With Diego getting the next title shot at the end of the year & Tyson Griffin's awesome performance against Hermes this weekend, it got me thinking about the other potential title contenders.
Tyson Griffin has one significant advantage over the other top contenders.. he is only 25 years old. He is 5 years younger than the champ, BJ Penn. 2 years younger than Edgar and Guida, 5 years younger than Maynard, 10 years younger than Sherk.
If I was Tyson's manager, I would try to put off fighting in a potential #1 contender fight for a while. Let's face it, the chances of beating BJ Penn at LW right now are pretty slim. He is the most dominant LW ever. Let Maynard, Edgar, Sherk, Spencer Fisher, and Guida fight it out for the chance to be BJ's next victim. BJ probably will retire in a few years after defending his title 4 or 5 more times.
Once BJ is retired, then Tyson can get his title shot against a fighter he has a much better chance of beating.
The only guys Dana seems to give multiple title shots to are former champs and TUF fighters. The odds are that Tyson will only get one shot at the title, so he might as well put himself in the best position to win.
best chance in a few years?
well, maybe lol
we'll see
That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. What's he supposed to do until then?
Next #1 contender is a toss up between Frankie, Gray and Tyson IMO, not sure which would be better and if they could beat BJ though
Frankie might take it for me
Tyson can't be #1 contender with lightweight being so stacked and winning only one fight. He needs at least one more fight over a decent sized name.
Current management has him on the right track. Sanchez will bring in PPV's. Maynard is worthy of #1 staus. Edgar worthy of #2. By the time the dust settles, Griffin will be ready. Best to keep feeding him steady diet of BJJ blackbelts to get ready for his turn at bat. Joe Stevenson and Diaz would be interesting.
griffin will never get past penn, florian or sanchez IMO.
He couldn't beat Sherk, he's not gonna give BJ a challenge.
He's one of my faves, but he can't beat BJ. No one can right now.Diego's gonna get killed.
caliphornia - griffin will never get past penn, florian or sanchez IMO.
That is exactly my point. He can't beat Penn. That is why his management shouldn't be pushing for his title shot yet.
In a few years, Tyson will be 27-28 and entering his prime. Penn and Florian will be entering their mid 30's and either retired or on the verge of retirement.
And for those of you saying he is not in the mix of top contenders, i disagree. I think he is 5th in line right now behind Diego, Maynard, Edgar, and Sherk. He lost close decisions to Edgar and Sherk and won't fight Maynard. Florian may be better than Griffin, but he isn't getting another title shot against Penn. The LW division is too stacked. And out of those 5 title contenders, Dana is going to pick 2 of them to fight for a shot at the winner of Penn/Sanchez.
I think its stupid to avoid or turn down a title shot because another guy is too good.
Why should anyone ever compete for Machida's title right now if this is the case?
"Next #1 contender is a toss up between Frankie, Gray and Tyson IMO,"
Tyson isn't in the discussion. Not only did Edgar beat Tyson, but he also beat Sherk (who beat Tyson), and beat Franca who is one of Tyson's biggest wins. Maynard is in the running only because of his win over Edgar.
But for me Edgar has the best resume at LW and deserves the next shot without a doubt.
Dominated Sherk (former champ, only BJ has beaten him at LW, has wins over Florian and Tyson)
Dominated Franca (former #1 contender)
Dominated Fisher
Beat Tyson
KO'd Bocek
Beat Miller
For all the talk of LW being so stacked I think LW is probably the UFCs weakest division right now