Brandon Vera vs Mauricio Rua Winner to Get Title Shot: LOLZ
by Dr. Octagon, J.D.
UFC boss Dana White recently announced that the winner of the Brandon Vera vs. Mauricio Rua fight is going to get the next shot at the Light Heavyweight Champion, or the winner of the Dan Henderson vs. Jon Jones fight. So if Rua wins, he gets a title shot against one of the two fighters who beat him last year.
Rua is a great fighter and everything, but he was positively dismantled by Jones just over a year ago. Jones is still getting better with every fight, while Rua most recently lost a decision to Dan Henderson. It was a close fight, but he still lost.
After that, Dana suggested a matchup against Glover Teixeira, which Rua turned down. Rua then got a very easy fight with Brandon Vera who was released by the UFC in 2011. Brandon Vera is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Eliot Marshall, who was also released by the UFC in 2011. [[MORE]]
What happened when Brandon Vera fought a very green Jon Jones in 2010? He got his face fractured in the first round. Brandon Vera is not a top 10 light heavyweight. He isn’t a top 20 light heavyweight.
Why is Mauricio Rua being rewarded with a soft fight that will lead to a title shot, after ducking a tough opponent in Glover Teixeira? Maybe Dana agrede to give him a title shot if he won his next fight. I don’t know. The only way that this sort of makes sense is if Jon Jones wrecks Dan Henderson like he wrecks his Bentley, then he’ll have victories over the top 6 contenders in the last 2 years.
So let’s sum up. Rua has lost two of his last three fights in the UFC. Three of his last five if you prefer. He ducked a fight against a guy that had never fought in the UFC, to fight a guy who was recently released by the UFC. If he beats Brandon Vera, he gets a title shot.
Before Brandon Vera beat Eliot Marshall, he had not won in the UFC since 2009. He wins one lackluster decision and suddenly he’s in a title eliminator?
We’ve already established that if Jones beats Henderson, he’ll have cleaned out the top 6 contenders in fairly recent fights. Why not fight him against one of the guys on the edges of the top ten that he hasn’t seen yet? Forrest Griffin is coming off a pretty shitty victory, but at least they haven’t fought. Alexander Gustaffson has a string of victories against mid-level opponents to his credit and would probably be the best choice if Jones wins.
The thing that is most puzzling about this decision is that Jones and Henderson are fighting pretty soon and Dana could certainly just wait and see how it shakes out. If Henderson wins, there are a ton of guys at this weight class that he hasn’t seen yet, who would put up a very good fight.
I think Dana is making this announcement because he needs to build interest in the upcoming card. There have been more bad cards than good cards recently. I’m thinking of the Franklin vs. Silva and Faber vs. Barao Pay Per Views most recently, along with the Maynard vs. Guida free card. I told my esteemed editor that this is the first time in a long while that I can remember boxing being more exciting than the UFC, which been terrible. So I get why Dana is trying to create some drama leading up to the next free card on Fox.
Just so you know, any artificial hype coming from Dana shouldn’t be necessary. There is another great light heavyweight matchup on that night in Ryan Bader vs. Lyoto Machida. Two more top flight light heavies that Jones has dispatched with ease. Bader is coming off wins against Jason Brilz and Rampage Jackson. One would think if he beat Machida as well, he’d have a way better claim to a Jones rematch than Rua, no matter how impressive Rua looks.
Great card, but I wish we could see how it shakes out before Dana announced who was getting a title shot. If Brandon Vera wins this fight, he would be the least deserving championship challenger since Thales Leites.