Stage Entertainment has not yet made an official statement regarding the alleged rematch between Aurelio and Gomi. With the Grand Prix Welterweight Final just over six weeks away, it is likely that their announcement regarding Gomi's official November 5th challenger will be made soon.
LOL... I was a little overdramatic with the injustice part... but yeah... I'm assuming you know that Hughes and Penn just fought for the title and GSP is the UFC WW linear champ.
1) So they should have either delayed a Hughes-GSP fight or made Hughes-Penn a non-title (if we're going to start concerning ourselves with linear champions getting the next title shot.)
2) Ishida will most likely be the next to fight the winner of Gomi-Aurelio.
3) It doesn't matter what fights he fought at other weights... he was the linear UFC WW champion, and easily could have fought at WW at any time. As soon as he returned to WW he was beat by GSP.
4) The linear champion arguement is ridiculous to begin with, organizations determine their champions and I don't give the UFC grief for stripping BJ of the WW title because the K-1 deal made them uncomfortable. It's their championship and they decide what to do.
However, you shouldn't be interested in using the "linear champion" angle ONLY when it fits your agenda and ignoring it the rest of the time. I find that as funny as you find the fact that Ishida is waiting in the wings.
"1) So they should have either delayed a Hughes-GSP fight or made Hughes-Penn a non-title (if we're going to start concerning ourselves with linear champions getting the next title shot.)"
Absolutely not. Non-title fights are horrible and what cause ridiculous situations like this in the first place.
" 2) Ishida will most likely be the next to fight the winner of Gomi-Aurelio."
Sounds good to me.
"3) It doesn't matter what fights he fought at other weights... he was the linear UFC WW champion, and easily could have fought at WW at any time. As soon as he returned to WW he was beat by GSP."
Not really. If you move to a different weight class you don't get to hold your old weight class hostage like that, unless it's only for 1 or 2 fights. BJ was at 185 for quite a while. By your rationale, Manny Pacquiao could return to fight at featherweight and he'd still be considered champ even though he hasn't fought there for a good 3 years. That is not how it works.
"4) The linear champion arguement is ridiculous to begin with, organizations determine their champions and I don't give the UFC grief for stripping BJ of the WW title because the K-1 deal made them uncomfortable. It's their championship and they decide what to do."
They didn't have much of a choice. BJ wanted to fight elsewhere and his contract didn't allow it. Of course any promotion can do what they want with their championships but that doesn't mean we have to accept it as fans.
"However, you shouldn't be interested in using the "linear champion" angle ONLY when it fits your agenda and ignoring it the rest of the time. I find that as funny as you find the fact that Ishida is waiting in the wings."
My "agenda" is to point out that non-title fights are utterly retarded and create horrible, convoluted situations like the one Pride's LW belt is in right now.
Gomi-Aurelio 1 was great as I assume Gomi-Aurelio 2 will be. Ishida vs. Gomi will be great. Ishida-Aurelio 2 will be great. The titles are secondary.
If I had my choice between a Gomi-Aurelio non-title match, and a Sylvia-A.Silva or Franklin-Quarry title-match... I know which one I'm happier watching.