The Heavyweight Division: The Cursed Division in MMA

by

Kevin Sampson

Correspondent Written on July 16, 2009

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The Heavyweight division has been the Achilles Heel of the UFC for a long time. Several of the best Heavyweights in the world have, at various, times refused to fight in the UFC.

To the more knowledgeable fans, that has meant that the UFC's best Heavyweight might not be the word's best Heavyweight; and interestingly enough, this really only applies to the Heavyweight division. In every other weight class, the UFC champion is widely-considered the best fighter in the world at their weight. To make my point:

According to Fight Matrix rankings:

• Lyoto Machida: No. 1 Light Heavyweight, and nine of the top 10 are UFC fighters.

• Anderson Silva: No. 1 Middleweight, with seven of the top 10 in fighters in the UFC.

• George St Pierre: No. 1 Welterweight in the world with seven of the top 10 fighters in the UFC.

The Heavyweight and Lightweight divisions of the UFC are the exceptions to this trend:

• Fedor Emelianenko, who is in Aflfiction: No. 1 Heavyweight in the world, but six of the top 10 are in the UFC.

• Satoru Kitaoka: No. 1 Lightweight in the world. Five of the top 10 are in the UFC. I disagree with this ranking because BJ would destroy Kitaoka, but that’s my unprovable opinion.

The UFC's Heavyweight division has taken a beating from the lack of Fedor Emelianenko. It also lost some credibility when it's poster-child Heavyweight Champion, Randy Couture, was knocked out twice by a Light Heavyweight Chuck Liddell. What does it tell you when your best Heavyweight gets owned by a lighter weightclass' champion?

There have been a series of other disasters. PRIDE had a relatively problem-free line of Heavyweight Champions. Then Zuffa bought PRIDE and dissolved it, and that was the end of that. For some reason, the Heavyweight division of all of MMA is perpetually beset with problem after problem. Since the UFC owner, Zuffa, tends to seek out, destroy, and eat all other MMA promotions, the UFC's problems at Heavyweight became all of MMA's problems at Heavyweight.

The UFC Heavyweight Title, in particular, seems to be horribly cursed. There has been so much drama, bad luck, nonsense, and other crap that has gone on that many people have given up on the UFC Heavyweight Division ever retaining any semblance of stability. The history of the UFC Heavyweight division reads like a scripted tragedy or comedy—take your pick.

History of UFC Heavyweight Champions—The Cursed Title:

-- Mark Coleman becomes the first champion by defeating Dan Severn. February 7, 1997.

-- Coleman loses the title to Maurice Smith. July 27, 1997

-- (1) Maurice Smith successfully defends, beating David "Tank" Abbott (October 17, 1997)

-- Randy Couture beats Maurice Smith, taking the title. (December 21, 1997)

-- ** Couture was stripped of the title and left the UFC in January 1998 due to a contract dispute. **

-- Bas Rutten defeats Kevin Randleman to claim the vacant Heavyweight title. May 7, 1999

-- ** The title was vacated in June 1999 when Rutten retired due to training injuries. **

-- Kevin Randleman defeats Pete Williams to become the new Heavyweight Champion (November 19, 1999)

-- (1) Randleman successfully defends his title, beating Pedro Rizzo (June 9, 2000)

-- Randy Couture defeats Kevin Randleman to become Heavyweight champion again.(November 17, 2000)

-- (1) Randy Couture defeats Pedro Rizzo, successfully defending his title. (May 4, 2001)

-- (2) Couture beats Pedro Rizzo again, once again successfully defending his title. (November 2, 2001)

-- Josh Barnett defeats Randy Couture and becomes the new Heavyweight Champion (March 22, 2002)

-- ** Barnett was stripped of the title on July 26, 2002 after testing positive for steroids. **

-- Ricco Rodriguez defeats Randy Couture to claim the vacant Heavyweight title. (September 27, 2002)

-- Tim Sylvia defeats Ricco Rodriguez to become the new Heavyweight Champion. (February 28, 2003)

-- (1) Tim Sylvia defeats Gan McGee to defend his title. (September 26, 2003)

-- ** Sylvia stripped of his title in September 2003 after testing positive for steroids in a post-fight drug test.**

