First and foremost, congratulations to Shane Rice on his victory last night. It is not an easy assignment to defeat Mark Hominick...let alone to do it on a few weeks notice and to my understanding, being under the weather the past few days. Kudo's to Rice on the victory.
If you're Shane Rice, what do you do? The Options are more obvious than they seem:
Option #1 is to give Hominick a rematch seeing as Mark granted Shane the chance of a lifetime. Will Shane offer the same courtesy to Mark?
Option #2 may be just a little more personal for Shane Rice: Richard 'The Monkey' Nancoo. Shane wants a piece of the Monkey in more ways than this forum can possible imagine. I know this first hand. I don't know if the Monkey feels the same, but I know Monkey very well and he wouldn't back down (contrary to what many may believe). Monkey's knee is on the way to a full recovery and this SLW division just got a whole lot deeper.
The beauty of all this is simple: Shane Rice will be convinced to give Simba a rematch. There can be nothing better than a Quebec Born SLW champion for TKO. Rice gets a chance to avenge a previous loss, TKO gets the chance to have a Quebec born champion. There's nothing wrong with that, but that's what I foresee.
Let's not forget Diaz and Stout would love to get in there as well, and there are a few other guys I won't mention.
Although a sad news scenario for Mark Hominick and his fans, it just makes the SLW division that much deeper. The match-making will be interesting over the next few months for sure.
Regardless of cancelling resources, there was talk of unifying these titles. I suspect Wagnney should get a fight - and soon (say around January with TKO) - or I would wonder who it is that is intererested in cancelling resources. Surely TKO has an obligation to use their fighters.
Let's see who really wants to - as they say out West - "Shut Up and Fight." Wagnney vs. ? How about Shane Rice? Or perhaps Simba wants some of this Brazilian? Not sure if any of these opponents are 'good' for Wagnney, but they are opponents nevertheless.
As Mickey Walker used to say "how much and where?"
First of all, don't count out Hominick. He'll be back and badder than ever.
I have to agree. I would love to see a Rice/Fabiano unification match but that would ruin something for them in the way of money making.
So, How about Hominick/Fabiano and a Rice/Nancoo thing?
I can't believe how deep the SLW division is getting in TKO. Just like UFC, the lightweight guys are looking awesome. Unlike the UFC, the LW guys have belts to fight for.
Forget about Hominick for one second (cause if it was up to me, Mark, along with the rest of our SLW should be fighting in UFC, in Bushido or in Shooto) but answer me this: If your Canadian Champion just lost his title, would the next fight you offer him a World Championship Title Fight?
I say No...for Mark, he either gets a rematch, which may or may not happen. History shows that TKO will not give him a rematch because, and I quote 'he lost fair and square'...just like what was said when Monkey was asking for a rematch. I heard it a million times: he has to win ONE fight before getting a title shot again. We'll see what happens here. Bottom line for me is that Hominick still has an immensely bright future ahead of him. No matter whether he fights for a title or not, I'll always support him. He's 100% class.
Option 2 for The Machine: he simply fights another Top 145lbs contender to get his name back in the picture...that's only if promoter's feel he may have lost rankings. Personally, I don't think he's lost a ranking at all. He's still the #1 contender IMO, for that title...(Mengivar and Waggney are not in this picture).
I agree. I'd love to see a re-match between Rice and Hominick. It's just that TKO doesn't seem to give re-matches right away.
Business-wise, I know a lot of people wanted to see Hominick/Fabiano. You won't have Fabiano fighting Rice anyway right? That eliminates a belt fight almost.
Nancoo is still in the picture. You could have him fight Fabiano but there is some heat for a Rice/Nancoo fight too.
Perhaps then Hominick should fight Nancoo to get his name back in the picture. I think in any case that Hominck is the #1 contender to either Rice or Fabiano.
Just thoughts. Who do you think that Rice and Fabiano should fight next?
I know that Greg is going to be busy planning the next move with Shane and Rickson. this is only the begining for Shane. I see the TKO World title or Japan very close in the near future. Rice is an incredible fighter who has had one of the best trainers in the game not to mention a manager that is dedicated to helping take him all the way to the top. I see big things developing for Shane.
I say have the long overdue Monkey/Machine fight with the winner fighting Rice.
But then again TKO could have an 8 man tournament with the winner fighting Rice for the belt. There is a lot of fighters to choose from in the TKO SLW division. Vigneault, Diaz, Nancoo, Hominick, Stout, Claveau, Laliberte, Quenneville, Menjivar, Brigham, Carvalho, Curran, Cloutier, GuiGui, Leglace, Lee, Loft, Leong.
ice337...there are other events like APEX and two more on the way that will have a hand in these situations.
TKO is not the only game any more...it would be nice to have a few of the events have a bunch of the fighters battle it out and eventually have a TRUE Canadian Championship.
Wishful thinking...but it will be a reality in a few years.
Joe I know TKO isn't the only game in town. I also know that some fighters like menjivar and curran have higher hopes than tko and are likely not to return. I have no idea if rice is under a contract or not so I suggested a tournament or the winner of machine/monkey.
For Fabiano sure give him the machine or even curran. BJJ isn't MMA, and there are a lot of fighters that could take his belt.
ice337 is correct, BJJ is not MMA, anything can happen so there are a lot of fighters that could take his belt, it's a shame that none of the current crop of TKO 145 pounders is eager to step up and try. Apparently there is a small but visible and highly identifiable group of people in Canada who suffer from poor self-esteem.
Seriously though, MMA is a business, so I don't think anybody is ducking anybody, or that match making is within the fighters control. However, before we start hyping up fighters, ask yourselves how good is the competition they've faced and why they don't take certain fights. When you aren't a protected fighter and you are the real deal you step up like St Pierre.