Walker: When Superfights Make Sense

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.

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When it comes to combat sports, the mega event is the Holy Grail. When you talk about box office and pay-per-view drawing power, media attention and hype among fans, nothing gets the juices flowing like a good superfight between current champions. Looking back at some historic moments in combat sports, superfights have played an important part in shaping the landscape. Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier’s champion-versus-champion bout in 1971 at Madison Square Garden was a landmark moment and spawned a classic trilogy. More recently, Floyd Mayweather Jr. enjoyed huge financial success on his quest to reach a stellar 50-0 mark. Along the way, his superfights with Manny Pacquiao and two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Conor McGregor set live gate and pay-per-view records.

For all the talk of superfights, mixed martial arts has seen little of the success its sister sport has experienced. Of course, UFC 94 saw Georges St. Pierre defend the welterweight title against lightweight champion B.J. Penn and McGregor moved up from featherweight to take on Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. However, for the most part, proposed superfights fall through in our sport. St. Pierre and longtime middleweight king Anderson Silva missed their chance to square off in their primes, as viable contenders continued to emerge in their respective divisions. Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva had their moment after both fighters lost their belts and were on two-fight losing streaks.

For almost every example of a champion-versus-champion matchup that came to fruition, there was some glaring flaw that played out in the contest. By the time Pacquiao faced Mayweather, his aura of invincibility had been crushed by Juan Manuel Marquez. The McGregor fight displayed the skill disparity from a pure boxer when paired with someone who only does it part time. An out-of-shape and bloated Penn was broken by the much bigger and well-conditioned St. Pierre. Even Ali was still reeling from the effects of years off, the result of his being blackballed for refusing to serve in the military. In short, the stars don’t align often. It seems even less likely that they’ll align three times.

Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier are officially booked to headline UFC 226 in July. Talk of Demetrious Johnson and T.J. Dillashaw finally fighting one another has reached a boiling point. Cristiane Justino-Amanda Nunes is rumored to be in the works, as well. At a tumultuous time for the UFC, we suddenly have a potential embarrassment of riches. On paper, this could be the rare time that spectacle-driven cash-grab tactics align with the desires of dedicated fans and draw praise from the harshest of critics. These fights, as is the case with all superfights, are not without potential cons, as Sherdog columnist Todd Martin pointed out in his latest offering. However, these three fights are uniquely positioned to avoid some of the pitfalls of this style of matchmaking.

Statistically the most successful heavyweight king in UFC history, Miocic is short on options for opponents. Cormier is in a similar predicament at 205 pounds. Both men have defeated most of the logical contenders in their respective divisions -- see Fabricio Werdum and Alexander Gustafsson -- and those they haven’t beaten already have recent losses that hurt their cases for title shots: Derrick Lewis and Jimi Manuwa. Former heavyweight champion and Cormier teammate Cain Velasquez will have been inactive for two years by the time UFC 226 takes place. A Miocic victory cannot only stoke flames for a rivalry with American Kickboxing Academy that the promotion could exploit, but it can give Velasquez the opportunity to prove he can stay injury-free with a booking in the meantime. A Cormier win means the dream fight between two close friends known to engage in dramatic gym wars can play out on a grand stage. Additionally, Cormier was poised to be a force in the UFC’s heavyweight division after winning the Strikeforce grand prix and then defeating Frank Mir and Roy Nelson in the UFC. Challenging for the heavyweight title would have been a logical progression had he not chosen to move down in weight.

Meanwhile, Justino and Nunes find themselves at interesting crossroads. Despite destroying two of the best-known names in women’s MMA, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate, Nunes has seen little of their shine rub off on her. Defeating Valentina Shevchenko in a title rematch at UFC 215 resulted in the lowest PPV buyrate for the company since 2004. Nunes needs a big fight with solid promotion to reach her potential as a star. On the other hand, “Cyborg” is a star with drawing power. She just lacks viable opposition. In fact, the UFC has yet to flesh out the women’s 145-pound weight class, as there are literally no other female featherweights ranked on the company’s website. With Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder Megan Anderson still inexperienced and apparently having problems regarding her immigration status, Nunes would make a great opponent for Justino. Competitively speaking, “Cyborg” could potentially have a difficult time using her brute strength and power without a considerable response from Nunes. As Holly Holm showed in her losing effort at UFC 216, when faced with a high-level adversary of comparable size, “Cyborg” can be forced into a compelling bout. Considering that Strikeforce at one point broached the idea of pairing these two together years ago, this could make sense on many levels.

Finally, Dillashaw has been gunning for a shot Johnson since 2015. He has also said he’s willing to drop the 10 pounds necessary to meet Johnson at his preferred weight. A lot has happened in the meantime. Dillashaw lost and then recently regained the bantamweight belt. Johnson put together a historic run at 125 pounds, culminating with his record-breaking 11th consecutive successful title defense against Ray Borg at UFC 216. Dillashaw certainly has unfinished business with the bantamweight division. A rematch with Dominick Cruz would be intriguing, while new matchups with Jimmie Rivera and Marlon Moraes are the obvious next steps at 135 pounds. However, it’s not quite as cut and dry at flyweight. Johnson has cleaned out the division, with no one ready to step in against him. He has finished the other top names in the division -- see Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo -- with only the UFC 221 pairing of Jussier da Silva and Ben Nguyen offering the potential of a fresh opponent. A challenge from Dillashaw would make more sense than throwing in any warm body that weighs 125 pounds. If Johnson wanted to return to bantamweight instead, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch. Before making his debut at the lighter weight class, “Mighty Mouse” challenged a pre-injury Cruz and gave a competitive effort in defeat. While size may still play a factor, Johnson is a much better fighter than he was six-plus years ago.

The purist in me wants to be cautious about going into three potential champion-versus-champion fights. The Endeavor era of the UFC has been rife with curious matchmaking and dubious attempts to simply draw financial gains without an eye toward the future of the sport. However, for the most part these respective divisions are amusingly thin. Giving the champions good opponents with the potential of huge paydays might be the best course of action while the divisions play themselves out. With any luck, the impacted divisions will produce feasible challengers organically. Of course, the danger is that the leadership will keep trying to replicate the aforementioned superfights in hopes of capturing lightning in a bottle. If cooler heads prevail and they see these as unique opportunities to make money while making compelling and relevant fights, the sport and the fighters involved would be better for it. This set of circumstances is the exception, not the rule.