UFC 125 After Effects

By Jason Kelly

Anytime a title fight ends in a draw it creates one general question. What happens now?

Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar put on great fight to kick off 2011; they went back and forth, exhibiting heart and skill from each contender. Frankie was in danger of being finished in the first round, but he persevered and battled his way back into the fight which proved Frankie’s champion worthiness. After five rounds of war the judges concluded the fight to be a draw, something that is seldom seen in an MMA title fight, and something that put a twist in the UFC lightweight title scene.

After a performance like Maynard and Edgar displayed a rematch must be granted instantaneously but, the only issue is that UFC newcomer and WEC Lightweight champion Anthony Pettis was supposed to fight the winner of Maynard vs. Edgar, which creates some juggling and strategic thinking for the UFC. Gray Maynard deserves an immediate rematch, if BJ Penn was granted an instant rematch against Edgar, then Maynard justifiably earned one. Dana White said that there will be an instant rematch, if that remains true Pettis’ near future is in limbo. Pettis will more than likely have the option to wait for the rematch to happen or take a fight and risk losing his title opportunity. That is a hard choice for a fighter to make especially with the momentum Pettis has coming off of the last WEC fight and the extremely popular “off the wall roundhouse”, Pettis could not have thought this would happen and throw a monkey wrench in his title plans. Pettis insists that he is healthy and ready to fight; he is just waiting to hear from the UFC with their plans. If Pettis does take a fight against a top ranked lightweight, I smell an interim lightweight title bout in the future.

Other fighters who participated in UFC 125 were left with their careers in disarray as well, but they could only wish their problems involved title opportunities. Josh Grispi, who was supposed to fight Jose Aldo for the Featherweight championship until Aldo was injured in training, showed up to UFC 125 and was worked for fifteen minutes by Dustin Pioirier. Grispi has a history of first round finishes and it was thought that he was Aldo’s number one contender, yet it was Poirier who looked more like the number one contender. Grispi is probably two or three fights removed from a title shot after that performance. Phil Baroni dropped another fight inside the Octagon and it appears as if he will be released from the UFC. It has been hard on Phil because he has been putting in hard work and really making an effort to establish himself as a top middleweight, where ever Baroni ends up, I hope he can string together some wins and return to the UFC. Brandon Vera’s employment must be on insecure grounds after losing his third in a row. Not only did Thiago Silva defeat Vera, Silva also punished Vera causing Vera to have another surgery on his face. That’s two face surgeries in his last two fights. Vera has also dropped five of his last eight fights which cannot help his UFC future at the current moment.

UFC 125 Resolution did not resolve anything in terms of the lightweight title picture, it it did create interesting possibilities and future match ups. Brian Stann knocked out Chris Leben and went on to request Wanderlei Silva, which could be another barn burner. UFC 125 even spread to fighters outside the cage that night. Jon Jones tweeted that he would like to slap Thiago Silva for his disrespect to Vera when Silva was slapping Vera. Thiago Silva vs. Jon Jones, now there is a fight that would resolve something, and as for Pettis, I hope he gets something resolved soon.

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