Well, here we go again with another UFC entry. I write about the UFC partially because I am a big fanboy and partially because there is very little Oiler analysis that I can be bothered to write about this time. So sorry to my fellow Oiler fans!
Now on to the UFC:
For the last month, one of the of the biggest topics my friends and I have been discussing why Bobby Lashley (pictured on the left with Bob Sapp) is not a member of the UFC... yet.
Now, I don't have any inside information, so I don't really know why Lashley isn't part of the UFC, but I believe I have a very good educated guess.
First of all we have to look at the different circumstances that surrounded each fighter when they tried to make their way onto the UFC Heavyweight roster.
Brock Lesnar:
While Brock only joined MMA about a year and a half ago, the UFC HW division was in a bad way. At this time you had Randy Couture in a contract dispute with the UFC, a serious lack of up and coming HW "prospects". You had a top contender in Tim Sylvia about to leave the promotion (his last UFC fight was the same night Lesnar debuted), there was also the question mark in Frank Mir and whether or not he would be able to regain form, and the UFC untested Minotauro Nog. I guess you could say in short that the HW division was incredibly unstable, which facilitated Lesnar's move to the UFC, after only one win against a no name from a lesser promotion.
I think there is also a substantive argument that can be made saying Brock got signed to the UFC because he is a massive PPV draw. He would make a tonne of money for the UFC in a time where the UFC had a lot of competition from other promotions (Strikeforce, Elite XC, Affliction, M-1 Global...).
As for Bobby Lashley you have the complete opposite. The UFC now has a stable champ, up-and-comers in Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez, what looks to be an able Frank Mir, and guys like Cro-Cop, Couture, Kongo, Hardonk and Nog to keep the division full of talent. You also have The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights filming, and that only means there will be one or two more guys that will help stock the HW Division. The UFC also has less competition from other promotions, big draws in Forrest Griffin and Brock Lesnar. It is pretty evident that everything is working against Lashley's bid to get in.
Now lets not make a mistake here and say Lashley wont make the UFC, I think it's only a matter of time before he does (like one more convincing win against a tough opponent). That being said, I would be willing to bet that all these factors are conspiring to keep Lashley out of the UFC, for the moment.
