The Five Biggest Potential UFC Fights

This fight wouldn't be sold on one name. It wouldn't even be sold on two names. The easiest way to market this fight is to present it for what it is: two of the best fighters in the world, meeting at a catch weight in the middle of their respective divisions to find out who can stake a claim to being the best mixed martial artist in the UFC. 

It isn't about titles or rankings or divisions; it's simply about being the best. 

If you took that story and built it up with a two to three week hype show series on Spike, the buzz for the fight would be enormous. This is one of the few fights that Zuffa has available that could, with the proper buildup, headline a stadium show in the United States, and it's not out of the question to expect pay per view buy numbers to soar past the one million mark.

URIJAH FABER VS. B.J. PENN

With the lack of intriguing challengers for B.J. Penn's lightweight championship, it only makes sense to look outside the division for a fresh match-up. Penn will have one such challenge on his docket when he moves up to challenge Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight title in January.

Should Penn fail in his quest to hold two championships at the same time, he will move back to the lightweight division to take on a steady stream of opponents who could very likely present no challenge whatsoever for the reigning title holder.

Kenny Florian deserves a shot at the belt, but despite his outstanding skillset, I firmly believe he'd be overwhelmed much like Sean Sherk was in the Penn/Sherk fight. There are plenty of great fighters in the lightweight division, but Penn is truly in a league of his own.

In order to get a unique challenge for Penn, I would look to the WEC and the 145lb title holder, Urijah Faber.

Faber is also considered to be one of the best fighters in the world, and he's incredibly popular. Faber has outgrown his home in the WEC and has no real challengers to his championship left in the company, which is why he should vacate the belt and move up to the UFC lightweight division.

The division has two ready-made PPV fights for Faber: Tyson Griffin, the only man to ever defeat Faber, and reigning champion Penn. While both of the fights would draw well, the one booked first should be the Penn fight.

Faber's credentials are akin to others who have received title shots in their first fight after moving to a division such as Dan Henderson, Randy Couture and even B.J. Penn, who challenges for Georges St. Pierre's title in January despite not fighting at welterweight in several years.

He doesn't have to move to the division and work his way up the ladder to earn a title shot; he's earned it by being one of the best fighters in the world.

One of the hardest lessons Dana White and Joe Silva had to learn over the past two years is that when you have a big fight, you book it immediately. If you try to make the fight bigger by having one or both potential opponents fight lesser names, you run the risk of the lesser name beating the big name, thereby ruining your big main event and leading to a fight nobody wants to see.

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