Mr_Mousasi's Middleweight Mapout

Mr_Mousasi

So after Vitor kicked Bisping's head, along with any hopes of a title shot, out of the building last night I got to thinking about how the division should play out going forward. While there might be some intruiguing matchups to pursue, the question becomes which of those said matchups will develop contenders deserving of a shot against Anderson Silva. Well I came up with a plan and I'm curious to see from you guys if it's relatively close to being reasonable. I mixed matchups that have already been announced with personal prefernce ones. Let me know what you guys think.

#1 Contender To Silva
Chris Weidman vs Vitor Belfort
- This all depends on how Weidman's recovering, but it makes too much sense. People already want to see him vs Silva already and a win over Belfort would solidify the hype. Vitor propelled himself back into the picture last night and a win over another top 10 MW would make him deserving of a title shot.

Hector Lombard vs Yushin Okami Winner
vs
Brian Stann vs Wanderlei Silva Winner

- Both matchups take place on the same card so the timing makes sense. I think it's safe to assume that outside of maybe Lombard, everyone here needs multiple wins to get back into contention. Even in Lombards case I think it would be smart not to push him into a fight vs Silva asap. Let's say hypothetically Lombard beats Okami and Stann beats Wandy. You then matchup Lombard vs Stann for a shot at being in a #1 contenders fight to Silva's belt.

Jacare Souza vs Costa Philippou Winner
vs
Luke Rockhold vs Cung Le Winner

- This is where I mixed SF crossovers with sensible matchups IMO and here's why. Jacare is coming in with just as much if not more hype than Rockhold. Match him up vs Costa and the winner solidifies ther position in the top 10 of the division and moves closer to contention. Rockhold vs Le is a stylistic dream that still makes sense ranking wise after Le's destruction of Franklin. Let's say hypothetically here that Rockhold and Jacare both win. Now the ufc can market this as the rematch between former SF champs for a spot at being in a #1 contender fight for the title.

Now these matchups could play out in many different ways opposite of my hypothetical predictions but let's keep going with what I have so far.

Now let's say Weidman beats Belfort. Now we have Silva's next opponent along with the rest of the division soundly moving along. Just like the ufc is doing with welterweight coming up we could have the top 6 MWs fight on 1 card. The card would look like this.

UFC MW Championship
Anderson Silva vs Chris Weidman

Luke Rockhold vs Jacare Souza

Hector Lombard vs Brian Stann

Once again, hypothetically of course, that Jacare beats Rockhold and Lombard beats Stann. The UFC now has another #1 contender fight to Silva/Weidman winner that people can get behind. It would be:

#1 Contender for MW Belt
Jacare Souza vs Hector Lombard

There you have it. Mr_Mousasi's Middleweight Mapout. Talk, Discuss and Bash. Let me know what you think.

Omoplataypus

Looks solid to me beside Vitors seemingly scaredy-cat reluctance to fight AS again. What happens if he goes back to LHW?

Mr_Mousasi

Omoplataypus said:

Looks solid to me beside Vitors seemingly scaredy-cat reluctance to fight AS again. What happens if he goes back to LHW?

Yea that seems to be the one roadblock right now. I would have to think though he would take the Weidman fight if promised a title shot vs Silva. He's getting older and if he's offered an opportunity to earn a title shot he will take it. It would take longer for him to earn a shot vs Jones then it would one vs Silva at this point.

spartacus_

too many matchups to predict, lets make it easy by saying how many legit wins each of them need:

Weidman: 1
Mousasi/Belfort/Rockhold: 2+
Lombard*/Munoz/Bisping/Stann/Costa/Boestch/Okami: 3+

* imo he won that fight and should need 2 more wins, but well...

Omoplataypus

Maybe he thinks beating the MW #1 contender can propel him to a quick rematch with JBJ. Afterall Sonnen got a shot after an embarassing loss in a different division haha.

Weidman would kill him. The second they clinch up Vitor would be on his way to the ground and probably wouldn't get back up before Wiedman got the finish. Wiedman is smart enough not to take the chance of striking with Vitor, especially with a titleshot on the line.

Omoplataypus

spartacus_ said:

too many matchups to predict, lets make it easy by saying how many legit wins each of them need:

Weidman: 1
Mousasi/Belfort/Rockhold: 2+
Lombard*/Munoz/Bisping/Stann/Costa/Boestch/Okami: 3+

* imo he won that fight and should need 2 more wins, but well...

Belfort just dismantled the #1 contender. How does he need 2+ more fights?

spartacus_

Omoplataypus said:

spartacus_ said:

too many matchups to predict, lets make it easy by saying how many legit wins each of them need:

Weidman: 1
Mousasi/Belfort/Rockhold: 2+
Lombard*/Munoz/Bisping/Stann/Costa/Boestch/Okami: 3+

* imo he won that fight and should need 2 more wins, but well...

Belfort just dismantled the #1 contender. How does he need 2+ more fights?

when JDS ko'd Werdum, who was going to title shot if he won, JDS still had to win 8 more times i guess.
bisping was better ranked than belfort.

also, dana white and lorenzo talked and decided he would still need "a couple of fights".

Omoplataypus

8 more times?

Dont know how he needs a couple more fights if he just not only beat, but destroyed, the guy who was scheduled to get a shot with a win. The UFC kinda threw a monkey wrench in things by making this matchup in the first place.

No one wants to see AS tool Vitor again. It would be boring and obviously from his little post fight rant, Belfort doesn't want that fight either. My guess is Vitor jumps back up to LHW.

spartacus_

Omoplataypus said:

8 more times?

