Even with some semblance of order restored, the future looks rather grim for the UFC's middleweight division.
Yes, things are looking up for the top fight factory's 185-pounders at the moment. With Georges St-Pierre and reigning divisional champ Michael Bisping out of commission until the final quarter of 2017, UFC president Dana White did what the brass had previously rendered unfathomable - the right thing - and booked Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker in an interim middleweight title bout for July 8 at UFC 213.
The pair of contenders have won eight and seven straight, respectively, and the winner of what promises to be a first-rate clash will be guaranteed a shot at Bisping, who inexplicably gave his laundry list of detractors more ammunition by shooting a movie in Thailand after undergoing knee surgery - hence his delayed return to action.
Even with the champ out of the picture, the newly booked interim title fight should prove the first rung on the division's climb back to normalcy. Now that the promotion has given its contenders something tangible to chase, disgruntled former champ Luke Rockhold can take on the surging Gegard Mousasi - provided he re-ups with the UFC - or wait for Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza to recover from a pectoral injury and revive the rematch his torn ACL sent to the incinerator last fall.
In other words, after the 11 months of lunacy that have defined Bisping's unlikely reign, it looks like the best are finally getting back to fighting the best. The long-disillusioned supporters of title bouts based on a meritocracy have something to hang their hopes on. But it won't last.
Granted, the 185-pound contingent's top tier is as talented as any, but the intrigue ends there, as the rest of it is comprised of mercurial talents, aging promotional fixtures, and prospects whose resumes provide more questions than answers. Not exactly the most tantalizing successors to a division boasting eight top-10 contenders above the age of 30.
Anderson Silva, 42, may still own every divisional record worth tracking, but he's regressed into a pudgy and fatally gun shy badge of honor for those on the rise. World Series of Fighting import David Branch did little to prove he belongs in the Octagon in a three-round snoozer opposite Krzysztof Jotko at UFC 211, while Derek Brunson, Thales Leites, and Sam Alvey have long hit their ceilings and are likely to ride out their promotional stints as gatekeepers.
As for the rest of the top 15, Vitor Belfort is putting himself out to pasture in 10 days, Uriah Hall has driven all of us mad over which version of himself will show up on fight night, and beloved overachiever Dan Kelly is 39 and fighting with a knee that decades on the judo circuit have beaten into Silly Putty.
And those are just the ranked middleweights.
The final nail in the division's coffin is the dearth of capable heirs to the Romeros, Mousasis and Rockholds. Jotko looked the part over a five-fight win streak that earned him a spot in the top 10, but the stinker he dropped to Branch grossly cheapened his stock. Action fighters of Thiago Santos' and Oluwale Bamgbose's ilk are often destined to remain streaky purveyors of fireworks, while even the most insightful analysts have yet to determine what Elias Theodorou brings to the table other than a glorious head of hair.
While the middleweight elite will keep fight fans thirst for carnage quenched in the short term, the contingent of misfit toys that makes up the bulk of the top-heavy division are ill-equipped to carry the torch, a disparity that bears shades of a light heavyweight group that's gone from the UFC's most enthralling to its most talent-starved in just a few short years.
Enjoy the mayhem while it lasts.
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)
