What do you prefer: lengthy reigns or lots of turnover?
Anderson Silva has held the UFC middleweight title for 1782 days.
This October, he’ll celebrate his five-year anniversary with the belt. I think that calls for something made of wood or silver as a gift. No matter how you measure the time — days, months or years, the fact that Silva has maintained possession of the 12 pounds of gold that symbolize dominance in the 185 pound ranks for this long is extremely impressive.
But is it good for business?
The same question can be asked of current UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. He is the only man who rivals Silva in terms of accomplishments in the Octagon at the present time, sitting second in consecutive title defenses and amount of time spent at the top of his division; GSP has been welterweight champion for 1229 days.
Over the last three years, St-Pierre has cleaned out the welterweight division the same way Silva has erased all contenders in the middleweight ranks during his five-year reign of terror. Along the way, however, it seems as if their brilliance and continued presence atop their respective divisions became — I hate to say it — boring.
In a sport where “anything can happen,” these two champions are the antidote to that axiom. Over their last 23 combined trips into the Octagon, one thing has happened: they’ve been announced as the winner. They are the embodiment of a forgone conclusion in combat sports; two fighter who haven’t lost in recent memory that you can’t see losing any time soon.
Accept it now, Nick Diaz fans and GSP detractors; it’s easier this way. The disappointment doesn’t sting as much when you’re prepared for what’s coming. And it’s coming.
A funny thing has started to happen as both men make their ways towards immortality: Silva and St-Pierre have kind of jumped the shark.
While they remain dominant forces and two of only a handful of fighters that the casual MMA fan could pick out of a lineup, their brilliant exploits inside the cage are becoming repellent to a growing segment of fans who are ready for something new.
It’s a development that speaks to a deeper question — what would you prefer: dominant champions or constant turnover at the top?
Seven men have held the UFC light heavyweight title during the time that Silva has ruled the 185 pound ranks. Where Silva has successfully defended his belt nine times, the 205 pound title has been retained on just three occasions, one of those being Lyoto Machida‘s controversial win in his first meeting with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 104.
Here’s the rub (there’s always a rub):
Each of the men who have held the light heavyweight championship in the time Silva has been steadily dispatching challengers in the middleweight division are legitimate stars. They’re all capable of carrying a pay-per-view, or at the very least being part of a solid co-main event match-up; you can’t say the same of the men both Silva and St-Pierre have defeated over the last handful of years.
As great as Silva and St-Pierre have been, I honestly believe that turnover atop the divisions is more beneficial to the growth of the sport and the development of new stars. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate their excellence or still look forward to seeing them compete — I do, on both fronts — but I certainly see the benefits of change and competition at the highest level.
Outside of guys like Jon Jones who can became a star before he was a champion, it takes a title reign to vault a fighter to star status.
Prior to beating BJ Penn at UFC 112, there weren’t a lot of people including Frankie Edgar in their pound-for-pound rankings or calling “The Answer” a superstar. Since he’s had the lightweight title around his waist, he’s transformed into a top 5 staple and a solid pay-per-view headlining act; his next fight is arguably the most anticipated bout of the year.
Without that changing of the guard — if Penn had beaten Edgar, maintain possession of the title and kept running through the 155 pound ranks — Edgar never ascends to the level he’s at now, and Gray Maynard doesn’t get the opportunity to pair with him at UFC 125 to deliver one of the best fights I’ve ever seen. You’re left with one star — one potential headliner — instead of the three you have now.
While the game of hot potato that has been played with the light heavyweight title over the last few years doesn’t yield much continuity, it does create compelling match-ups. When’s the last time the 205 pound belt was on the line that you thought, “You know, I really don’t care?” Even the extended break between TUF 10 and UFC 114 didn’t diminish the interest in the grudge match between Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson. The event still sold more than a million pay-per-views; the only non-Brock Lesnar, non-GSP event to reach that level in recent years.
No matter who emerges from UFC 135 with the light heavyweight belt, the next title bout is a compelling contest; Evans versus either of Jackson or Jon Jones has intrigue and pulls you in. You can’t say the same for the potential pairings at middleweight and welterweight, and that’s a function of Silva and St-Pierre’s respective dominance. Because the titles haven’t changed hands in recent years, it’s hard to see it happening in the future, and that takes some of the appeal out of their upcoming fights.
It’s as if after a certain number of years or consecutive manhandlings of top competitors, the interest in a dominant champion starts to wain. A portion of the audience starts to crave something new, as we’re seeing with Silva and St-Pierre now.
Of course, there is no way to control or limit the length of time one fighter remains at the top of their respective heap. It’s like being Prime Minister up here in Canada; you get to remain in charge of the country until someone beats you in an election; there are no eight-year-maximums in The Great White North.
Jones could end up being the measuring stick of the validity of this thesis.
Right now, almost everyone is on board with the new light heavyweight champion; we want to see him fight again, the ease with which he dispatches the competition is still impressive and something we’ll pay to see without hesitation.
But will that hold true if the wins pile up and his title reign reaches year two, year three and year four or will he reach the point that St-Pierre and Silva have hit, where their excellence in the cage has become the expected, and therefore is no longer appealing to some? We’ll have to wait and see.
As for the reigning middleweight and welterweight champions, they’re going to continue being victims of their own success for some. Their dominance has made them less interesting to some fans, taken the uncertainty about the outcome of their fights out of the equation.
When all is said and done, it seems like it comes down to balance; some change is good, but extremes on either side don’t really work.
Dominate, just not for too long.