411 MMA Fact or Fiction 04.23.08: Georges St. Pierre the #1 Pound-for-Pound Fighter in MMA, Mac Danzig a Legitimate Contender, Anderson Silva to Leave the UFC in 2009 and More

Posted by Bren Oliver on 04.23.2008

Is the UFC's Heavyweight Division still the world's best? Will Matt Serra eventually drop down to once again fight at 155 pounds? Should Dana White kick Charles McCarthy and Travis Lutter to the curb? Will "The Spider" opt to fight in a boxing ring instead of the Octagon once his UFC contract expires? Those things are more as MMA columnists Justin Thomas and Dustin James step into FoF Stadium and do battle! Who will reign as 411Mania's supreme "-ustin" with a first name for a last name? Read ahead to find out!

Bonjour! Comment allez vous? I promise to keep the rest of the column in English, but after GSP's win at UFC 83 coupled with the crowd in Montreal, I can't help but feel a bit Frenchy! Excuse me for a second...there's a rapping on my front door...

WHAM! POW!! BANG!!!

Sorry about that. UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre has asked me to rephrase my previous statement by saying my enjoyment of the event, and the fans in attendance, inspired a genuine appreciation of the French-Canadian people and as such I felt the need to pay homage to their superiority by starting this week's Fact or Fiction off with a bit o' the language of love. And yes, by asked, I mean he repeatedly dropped knees into my side like he was tenderizing ribs for a cannibal's BBQ.

UFC 83 was certainly a memorable show and it definitely delivered some entertaining moments. Granted, the fights were not wholly competitive, but I'm positive that every single viewer will remember the card whether it's for the comedy stylings of Nate Quarry, the pure domination from "Rush", Bocek's face being a bloody mess, or one of the many other highlights (and lowlights) the night delivered. I'm happy to have two of 411Mania's best and brightest with me this week to take a look back at the UFC's excursion into Canada, as well as give their opinions on a few other topics getting play in various MMA circles. Joining me is fresh-faced rookie Justin Thomas, who brings 411Mania readers "The Tuesday Leg Lock" every...well...Tuesday. Our second player is the man who brings "411's Official MMA Rankings" to you every week, none other than Dustin James. It should be pointed out Dustin is chums with Ed Herman so needless to say I appreciate his participation in Fact or Fiction, as well as his sobriety (or at least ability to type coherently in the wake of Herman's loss to Demian Maia). Before I pour any more salt on his wounds, let's get on to the sizzle of this steak, shall we?

Fellow 411Mania columnists...are you ready? Then, America, with an enlarged heart and an empty skull, I say unto you the words of my Uncle...


ALLEZ FACT OR FICTION!!!!!!!


1. Anderson Silva will leave the UFC when his contract expires unless Dana White allows him to compete in a boxing match against Roy Jones Jr..


Justin Thomas: FACT. Well one thing is for sure, Silva will ask for a lot more money than he's currently earning. But Anderson isn't marketable and doesn't even speak English, so I doubt UFC would want to pay about half million dollars to Silva per fight. Plus, The Spider wants to compete in a boxing match against Jones and that means Silva might not even want to re-sign with the UFC. If he stays undefeated until his contract expires, then he's going to leave for sure. If Silva loses, then maybe he'll want redemption, but that's pretty unlikely, right? It's still a little early to talk about this, but considering the current situation, FACT is the right choice here.


Dustin James: FICTION. I truly believe that by the time Silva's UFC contract is coming to an end he will have forgot all about his "dream boxing match" with Roy Jones Jr. For the life of me I just can't seem to wrap my mind around WHY Silva wants to box Jones. He has nothing to gain from it, and Jones would eat him alive. It's time for Silva to concentrate solely on MMA. He needs to think about his next challengers, and maybe even moving a weight division. Why not dominate 2 weight divisions? Maybe he would drop to Welterweight and fight GSP! OK, I just drooled all over my computer. Next!


SCORE: 0 for 1. Just a thought, but what if Anderson Silva is purely interested in challenging himself, as a man, and doesn't care how it's perceived by Dana White, the media, or the fans? What did Michael Jordan have to gain from giving professional baseball a shot? Why did Lance Armstrong run the Boston Marathon? As Shakespeare once wrote, "To thine own self be true." The fact is, there is a fire burning in elite athletes where money, fame, success, and fallout in the eyes of strangers mean nothing; where the only thing that matters is the journey taken (physically, spirtually, and emotionally).


