Roundtables
ROUNDTABLE: Booking fights for the UFC on Fox event this December
Aug 10, 2012 - 3:00:42 PM ROUNDTABLE: Booking fights for the UFC on Fox event this December

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Name three realistic fights you'd like to see on the UFC's next Fox event in December


RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

This question was posed before news leaked that B.J. Penn vs. Rory MacDonald would be on the next Fox card. That's definitely one of the three fights I had listed here, though. I was critical of Penn's pronouncement that he needed the fight to happen in Rio at UFC 153 on October 13. MacDonald wanted to reschedule the fight for Montreal, which is still in MacDonald's native Canada. But now it all makes sense. B.J. squeezed a concession out of Rory for postponing the fight, and that concession is to move the fight out of Canada. Not exactly Machiavellian of B.J., but certainly clever. Well played hombre.

There are calls everywhere to have Nate Diaz get his title shot on this Fox card. Until word came out that this event would be in San Jose, I gave that thought no credence whatsoever. Everyone wants every big fight to be on Big Fox now, but the UFC is still a PPV company. That said, if the next Fox show is in fact in San Jose, the odds of Diaz v. Champion going to that card go from 0% to maybe what, 20%? I consider that realistic, so there's fight number two.

I wouldn't mind seeing John Moraga vs. Ian McCall on this card either. There's a good chance in the new flyweight division that this fight could be marketed as a #1 contender fight.


ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I'd like to see the winner of Henderson-Jones against Lyoto Machida, as a nice Christmas gift. If we're just throwing out fights I'd like to see, and this IS realistic, just not needed, I'll go with Stephan Bonnar vs Forrest Griffin III. A third fight? Anything involving Wanderlei Silva. Just because, and he'd have enough time for a fight to come up around then.


FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I would like to see Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar slug it out one more time. There's nothing on the line, just two dudes beating the hell out of each other. Should be an entertaining fight. Another fight I think would be good would be Rashad Evans vs. Chael Sonnen. I'm not sure how realistic that would be, but I think it'd be cool. Not so sure if the fight itself would live up to the talk, but I'd like to think both guys would try to live up to it. II would definitely also do everything in my power to get Brian Stann onto the card. There's a lot of guys you could get to be his opponent, Mark Munoz comes to my mind right away, but it almost doesn't matter exactly who as long as Stann is involved. The UFC could hype during NFL football that an American hero is fighting on this card, and I think that would really help draw in some casual viewers. If you don't know Stann's backstory, you should really read about it. However, just know that he won a Silver Star, which is the 3rd highest award for valor in combat. Stann is a great ambassador for the sport, and the UFC should try to capitalize on it when they can.


ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

I would like to see Brandon Vera fight another contender on the Fox event in December. Ryan Bader or Alexander Gustafsson would be excellent fights for him and they would be great for the fans. Joe Lauzon vs. Gray Maynard would be another great fight for the fans and the UFC. Jamie Varner vs. Clay Guida could be a fight of the year candidate if the UFC can make that one happen. Their styles make it a fight worth watching. These are three exciting fights to make for this card.


BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Realistic fights? Lombard vs Munoz, Miller vs Guida and Bowles vs Wineland. Sure none of them will happen but they would all be entertaining bouts with top 10 rankings on the line. Then again UFC on Fox wouldn't want to spoil us too much would they? How about a Bader vs Ortiz rematch to prove the flukish nature of the origional outcome?


JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

The UFC has had some weak international pay-per-view cards this year that make it much more important for them to score big on the final events of the year. So for that reason, I don't think we'll be seeing title fights on Fox, although the network does want the heavyweight title fight rematch between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez on their airwaves.

In terms of big name guys who would be available and the kinds of fights Fox likes to have, I think we're looking at another light heavyweight card in December. I expect to see Shogun and Rashad Evans return to Fox and Alexander Gustafsson square off against one of them in a contender's bout. If Glover Texeira can get by Quinton Jackson, I expect to see him against Shogun because of the interest Dana White created in that fight earlier in the year.

If that's the case, we'll probably see Gustafsson (who I'm almost sure will be on this card) against Rashad Evans.

Finally, I think we'll be seeing Chris Weidman on this show as well. He needs the exposure more than anybody and if Tim Boestch's foot heals up in time, I think that fight makes sense.


SHAWN ENNIS, MMATORCH SENIOR COLUMNIST

Along the same lines as the last question, why not put on Rua vs. Gustafsson? I think that's a fight that makes sense as a number one contender eliminator, and since that's what they like to put on Fox, there you go. This comes with the caveat that I don't know whether the UFC wants to have fighters on Fox who have already fought on the network before, or whether they're trying to expose as many guys as possible, or whether that makes no difference at all. So if it's me, I've got Rua-Gustafsson on there. That's second from the top.

Third from the top for me would be Jake Shields vs. Jon Fitch. Ha! Just kidding. How about this... with Diego Sanchez returning to lightweight, we have him take on Anthony Pettis. That's a surefire barnburner. A slobberknocker, if you will. And finally, in the main event, I'd put a lightweight title fight between Ben Henderson/Frankie Edgar and Nate Diaz. This admittedly flies in the face of the UFC's goal for the Fox shows. They put Diaz in a televised number one contender fight on the last Fox show so that the winner of that fight would get some visibility heading into pay-per-view. The only problem with that strategy is that it was the lowest-rated Fox show of the four.

That's a problem with the general awareness of how awesome the lightweight division is. What better way to rectify that lack of awareness than to televise the lightweight title fight between two exciting fighters? Edgar-Diaz will be a great fight if it happens, but Henderson-Diaz? That almost makes my face explode just thinking about it. So that's my three. And in case any of those isn't realistic enough for you, I'll have a backup of Chris Weidman vs. Rashad Evans in his middleweight debut. Weidman needs some free airtime. In fact, you know what? That's on my card. This one is STACKED, people (The advantage of this kind of fantasy booking is that I don't have to think of the litany of events surrounding the fourth Fox show).