Let the Debate Begin: Couture/Vera, Ortiz/Griffin II, and Brown/Aldo

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One was a legit close fight, one appeared to be karma working its magic, and one was definitive.

When it came to the Zuffa-owned MMA promotions of the U.S.—UFC and WEC—in the last month, it has been mostly about three main event fights: Randy Couture/Brandon Vera from UFC 105, Tito Ortiz’ UFC return and rematch with Forrest Griffin at UFC 106, and the WEC featherweight title fight between Mike Brown and Jose Aldo.

Couture was able to outwork Vera on his way to a close decision win that was deemed controversial, but in my opinion was a legit two rounds to one win for Couture (it actually boggles my mind how so many gave Vera the third round of that fight). Forrest Griffin got a much needed win over the returning Tito Ortiz via split decision that was controversial because many deemed Ortiz the winner. This may be a rare instance of karma in the MMA world as the roles in the public’s eye were reversed when these two first fought in 2006. Jose Aldo’s rise has culminated with his domination of Mike Brown for the WEC’s featherweight crown. It illustrated just how dominating (combined with his eight-second KO of Cub Swanson earlier in the year) Aldo can be.

For Couture, his immediate future was sealed quickly when he and Mark Coleman singed on for a legend’s clash in February. But after that, Couture would have four fights left on the new contract he signed prior to the Vera fight. Since the Coleman fight will be at 205-lbs., it’s safe to assume that Randy will remain a light heavyweight for the remainder of his career (barring a dream fight at heavyweight for him dropping into UFC’s lap). With that in mind, it shouldn’t be too hard to picture Joe Silva making the Wanderlei/Couture fight happen later in the year, or maybe have another young gun step up in the form of Michael Bisping or Rashad Evans.

In terms of big fight/dream fight value, the loser of Machida/Shogun II in May would be an ideal opponent for Couture in the late-summer/early fall months of the year. It is quite amazing to realize that a man of 46 still has so many options in MMA, especially with a 17-10 record.

As for Ortiz/Griffin II, the result easily opens up things for a rubber match, not because they are tied one win apiece against each other, but because both fights have been plagued by poorly received judging. Whether that rematch happens right away or if it is put on hold until more is known in the 205-lb. division remains to be seen. However, with so many big fights upcoming for that division—Evans/Silva, Couture/Coleman, Silva/Bisping—as well as guys like Vera, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and Keith Jardine lying in wait, there are other enticing options for Joe Silva and Dana White to take if they should choose to do so.

When looking at Griffin, a rematch with Jardine is doable considering Griffin has lost two of his last three and Jardine is coming off the heels of a big knockout loss; a rematch with Evans is also an option no matter how the Silva fight turns out for Rashad. As for Tito: a fight with Coleman still could happen win or lose in the Couture fight—since that was originally supposed to be Tito’s return fight—and if the UFC is in the mood for nostalgia, then a second Couture/Ortiz fight shouldn’t be too far from their minds.

With Urijah Faber back on the warpath to get his title back, Jose Aldo has put himself in quite the interesting situation with his title win over Mike Brown. With the win over Brown and his Yamamoto imitation against Swanson, it’s clear that Aldo is not intimidated or overwhelmed by the level of competition that WEC’s featherweight division provides. In terms of Faber getting a title shot, he absolutely needs to win his next fight before he can even be considered for a title shot. I think a third fight with Brown would be a necessary step for Faber to take should he win his next fight. Brown’s two wins over Faber serves to put Brown instantly ahead of Faber in any discussion of WEC featherweights and their proximity to the title. Brown definitely needs another win before he can get another shot, but Josh Grispi seems to be a prime candidate for Aldo’s first title defense with a 13-1 overall record and 3-0 in WEC with all of his wins coming in the first two minutes of the fight. Leonard Garcia would be another fine candidate with another win or two under his belt after losing two of his last three. The featherweight division is still pretty open after that, so should Aldo run the gauntlet in 2010 and take out all who challenge him, those memories of Faber running this division will seem long and from a distant time despite Faber’s title reign ending just over a year ago.

The last month did seem separate from the rest of the year for the Zuffa-owned promotions. That separate feeling is attributed to the fact that this was one of the brief periods of time where there were no really big names, no really big fights. Griffin/Ortiz II was barely advertised and the combination of Ortiz not fighting for nearly 18 months and Griffin getting beaten up in his two prior fights took a lot of the luster away. Couture’s winning reputation was tattered going into the Vera fight while Brown nor Aldo are big stars for WEC. However, despite all that, these three fights did live up to the card position they were all given and all were able to save a month that almost seemed doomed with the multiple card changes these promotions had to endure on the way to showtime.