UFC 107: The Two Unquestioned Truths

Sacred territory

There is no fighter in the UFC’s lightweight division capable of defeating B.J. Penn.

It’s the same reality many of us accepted at UFC 100 when Georges St. Pierre steamrolled Thiago Alves and the same one many of us accepted long ago about Anderson Silva.

It’s a pretty special notion when the UFC has a trio of champions with such an allure of greatness and last night was no different, as Penn outclassed top contender Diego Sanchez in virtually every facet of the fight game.

Sanchez’s unorthodox fight preparations since his drop to lightweight have been well-documented; “YES” cartwheels and all. All the intensity and emotion in the world went out the window in practically 15 seconds when Penn rocked Sanchez in the fight’s opening moments.

Surprisingly weathering the early storm, the next 23 minutes were all but academic for Diego, as Penn did whatever he pleased with the former welterweight. Anything Sanchez threw, Penn had a more punishing counter. Sanchez even tried exhausting the same gameplan that Kenny Florian failed miserably at, in a bevy of feeble takedown attempts on the champion.

Penn even broke out what may be the highest kick he’s even thrown in his UFC career, and most certainly made the best of it. But in the end, it was the same feeling many of us left St. Pierre’s defenses against Jon Fitch and Alves with: The acceptance that this man’s reign is not ending anytime soon.

When you ponder just who is next for Penn, the list is admittedly short. But more than nothing, there’s a crop that’s not so much developed enough, but realistically, can’t even sniff the level that Penn is fighting at these days.

Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar are the first two names that come to mind, but can anyone really make a compelling case as to how either of these two could upset Penn? Maynard’s boxing is still largely underdeveloped, and while his top game has proven bullish, it’s nothing that is going to upend Penn over the course of a 25-minute period.

Edgar looked nice in out-boxing a moronic, ill-equipped Sean Sherk in May, but doesn’t possess Penn’s power, precision and counterstriking abilities. On the ground, it’s not even close.

UFC President Dana White has said that he’s open to letting Penn move back up to welterweight, pending he can clean out the lightweight division. Dispatching of Maynard and Edgar appear to be the only roadblocks left in doing so and, much like Frank Mir and his quest for redemption, Penn just appears to be on a mission right now.

A mission that won’t be jeopardized anytime soon.

Inevitable

With his 72-second throttling of Cheick Kongo last night, Frank Mir has inserted himself back into discussions for heavyweight title contendership; a situation that isn’t as cut and dry as many would believe.

While champion Brock Lesnar’s return to the cage is anything but official (there’s a July possibility floating around), is it still definitive that the undefeated Shane Carwin still gets the next crack at the belt?

It’s not like Carwin’s in-cage endeavors netted him a title shot in the first place. His resume isn’t any more stellar than Cain Velasquez or Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera. Carwin was simply in the fortunate predicament as the benefactor of the UFC desperate for a headliner for UFC 106. A fight between Lesnar-Carwin was more marketable than Lesnar-Velasquez and hence, Carwin’s granted a title shot likely on the accord of a mere blog entry stating a distaste for Lesnar.

Needless to say, circumstances change and the UFC isn’t in the same situation it was back then and as Mir, Velasquez and Nogueira stay active, Carwin’s case diminishes.

But despite the worth of Carwin, Velasquez, or Nogueira, Mir possesses a penultimate trump card, in that he is an unquestioned aficionado at making people give a damn about his fights.

It’s well-documented that Mir is on the comeback trail towards a rubber match with Lesnar that would tower over the marketability of a fight with any of the aforementioned contenders. Last night’s demolition of Kongo added more fuel to the fire, as there apparently is something to be said for a motivated, strength-training Mir.

Mir took the hint that if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, and in bulking up to 264.5 pounds at weigh-in time, the former champion all of a sudden made a potential rematch with Lesnar a bit more interesting. Honestly, who envisioned the Kongo fight going down the way it did?

I’m sure the submission finish was hardly a stretch, but Mir decking the decorated striker with a single blow was nothing short of eye-opening. There were cases to prod, poke, and dismiss the last two years of Mir’s fighting career (beating both Lesnar in only his second fight ever and an ill, staph-riddled Nogueira), but in the blink of an eye, Mir legitimized himself as being every bit as worthy of another crack at the champ.

Carwin’s looking at a 16-month layoff if he waits until July; a scenario that someone with his lack of experience is better served not enduring. Either Noguiera or Velasquez will be canceled out after UFC 110, so why not Mir?

Maybe give him one more fight against a Carwin or a Junior dos Santos to prove his worth and if successful, I’m sure Lesnar-Mir III is something the UFC wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on.