Friday, May 18, 2007

Posted on GSP's Myspace Page

This guy put into words what everyone else was already thinking. Seems like a long time to wait to see the big names get together again.

UFC 74:
Winner of St. Pierre vs. Koscheck Will Wait for Title Shot
by UFCjunkie (http://www.ufcjunkie.com/)

Prior to his UFC 69 bout with Diego Sanchez, Josh Koscheck was all but assured a title shot. All he had to do was somehow get past his castmate from The Ultimate Fighter's first season. Even UFC president Dana White himself said the winner of that bout would probably get a crack at the belt.
Koscheck lived up to his end of the bargain, scoring a decisive unanimous-decision victory over the once-undefeated Sanchez. The win catapulted the American Kickboxing Academy team member to the top of the division's rankings, and with a near-perfect 7-1 record in the UFC, Koscheck emerged as a logical choice for a title shot.
Unfortunately, then-champ Georges St. Pierre lost to Matt Serra at the same UFC 69 event, and soon after, White announced an abrupt change of plans: Serra and Hughes will serve as coaches on the upcoming sixth season of The Ultimate Fighter, and the two welterweights will then fight for the title in the show's live finale.
In December — seven months from now.
In the interim, Koscheck (9-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and St. Pierre (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) have been scheduled to fight at UFC 74. The winner of that match, assumedly, will be next in line for a title shot against the winner of Hughes vs. Serra.
There's just one problem: the soonest Serra or Hughes will be ready to fight will be a good seven or eight months after Koscheck and St. Pierre's UFC 74 fight. The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale is expected to take place in December, and with a usual three-month layoff, Serra or Hughes won't be ready to defend the belt any sooner than about April 2008.
So what does that mean for Koscheck and St. Pierre?
More than likely, it'll mean the winner will have a seven- or eight-month layoff before getting a shot at the title. But would the UFC dare shelf either of the top welterweights for the better part of a year?
St. Pierre, especially, is one of the UFC's top draws. The former champ is considered one of the sport's most well-rounded fighters — by fans in his native Canada and all over the world. He's amiable, adored, and idolized by fans and even his fellow fighters. Title fight or not, he'll draw the masses. Stick him on a card in Canada, and he could single handedly sell out the event.
Koscheck, love him or hate him (and most people do), is one of the sport's most recognizable fighters — especially to the fans who found the sport through Spike TV's block of UFC-related programming. He's already emerged as one of The Ultimate Fighter's most-improved fighters, and despite a heavily criticized fighting style, he knows how to win. That 7-1 record in the UFC would be a perfect 8-0 if it weren't for a freak late-round knee that Drew Fickett delivered at UFC Fight Night 2.
With an influx in the number of UFC events and a greater need for main-card talent, it seems highly unlikely that either fighter would be benched for an extended period of time.
Instead, the winner will likely have to fight again — probably in or around December, the same time Serra and Hughes are scheduled to fight. Which means that a victorious Koscheck or St. Pierre won't exactly be first in line for a title shot — not without an additional win after UFC 74, anyway.
So, while the UFC 74 fight may feature two of the welterweight division's top contenders, it won't exactly offer the winner an immediate title shot. Not without a surprisingly long wait.

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