UFC 221 showcases rising stars
NO-NAME CARD: Young fighters the future of heavyweight, light-heavyweight divisions
Iwon’t try to tell you this weekend’s UFC 221 pay per view from Perth, Australia is a mustsee card. And I won’t question your fandom if you tell me you’re bailing on the $65 price tag for this one.
What I will say, though, is that, in a sport where complaints about the lack of new names and emerging talent in the heavyweight and light-heavyweight divisions are common, it’s frustrating to see so many people dismiss the young athletes from those two divisions competing this weekend.
This is the constant struggle facing the UFC: People aren’t happy with the quality of the cards being offered, the lack of new stars climbing the rankings, and how stale several key divisions have become, but they also seem unwilling to invest in getting to know Tyson Pedro, Tai Tuivasa and Curtis Blaydes, all of whom will compete at UFC 221 and have the potential to be players in their respective divisions going forward.
Blaydes is already in the top 10 at heavyweight, unbeaten in his last four fights and getting his first veteran test on Saturday night in the form of Mark Hunt.
Blaydes is a former junior college national champion wrestler and, before Stipe Miocic beat him at UFC 220, he gave Francis Ngannou his toughest test in the Octagon. That happened to be the 26-year-old Blaydes’ first appearance in UFC, and it came before he relocated to Denver to train with an elite team.
Tuivasa, 24, and Pedro, 26, are emerging talents in the heavyweight and light-heavyweight divisions, respectively.
The former earned a vicious firstround win in his promotional debut last time out, and while the latter is coming off his first loss, he’s shown the kind of flashes that make you think brighter days are ahead.
These are the type of young, relative unknowns that fans have to start watching at this stage in their careers, because all three will be fixtures in two shallow divisions for the foreseeable future, and could blossom into contenders if everything lines up for them.
I get that they’re not the kind of big names who will draw you into watching a pay-per-view card, but if you choose not to pay attention to young fighters on their way up, can you really call them unknowns and unwatchable when they become title contenders?
It’s similar to the reaction that followed the shakeup at the top of the UFC 222 fight card.
Listen, I’m crushed that we won’t see Max Holloway defend the featherweight title against Frankie Edgar next month; this fight seems to be the fight that everybody wants to see, but won’t come together. But you have to applaud the UFC for getting Edgar to agree to face Brian Ortega in the co-main event, and for adding a women’s featherweight title fight between Cris Cyborg and Yana Kunitskaya to the top of the bill.
In the span of a couple of days, UFC 222 went from a card that was at risk of being cancelled because it lacked depth, to being a sneaky good card featuring a bunch of quality matchups, even if several of the competitors fly under the radar.
Also, hustling Kunitskaya into a title fight in her promotional debut (and first bout at featherweight in a number of years) is suboptimal, but she’s a former Invicta FC champion and a legitimate talent. The promoters managed to pull together a title fight a month out to help save this card. Given the options, is this really that bad?
I get it. There aren’t as many established names kicking around the UFC these days as there were six, seven and eight years ago, and the proliferation of events on the schedule means the roster is spread pretty thin at times, but that makes it even more imperative for fans to start getting familiar with the new names working their way up the divisional ladder, and not just focus on the handful of familiar fighters that dominate the headlines.
Do yourself a favour. Stop waiting for Nate Diaz to come back and walk right into a ridiculous title fight, and start paying attention to the emerging young talent.
Two years from now, you’ll thank me.
E. Spencer Kyte is a freelance journalist who writes about MMA for The Province and Vancouver Sun on Fridays. Follow him on social media: @spencerkyte.