UFC Title Picture 2009:


UFC Heavyweight Championship(205-265lbs)
Current Champion(s): Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir(Interim)
Next Title Fight: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir @ UFC 98: Lesnar/Mir II

Well we already know that Lesnar vs. Mir II is coming up at UFC 98, but where does the division go from there? Because the winner of the Lesnar/Mir fight will become the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion and will end what has been a great tournament to unite the two titles. I would assume looking ahead that the future title contenders past UFC 98 will start this weekend when Gonzaga fights Shane Carwin. Aside from Kongo riding a impressive win streak, Gonzaga is the only other heavyweight that has pieced together impressive wins. But does a win over undefeated Carwin put him in a spot to challenge the winner of Lesnar/Mir? Looking back Gonzaga really made a huge splash with his headkick of Mirko Cro Cop, but was completely demolished and embarassed by Randy Couture in Gonzaga's attempt at becoming champion. So while a win over Carwin would be big looking ahead, I still think Gonzaga is one fight away after Saturday from a title shot.

So that leads us to Kongo, who also scored a win over Mirko Cro Cop. Not nearly as flashy as the Gonzaga fight, but Kongo did get the win and since then has looked impressive with a couple of tko/ko wins. But we don't know where or who Kongo will fight next, and with all the rumored fights in the heavyweight divison circling around UFC 99 or UFC 100 he could possibly be left out or given another fight against someone without markee name value. Or maybe, Kongo is next in line for the title shot and that is why we haven't heard his name mentioned recently in all heavyweight fight rumors.

But looking ahead at the rumors, we have heard that Mirko Cro Cop is about to make his return to the UFC probaly at UFC 99 but we don't know who his opponet will be. We have heard names like Tito Ortiz(which will never happen at heavyweight, or in the ufc with dana still president), and Randy Couture. But as quickly as the rumors of Couture started they ended with new rumors saying he would fight big Nog. Which would pit the two losers from the title tournament against each other and maybe setting the winner up against Gonzaga or Kongo? We also found out that the UFC has new heavyweight standout Cain Valasquez going against the returning Heath Herring at UFC 99. Herring last fought against Lesnar and suffered a severe injury to his orbital bone, and will be his first action in over 10 months. Cain comes into this fight with a lot of hype, similar to Brock Lesnar, but doesn't have the name value to sell pay per views and could be several fights away from a possible championship fight.

No matter how you look at it, the UFC Heavyweight division has really began to fill out from what was very dismal a year ago, and while it may not quite be as full with Arlovski, Fedor, Barnet, and Silvia in Afflicition the fights in the UFC have gotten better and there is a ton of potential looking ahead.

My Outlook: The winner of Gonzaga/Carwin will put themselves in good position to be one fight away from fighting Lesnar/Mir. I think looking ahead the winner of this upcoming fight could be the next opponet for Kongo and the winner of that very well could be the next contender. As for Cain and Mirko, they both need to win this summer and that should get both started moving forward in the division, but both are several fights away from challenging the champ. So that leads me to believe that the most likely contender coming out of UFC this summer will be the winner of Couture/Nog, espically if the winners didn't face off in the tournament from this past winter. So if Lesnar defeats Mir, and Nog defeats Couture I think that would setup a great fight the UFC could sell. Same goes for a Mir/Couture fight. So I'm going to predict that Lesnar will defeat Mir, and Nog over Randy, leaving us with a fight in early the fall between Lesnar and Nog. Then by the end of the year we should have a contender from Gonzaga/Carwin/Kongo ready for the winner at the end of the year, with Cro Cop/Valesquez either right at the top of the ladder in waiting or at the bottom of the ladder in vain.

My next blog will be posted later this week looking ahead at the UFC Title Picture 2009: Light Heavyweight Divison!