UFC: The State of the Heavyweight Division
There's no gentle way to put it: The UFC's heavyweight division is old.
Like, really old.
The average age of the current Top Five heavyweights, per the latest set of UFC rankings—keeping in mind that this also includes Mark Hunt (41), who will no doubt drop out of the Top Five when the latest set of rankings are released this week—is 34 years old.
The UFC's current Top 10 is a list of aging fighters, with zero young prospects currently making their way up the rankings. Dutch skyscraper Stefan Struve is just 27 years old, but he's far beyond what you'd call a prospect. Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is still quite young at 32, but his injury-riddled body has kept him on the sideline for many of his prime years.
Still, the fighters in the heavyweight division will always intrigue people because they're heavyweights. They're big, powerful dudes with knockout power across the board, and people love that sort of thing.
Today, we take a look at the current landscape of the UFC's heavyweights, from the men who are about to vie for the championship all the way to those who must look to 2016 and beyond for their chance at gold.
The Immediate Future
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Cain Velasquez, Fabricio Werdum
The UFC's current co-heavyweight champions will finally clash at UFC 188 in June—provided Velasquez (knock on wood) makes it there without injury.
It may seem cruel to take up such a line of thinking, but the heavyweight champ has only competed in the Octagon five times since 2011. At this point, every day that passes without news of a Velasquez injury is a blessing, and it's tough to think back to those five fights and all we could have seen if he'd been able to stay healthy.
Still, the bout with Werdum represents the best the heavyweight division has to offer. Werdum's turnaround over the past few years has been nothing short of phenomenal to witness, and there are those who believe he has a real chance of dethroning Velasquez and unifying the belts. I am not among those, but Velasquez has missed so much time that it's nigh impossible to know with precision exactly what he'll be like when he returns.
I'd like to think he will be the same Cardio Cain we've grown to know and love. We'll have to wait until June 13 to find out for sure.
Stipe Miocic
Miocic, 32, likely secured himself a future title fight with his one-sided battering of Mark Hunt in Australia on Saturday. This comes despite his loss to Junior dos Santos last December; it was a loss on the scorecards, but many onlookers felt Miocic won the bout, and his stock rose in spite of the defeat.
UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik pushed the idea of a Miocic/Velasquez bout being interesting because of Miocic's ability to match Velasquez in the cardio department. I don't know if that's true; I once saw Velasquez run for 45 minutes straight on a treadmill. Running, not jogging, for 45 minutes. It made me a believer that "Cardio Cain" is not just a gimmick. Miocic has great cardio and durability, though, and it will be interesting to see how he fares if he does get the shot at gold.
Junior dos Santos
This one is tough because few want to see Dos Santos and Velasquez again after the last brutal two outings for the Brazilian against the champion. As long as Velasquez remains champion, a fourth fight between the pair is a tough sell.
But if Werdum beats Velasquez next month, Dos Santos will find himself in the driver's seat for a title fight. He already owns a spectacular knockout win over Werdum, but that took place in 2008, which feels like a lifetime and an entirely different Werdum ago.
Dos Santos will likely have to get past Alistair Overeem before he can give any thought to a title fight, however. That's a fight the UFC has wanted to book for quite some time, and with both fighters free and clear of other obligations, this feels like the perfect time for it to become a reality.
On the Verge
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Travis Browne
Browne has been the UFC's best heavyweight prospect, at least from an athletic perspective, for quite some time. His loss to Werdum a year ago derailed his freight train for a bit, but he got back on the horse with an emphatic win over the light heavyweight-bound Brendan Schaub.
Next week, Browne steps into the Octagon with former teammate Andrei Arlovski. A win won't earn him an immediate title fight unless the UFC has a desperate need for a late-replacement contender, but it puts him right back where we all thought he would be in 2014—on the verge of a championship fight.
Andrei Arlovski
It feels almost comical to describe Arlovski as an "on the verge" contender, but that's where we stand. The Belarus native first captured the heavyweight championship in February 2005, and he was mostly left for dead in 2011 after four straight losses. Also, Arlovski lost to former welterweight and current light heavyweight contender Anthony Johnson in 2013. That was a rough one.
But since then, Arlovski has reeled off four straight wins, including two in the UFC over Schaub and Antonio Silva. A win over Browne won't grant him an immediate title fight, but it certainly puts him back in the mix, and it would nearly complete one of the greatest career turnarounds in the history of mixed martial arts.
Alistair Overeem
After coming close to becoming the UFC's biggest-ever bust, Overeem has decided to fight smart instead of flashy and has won two straight fights as a result. Given his lofty pay and marketable nature, Overeem will be a constant presence in the title picture as long as he's winning fights.
As mentioned earlier, it's likely we'll see Overeem matched up with Dos Santos in his next fight. A win would almost certainly set "The Reem" up for a title fight later this year or early in 2016.
The Outside Looking in
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Matt Mitrione
Mitrione has become the unlikely contender for best heavyweight to emerge from the UFC's Heavyweights season of The Ultimate Fighter. He's currently riding a streak of three straight first-round finishes, and if he does the same thing to Ben Rothwell in a few weeks in New Orleans, the idea of Mitrione entering the contender's bracket is not a far-fetched one.
Mark Hunt
Hunt's contending days are likely over after his one-sided beating at the hands of Miocic on Saturday night. The preferable thing would be to see him retire rather than enter any more of his trademark wars, but given his heart and persistence, it is hard to imagine him walking away without being forced to do so.
Ben Rothwell
You can put Rothwell under the same "unlikely contenders" list as Arlovski. He has to get past Mitrione in New Orleans, but if he does, that win over Overeem becomes that much more important to UFC matchmakers.
Josh Barnett
Barnett has not competed since his 2013 loss to Browne, and due to movie filming commitments, we don't know when he'll be back. If it feels to you like "The Warmaster" might be winding down his career, well, you're not alone.
Mirko Cro Cop
When Cro Cop was re-signed by the UFC and matched against Gabriel Gonzaga, it felt like more of a stopgap measure than an actual addition to the heavyweight division. And then Cro Cop, at 40 years old, put a horrific beating on Gonzaga, avenging the worst loss of his career and announcing his return to the heavyweight division.
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Future Prospects?
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Todd Duffee
Duffee won't be on this list for long—provided he can get past Frank Mir in July. It's the big-name fight he wanted, and it's a winnable bout given Mir's sketchy chin and Duffee's enormous power.
The fact that Duffee, at 29 years old, is one of the UFC's only bright, young(ish) heavyweight prospects is telling of the division as a whole. It is old, and it is in desperate need of new blood.
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