It took 18 months for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre to defend his title, which he did by successfully outpointing Carlos Condit in the main event of UFC 154 last night (Nov. 17, 2012) at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
I don't want to wait another 18 months before he does it again.
Neither does UFC welterweight number one contender Johny Hendricks, who recently (and rightfully) earned his spot in line. Sure, his thunderous knockout win over Martin Kampmann -- also at UFC 154 -- was electric, but it was his wins over Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck that proved him worthy.
Both were former number one contenders.
In addition, the two-time NCAA Division I national wrestling champion is 14-1 overall and has won five straight, with three of those ending violently by way of knockout or technical knockout. And if you recall round three of Saturday Night's main event, "Bigg Rigg" has a real chance to turn the division on its head.
If UFC passes over Hendricks for Anderson Silva -- just to sell out Dallas Stadium -- then it has not only compromised the integrity of the division, but also the sport as a whole. Especially when its Light Heavyweight Champion, Jon Jones, is off fighting a middleweight.
"Bones'" last fight was against Vitor Belfort while "The Spider's" was against Stephan Bonnar. They don't seem to have any trouble dabbling with challengers from across the divisional border and outside of Alexander Gustafsson, who still has one more hurdle to climb before staking his claim to the throne, there is no clear cut number one contender at 205 pounds.
And Silva doesn't want to dirty himself with the likes of Chris Weidman, even if the "All American" can get past Tim Boetsch at UFC 155 next month in Las Vegas.
I understand the appeal of Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva and maybe if Hendricks had squeaked past "The Hitman" with a close split decision or a boring jab-fest, you could make a better argument. But that didn't happen. And if you don't care about Hendricks or his shot, then you don't care about mixed martial arts (MMA).
You just want to see "super fights."
Kind of like the ones Strikeforce used to put on because it only had three guys per division. But that's all in the past thanks to Dana White and his global conquest. You know what else you can thank him for? Selling you a fight that had a very real chance of not happening.
I get it.
At the end of the day, he's a promoter and I don't begrudge him for it, but I also want to make sure we don't follow him off the cliff like a bunch of loyal lemmings. From a booking perspective, Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva is what's fun.
Georges St. Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks is what's right.
For complete results and blow-by-blow coverage of the UFC 154: "St. Pierre vs. Condit" pay-per-view event click here.