Quote:
Originally Posted by rivethead
If it's going to be for a belt, I'd rather see Nogueira fight Sobral. I think they're both favored over Tito anyway, and at least they've got a couple solid wins recently as opposed to coming off a big loss.
That's a little different than a steady decline in performance in the UFC and having been completely outclassed in his last fight.
I wouldn't compare them. Nog was already established as a fighter with a world class skillset, and Fedor beat him solidly. Forrest was still pretty green two and a half years ago, and Tito's win was a controversial split decision.
Other than his relentless self-promotion garnering more attention to Affliction with the mainstream media and TUF crowd, I honestly can't see anyone making a case for Tito getting a title shot for his next fight.
Conversely, I think doing so would open the door to a lot of legitimate criticism about the integrity of Affliction's belts. You can say what you want about Dana's integrity, but he's undeniably very deft with a soundbyte...and this would be giving him a slow pitch down the middle to hit out of the criticism park.
I think the best thing Affliction could do would be to sign a few other LHW's and set up a tourney...something a lot of fans want and that Dana has said will never happen in the UFC.
It would be just another illustration of Affliction bringing things to the fans that the UFC won't [or can't, in the case of Fedor...].
rh
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I agree, I was making the observation when ruggoatee saying the UFC's LHW champion was the real champion. I agree Forrest is the best LHW in the world right now. However, I don't believe that just because they have the deepest talent pool gives their belt the unquestionable "real" belt in the world.
There was a time when the UFC HW division was the deepest HW division in the world but that didn't mean they had the real champ because they didn't have Fedor. There's always going to be someone out there that can give another org's fighter a run for their money.
As far as Tito goes, no I don't think he should get to come in and automatically fight for the Affliction belt. Babalu and Nog both won their first fights there, they should get that honor. If they want to throw Tito in that mix because he's a big name that sells PPVs, then fine but at least make it a tournament.
Oh and ruggoatee, don't be so sure that Babalu would just jump in the ring and throw Tito around. You may get your feelings hurt if they ever fight. I'd love to see it and have been waiting for that match to happen for years. Instead we got Tito-Rashad or Shamrock II and III.
Last but not least, of course Forrest is a different fighter than he was the last time he and Tito fought. It's hard to gauge where Tito is right now because he just fought who I think is the 2nd or 3rd best LHW in the world and I don't think he looked as bad as Machida just looked great. The later that fight got Tito looked better (that brutal body shot aside.)