-- Frank Mir defeats Tim Sylvia to claim the vacant Heavyweight Title. (June 19, 2004)

-- ** On September 17, 2004 the champion Frank Mir is severely injured in a motorcycle accident. **

-- Andrei Arlovski defeats Tim Sylvia for Interim Heavyweight Championship (February 5, 2005)

-- (1) Andrei Arlovski defeats Justin Eilers, defending the Interim title. (June 4, 2005)

-- ** Frank Mir is unable to defend his title due to injuries and on August 12, 2005, he is officially stripped of the title and Arlovski becomes the undisputed Heavyweight Champion. **

-- (2) Andrei Arlovski defeats Paul Buentello successfully defending his Heavyweight Title. (October 7, 2005)

-- Tim Sylvia defeats Andrei Arlovski, once again becoming Heavyweight Champion. (April 15, 2006)

-- (1) Tim Sylvia defeats Andrei Arlovski, successfully defending the Heavyweight Title (July 8, 2006)

-- (2) Tim Sylvia defeats Jeff Monson, successfully defending the Heavyweight Title (November 18, 2006)

-- Randy Couture defeats Tim Sylvia, becoming Heavyweight champion for the third time. (March 3, 2007)

-- Randy Couture defeats Gabriel Gonzaga, successfully defending the Heavyweight Title (August 25, 2007)

-- ** On October 11, 2007 Randy Couture announces his intention to leave the UFC. According to Couture, he was leaving due to the UFC's failure to sign Fedor Emelianenko, considered the best Heavyweight in the world, that he is leaving the UFC to pursue a match-up with Fedor. Couture has two fights remaining on his contract and Dana White refused to release Randy from his contract. Couture decides to wait it out, hoping that White would give up. Throughout all of this, Couture is never stripped of them Heavyweight Title. **

-- Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira defeats Tim Sylvia for Interim Heavyweight Title. (February 2, 2008)

-- ** After losing the legal battles with the Zuffa, Couture agrees to return to fight in the UFC. (September 2, 2008) **

-- Brock Lesnar defeats Randy Couture to become the new Heavyweight Champion. (November 15, 2008)

-- Frank Mir defeats Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira to become the new Interim Heavyweight Champion. (December 27, 2008)

-- Brock Lesnar defeats Frank Mir for undisputed Heavyweight Title. (July 11, 2009)

The UFC Heavyweight Title has been stripped from or vacated by the reigning champion six times, counting Randy Couture's failed attempt to leave the UFC in 2007. The total number of times all other UFC weight class titles have been stripped or vacated: five times spread over four weight classes.

Another area where the UFC’s Heavyweight Title is unstable: Champions come and go so fact that it’s hard to remember the all.

Consecutive title defenses by UFC Champions:

• Heavyweight: Randy Couture = 2, Andrei Arlovski = 2, Tim Sylvia = 2
• Light Heavyweight: Tito Ortiz = 5, Chuck Liddell = 4, Frank Shamrock = 4
• Middleweight: Anderson Silva = 5, Rich Franklin = 2
• Welterweight: Matt Hughes = 5, Pat Miletich = 4, George St Pierre = 3
• Lightweight: Jens Pulver = 2

Total Number of Champions in the History of the Division, including Interim:

• Heavyweight: 13
• Light Heavyweight: 9, 5 of which are since Jackson KO’d Liddell
• Middleweight: 5
• Welterweight: 5
• Lightweight: 3

The divisions that garner the most interest from the fans and the media are the most stable divisions: Light Heavyweight, Middleweight, Welterweight. The Heavyweight division in particular, and the Lightweight division to a lesser degree, has been too unstable to generate nearly as much fan loyalty and interest.

In my opinion, the UFC Heavyweight division really needs two things to happen:

1. For the love of God, sign Fedor Emelianenko already! The whole point is not whether or not Fedor wins. It's about knowing who is the best Heavyweight in the world. The fact that Fedor continues to fight outside the UFC is absolutely crippling to the credibility of the UFC Heavyweight Champion; and frankly, all of MMA as a sport needs there to be only one undisputed best Heavyweight just so the sport makes sense. Making that kind of sense makes growing the sport a lot easier.
2. Some UFC Heavyweight champion needs to rack up four successful title defenses. I don't care who that someone is. It just needs to be done.