Consider those plans "f----d up," as promised.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White has been teasing mixed martial arts (MMA) fans with "super fights" for the past couple of years across three divisions. Reigning Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones is at the top, while current welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre is at the bottom.
For awhile there, former middleweight champion Anderson Silva was right in the middle.
"The Spider" was the web that bound the "super fight" fantasies. Would he go down to 170 pounds to face "Rush," a weight class he once fought at and still insisted he could make? Or move up to 205 pounds to challenge "Bones," a division that has netted him three wins -- including one over a former champion?
The answer was, and always will be, "none of the above."
That's because Chris Weidman took over the 185-pound throne with a second round knockout of "The Spider," who tried to replicate his Abu Dhabi dance moves during his UFC 162 title defense last Saturday night (July 6, 2013) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
White explained at the UFC 162 post-fight press conference (watch it here):
"That fight cost Georges St. Pierre and Jon Jones and Anderson Silva a lot of money. In those super fights, he was the link to both of them, so, there you go."
Relive the madness here.
In spite of "All American's" ability to upset the apple cart, the "super fight" house was built on a foundation of sand. St. Pierre already bailed on a potential Silva scrap, while Jones was dreaming of life after 205 pounds. In fact, the whole purpose of having a "super fight" is because it's well, "super."
And it's a two-way street.
Chris Weidman did something super at UFC 162, but now he has a division full of contenders he must answer to. The least of which is Vitor Belfort, who has been licking his chops to get another crack at the crown, while guys like Ronaldo Souza and Gegard Mousasi are nipping at his heels.
That's not all.
UFC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson wants to move up and challenge St. Pierre, but he still has to get rid of T.J. Grant at UFC 164 -- as well as Anthony Pettis at a later date -- before he can consider his division cleaned out. It also doesn't help that "Smooth" and "Rush" have a combined 14 straight fights without a finish.
Yawn.
Cain Velasquez rules the heavyweight roost, but Junior dos Santos is lurking and we still haven't figured out what to do with the winner of Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne when they hook 'em up next month in Boston. Bantamweight has an identity crisis at the top and Jose Aldo must fend off Chan Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas before he makes good on his promise to move up to 155 pounds.
That's gonna take awhile.
Assuming Jon Jones can get past Alexander Gustafsson later this year in Toronto, he'll be twiddling his thumbs until the promotion can dig up a fresh challenger. Perhaps we can goad Daniel Cormier to make that drop to light heavyweight? I'm not sure how "super" that fight would be, but our options are a bit limited at this point.
We can blame Chris Weidman for that.
For more UFC 162 results, recaps, videos, reactions and other post-fight fallout, check out our "Silva vs. Weidman" live fight stream by clicking here.