2. The UFC's Heavyweight Division remains the best in the world even with the departures of Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Jake O'Brien, and Randy Couture.


Justin Thomas: FICTION. The truth is, UFC doesn't have the best heavyweights in the world anymore. According to our own Heavyweight rankings, UFC has #2 (Nogueira), #7 (Werdum), #8 (Kongo) and #10 (Gonzaga) heavyweights. That's right, only 4 top heavyweights, plus both Kongo and Gonzaga lost their last fights. However, the sad part is, that no other organization can gather all the other fighters. I'd absolutely love to see DREAM sign all the top heavyweights, but they might not have enough money. There were some rumors about HDNet event, which would be headlined by Fedor vs. Sylvia and would feature other top names, such as Arlovski, Rothwell, Barnett and A. Emelianenko. Unfortunately, those are only rumors. Back to the UFC, they need to at least re-sign Arlovski. If they could get Barnett or Fedor, that would be a miracle. The UFC heavyweight division is in a crisis, but some new stars like Werdum, Vera, Mir or Herring might emerge and by the end of the year they should find a credible #1 contender.


Dustin James: FACT. Having the best heavyweight division in MMA is nothing to brag about. The heavyweight division is easily the worst division in MMA. I mean, the UFC has lost Sylvia, Arlovski, Couture, O'Brien, and Cro Cop yet I would still say they have the best overall division. The UFC still has Big Nog, Brandon Vera, Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar, Cheick Kongo, Gabriel Gonzaga, & Heath Herring. And to me, that is currently a better roster than anybody else has.


SCORE: 0 for 2. Personally I'm split so I'm not surprised to see a fact/fiction response from the two of you. Dustin makes a good point as far as the UFC having a better collective roster than any other organization, while Justin is spot on to point out the need for Zuffa to sign better Heavyweights if they hope to boast being the globe's top fight promotion.


3. Mac Danzig should be considered a serious threat at 155-pounds and will likely be involved in a UFC Lightweight Championship bout at some point in his career.


Justin Thomas: FACT. This is only a guess, though. He has skills, he's experienced and he dominated all of his opponents in UFC. If Mac works hard, he might be involved in a UFC LW championship match. I don't believe he could become the UFC Lightweight champion while BJ Penn or Sherk are around, but #1 contender, why not? The UFC Lightweight division is very deep and has many talented fighters and it's really difficult to tell who is going to be the next standout, but as I previously said, Danzig has all the tools to be a threat at 155 pounds.


Dustin James: FACT. I'm a huge fan of Danzig's. He was easily the best and most experienced fighter on The Ultimate Fighter season 6. The dude has got some mean skills and showed off his skill set by taking apart Mark Bocek at UFC 83. Don't get me wrong, Bocek put on a hell of a fight. But before the fight started, Danzig said he was looking to KO Bocek. Meaning he wasn't interested in making him submit. So what happened? After a BRUTAL cut and plenty of knees that were making my head hurt, Danzig finally just said "screw it" and got the rear naked choke. I don't consider him a serious threat right now, as I believe BJ Penn would eat Danzig alive, however...the question was asked if Danzig will ever be a quality contender in the division, and to that I must say yes.


SCORE: 1 for 3.


---SWITCH!!!---


4. Travis Lutter, Charles McCarthy, and Kalib Starnes do not deserve to step back into the Octagon after their performances at UFC 83.


Dustin James: FACT. Get these guy's OUT OF here. Lutter looked like a giant tool coming out to Nickelback and trying to be all Tito Ortiz-like by singing along with the song. Not to mention he talked a whole hell of a lot of shit, and couldn't back it up. McCarthy was the same way. Talked a lot of shit, but couldn't back it up. I'm not a fan of Michael Bisping's at all, but watching McCarthy stick out his tongue and basically egging Bisping on was stupid. I was hoping that Bisping was going to knock the dude's head off. And now, we get to Kalib Starnes. This is one guy that I believe needs to go RIGHT NOW. You give him a fight in his home country, against a guy who has fought once in basically two years, so what does Starnes do? HE RUNS AWAY THE WHOLE FIGHT. I don't know if Starnes was going for a Chuck Liddell type strategy or not, but one thing is clear....Kalib Starnes is not Chuck Liddell. Send all 3 of these guy's to YAMMA Pit Fighting. NEXT!