Dont know how he needs a couple more fights if he just not only beat, but destroyed, the guy who was scheduled to get a shot with a win. The UFC kinda out a monkey wrench in things by making this matchup in the first place.

No one wants to see AS tool Vitor again. It would be boring and obviously from his little post fight rant, Belfort doesn't want that fight either. My guess is Vitor jumps back up to LHW.

just checked now: he won 6 fights AFTER defeating Werdum (who was in same position Bisping was yesterday).

the fact bisping needed that win to get the title shot does NOT imply the same for belfort.

PunchBag

dana would give rockhold the title shot, but assuming he doesnt then i agree with the matchups but i believe rockhold would beat jacare in a rematch

my prefered matchups are

lombard vs weidman... lombard would win

jacare vs costa... costa would win

rockhold vs belfort... difficult to call but probably belfort.

carnages41

Omoplataypus said:

Looks solid to me beside Vitors seemingly scaredy-cat reluctance to fight AS again. What happens if he goes back to LHW?

lol how is he supposed to call out Anderson in Brazil?

I think he meant to call out Anderson but then he remembered he was in Brazil so he called out Jones instead

Omoplataypus

spartacus_ said:

Omoplataypus said:

8 more times?

Dont know how he needs a couple more fights if he just not only beat, but destroyed, the guy who was scheduled to get a shot with a win. The UFC kinda out a monkey wrench in things by making this matchup in the first place.

No one wants to see AS tool Vitor again. It would be boring and obviously from his little post fight rant, Belfort doesn't want that fight either. My guess is Vitor jumps back up to LHW.

just checked now: he won 6 fights AFTER defeating Werdum (who was in same position Bisping was yesterday).

the fact bisping needed that win to get the title shot does NOT imply the same for belfort.

Wow that's ridiculous with JDS. But just because it happened with him doesnt mean the same should be done to Vitor.

Im in the train of thought of you have to beat the best to be the best. Beat the #1 contender, become the #1 contender.

Why the hell is a guy coming down from LHW fighting the #1 contender anyway? The division rankings and match ups are all over the place.

Ozpride

lol @ Lombard getting 3+ non title fights on his pay packet.. He'll kill Okami then matchup with Weedman. Winner or that gets next hilight KO for AS


Other than that we have Belcher vs Spittsping winner of Stann / Wand vs Costa or Rockhold.

Vitor will move up to LHW.

JDS_over_REEM

carnages41 said:

lol how is he supposed to call out Anderson in Brazil?

I think he meant to call out Anderson but then he remembered he was in Brazil so he called out Jones instead

lmao

cromwell

let's just face it, no one in the middle weight division at the moment has a chance against the spider. anderson would get a lot better match ups if he just went up to 205 and thought a few of the top guys their, because i can't see jones wanting to fight him any time soon. plus gsp's division is pretty stacked and he has a few good match ups their so i don't think he will be wanting to fight silva anytime soon. the middle weight devision is looking week at the moment.

horrorfan663

I think Okami will KO Lombard (lol more like i wish anyways)

I feel bad for Silva having to fight Stann. i remember a couple years back he said He couldnt fight Stann because he has too much respect for him as a national hero. I wonder why he changed his mind.

Omoplataypus

horrorfan663 said:

I think Okami will KO Lombard (lol more like i wish anyways)

I feel bad for Silva having to fight Stann. i remember a couple years back he said He couldnt fight Stann because he has too much respect for him as a national hero. I wonder why he changed his mind.

$-)

wanderleisilva101

horrorfan663 said:

I think Okami will KO Lombard (lol more like i wish anyways)

I feel bad for Silva having to fight Stann. i remember a couple years back he said He couldnt fight Stann because he has too much respect for him as a national hero. I wonder why he changed his mind.

If I remember right it was set to take place on a memorial weekend a lot people said he ducked. I just think he wanted to avoid being percieved as the bad guy most the audience wanted to lose and also didn't want to fight a guy like him on that kind of occasion.

Now it will be in Japan where Wands fanbase is huge I expect him to get the best reaction of the night.

spartacus_

Omoplataypus said:

Wow that's ridiculous with JDS. But just because it happened with him doesnt mean the same should be done to Vitor. (1)

Im in the train of thought of you have to beat the best to be the best. Beat the #1 contender, become the #1 contender. (2)

Why the hell is a guy coming down from LHW fighting the #1 contender anyway? The division rankings and match ups are all over the place. (3)

(1) agreed

(2) you have to beat the best to be the best, true. but it DOES NOT mean if you beat the best you're the best.
i know it's hard to understand but give it a minute.

(3) because he (theoretically) belongs to MW. they set him up against Bisping because they didn't see this coming (belfort calling out jj)

Omoplataypus

spartacus_ said:

Omoplataypus said:

Wow that's ridiculous with JDS. But just because it happened with him doesnt mean the same should be done to Vitor. (1)

Im in the train of thought of you have to beat the best to be the best. Beat the #1 contender, become the #1 contender. (2)

Why the hell is a guy coming down from LHW fighting the #1 contender anyway? The division rankings and match ups are all over the place. (3)

(1) agreed

(2) you have to beat the best to be the best, true. but it DOES NOT mean if you beat the best you're the best.
i know it's hard to understand but give it a minute.

(3) because he (theoretically) belongs to MW. they set him up against Bisping because they didn't see this coming (belfort calling out jj)

#2 is melting my brain so ill avoid that

#3 maybe they did and just wanted Bisping to get KTFO and after Vitor has done the job he can jump back to LHW on a fast track back to JBJ because he did Uncle Dana a favor.