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By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist
Forget Paul Daley and his post-fight love tap to Josh Koscheck. Forget Koscheck earning a title shot and The Ultimate Fighter coaching spot opposite Georges St. Pierre. Forget about Kimbo Slice, his decrepit knees, and his potential value in Strikeforce. There's a real story here; a sports story. Before UFC 113 last night, people were projecting what would be next for the emerging light-heavyweight champion.
Most assumed that, forced to make adjustments for the first time in his career, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida would emerge victorious and prepare to take on...who? Quinton "Rampage" Jackson? He'd be the most likely candidate, provided he gets through his grudge match with Rashad Evans. But what if Evans won? Surely there wouldn't be many, if any, clamoring for a Machida-Evans rematch.
What then? Well, the UFC seems determined to get Randy Couture one last title shot before he rides off into the sunset. Should he get passed a proposed bout with James Toney in August, he'd be a bankable title challenger, but not exactly one who'd get the collective juices flowing. Aside from there, there wasn't much. Forrest Griffin could've been rushed into another title shot if he beat Antonio Rogerio Noguiera, but instead Griffin pulled out of the fight. Machida had seemed cool to the idea of fighting Lil Nog, and downright icy about the prospect of fighting friend and occasional training partner Anderson Silva.
And, well, those were basically the options. Sure, people would've trumpeted the merits of Jon "Bones" Jones as a worthy title challenger, but for once the UFC is taking the proper approach with a blue-chip prospect and bringing him along slowly. Luckily, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua erased any possible headaches last night. By knocking Machida cold in three and a half minutes, he became the answer the UFC's prayers. Now the options are nearly endless. Now the winner of the upcoming Rampage-Rashad fight can be considered a worthy contender, regardless of who wins. Randy Couture is still in the mix, but thankfully he can be pushed back into the "open only in case of emergency" envelope.
A rematch with Forrest Griffin all of a sudden seems like a marketable title fight. While Machida would've taken some serious coercing to fight Rogerio Noguiera and Anderson Silva, Shogun will relish the opportunity. When asked on the MMALive post-show last night if he would fight Anderson Silva, Shogun responded, "of course. I'm a professional fighter". Point taken.
Silva might be the most intriguing aspect in all of this. This could very well be the outcome that gets Anderson to finally make a permanent leap up to 205. He's long held firm in his stance that not only would he not fight Machida, but he had no interest in a light-heavyweight title run because 205 was Machida's division. Let's see if he changes his tone now that his friend is no longer the champ.
Even if Silva decides to stay at middleweight and yawn his way through another three or four title defenses, there's an endless supply of contenders waiting for their crack at the light-heavyweight crown, not the least of which is a trilogy fight between Machida and Shogun. Light-heavyweight, long the UFC's premier and most prestigious division, a division that has seen its title change hands five times in less than three years, has reaffirmed itself as the most exciting in the world. Can't we talk about that?
RELATED STORY: UFC 113 RESULTS: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua knocks out Lyoto Machida in the first round to capture UFC Light Heavyweight Championship: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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