Justin Thomas: FICTION. Kalib Starnes has been kicked out of UFC already. McCarthy is basically a can and didn't do much in his match against Bisping. He doesn't deserve to step into the octagon anymore, but if he gathers some wins outside the UFC, then he could come back. Travis Lutter had an empty gas tank, but he looked good in the first round of his fight against Franklin. Lutter lost to top middleweights and in both of his last fights, for a second it looked like Travis was going to win. I still think Lutter deserves another shot. Give him a weaker opponent and if Lutter decisively wins the fight, then the UFC should extend his contract and let him try to make his way back to the #1 contender spot again.


SCORE: 1 for 4. I first jumped on Lutter for conditioning but after re-watching the fight I have to say I think the headkick Franklin hit him with, turning the TUF IV champion's legs into Jello in the process, might have taken Lutter out of the fight and essentially destroyed his cardio.


5. Matt Serra will fight Matt Hughes at 170-pounds, then drop to Lightweight where he is more of a natural fit.


Dustin James: FACT. Everybody knows that this is the fight that Matt Hughes is waiting for. Hughes wants Serra, Serra wants Hughes, and we all want to see this fight. It's only a matter of time before the UFC books it. However, I'm not entirely sure about Serra dropping weight. If Serra can get a victory over Matt Hughes, I believe that the UFC would line-up a possible St. Pierre/Serra 3! They did it with Couture & Liddell! The only problem with that is, I don't think Serra could beat Hughes. I suppose I can see Hughes beating Serra and then Serra dropping down to Lightweight. There are some excellent lightweight fights for Serra, so it really wouldn't shock me to see him drop down to a weight class that is more of a natural fit for him. Can we say, Serra vs. Penn?


Justin Thomas: FICTION. I'd like to see Serra vs. Hughes and I hope it will happen. Now if Serra loses the fight against Hughes, then dropping down to lightweight would certainly be a smart thing to do. But I think that The Terror will win the fight and if he does, he should try to become the #1 contender in the Welterweight division again. Serra is 1-1 with GSP and with a win over Hughes, Serra could instantly become the #1 contender or be one fight away from receiving a title shot. So dropping to lightweight after a high profile win, would be stupid.


SCORE: 1 for 5. Sorry, but I just don't understand why anyone thinks Matt Serra is wise to stay at 170 pounds when most his fellow Welters are dropping 15-20 lbs. just to make weight.


6. Georges St. Pierre should be considered the #1 Pound-for-Pound fighter in the world.


Dustin James: FICTION. GSP is the #2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, nuff said! You can't rank him above Anderson Silva. I don't care who you are. The way that Silva is tearing through the UFC's middleweight division is crazy. Not only that, but he is finishing the fights as well. When you compare the last 4 fights of each fighter, GSP has 3 wins with one loss and one of those wins was by decision. Silva on the other hand? His last 4 wins, he FINISHED. Not to mention, the dude hasn't seen a third round since 2004. His last loss? In 2006 by DQ! It's amazing how anybody could be ranked over somebody as dominant as Anderson Silva.


Justin Thomas: FICTION. Anderson Silva should. The Spider is 6-0 in the UFC with 3 title defenses against Franklin, Marquardt and Henderson and hasn't lost decisively for almost 3 and a half years. Since that loss, Anderson Silva finished all of his opponents in 1st or 2nd round, not counting the DQ loss against Okami. He is very well rounded with excellent striking and BJJ skills.

GSP's record is impressive too. He avenged both of his career losses and defeated some top level welterweights, but he has never successfully defended his belt and his last decisive loss was only a year ago. That means GSP is only on a 3 fight winning streak and when ranking #1 P4P fighter, that is not enough. Stylistically, Anderson would be a good opponent for Georges and I think GSP would use his wrestling skills to defeat Silva, but as of right now, I'd rank Georges the #2 P4P fighter in the world.


SCORE: 2 for 6. Nice to end things on a positive note. Who, a year or two ago, would have ever imagined St. Pierre or Silva would each be receiving consensus Pound-for-Pound love in terms of being ranked above Fedor Emelianenko (who hasn't lost a fight in 7 1/2 years)?


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Join us next week when two more participants discuss Chuck Liddell's injury in relation to UFC 85, the potential Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva bout, how Dana White affects the UFC's future, and other lingering issues in the Mixed Martial Arts world...