What Does The Future Hold For The UFC Lightweight Division?
The recent news that Gilbert Melendez has re-signed with the UFC comes as a relief to many fans; ‘El Nino’ is an exciting scrapper to watch, and would likely go to waste fighting for a lesser promotion. The former Strikeforce champion has also been booked to coach opposite Anthony Pettis on TUF 20, and will challenge ‘Showtime’ for his lightweight strap.
With the champion injured and booked to face Melendez in what will likely be early 2015, the lightweight division is looking pretty tied up right now. ‘El Nino’, as it stands, will remain dormant for the most part of 2014. His last bout was a 2013 FOTY against Diego Sanchez at UFC 166, after losing his UFC debut title shot at Benson Henderson’s title.
Josh Thomson recently dropped his chance at a title shot by losing a split decision to Bendo last month and Henderson is not in good enough standing with his bosses to get the title shot with the win over ‘Punk’. The current #1 contender according to the official UFC rankings, ‘Smooth’ is in need of an impressive victory.
Number three-ranked TJ Grant has already been offered the title shot, but was forced to withdraw due to injury woes of his own. The Nova Scotian suffered a bad concussion and does not have a return date yet. Nate Diaz sits at #5 but is in need of another win before you could consider him title material. Diaz bounced back from two straight losses by getting a first round TKO win over Gray Maynard at the TUF 18 finals.
It seems that the division is tied up for now, but could easily sort itself out by the time Pettis is healed up and fighting again. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Rafael dos Anjos will meet at UFC 172 in a fight that will likely offer a legit contender. Donald Cerrone is still up there after going 2-0 since his 2013 loss against RDA, so maybe Melendez’s title shot was the best thing for the future of the lw category?
Although I think that regardless of Henderson’s lacklustre win against Thomson, the UFC should have booked a rematch between ‘Smooth’ and ‘El Nino’ to decide who would face Pettis. That way Melendez would stay active and the rankings would actually be getting used. What if Henderson gets a knockout over a top fighter next time out?
Obviously Melendez vs. Pettis is going to sell big time. Henderson vs. Melendez II/Pettis III is probably not going to have much power behind it. So is that the future of the lightweight division? Excitement over actual rankings?
