Randy Couture is, beyond a doubt, the most successful fighter in the history of the UFC. He's held more titles than any other fighter and has a career that spans ten years and two weight classes. He's beaten Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, two of the top champions in history at 205 pounds, and he's beaten heavyweight legends from Pedro Rizzo to Tim Sylvia. His career has been a rollercoaster and every fight, win or lose, has been exciting.
Couture has vacated his heavyweight title as a combination of age, conflicts with UFC management and #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko opting to fight in M-1, instead of coming to the UFC.
The real question is what happens now?
Personally, I'd like to see a UFC heavyweight tournament on a large scale: ideally a 16 man competition.
The UFC heavyweight division is so cluttered right now that there's no way you can just have 2 top contenders. Here's a brief profile of the top guys and why they can't be considered the only ones:
Tim Sylva: coming off a disappointing loss of his title to Couture and recovering from surgery, his health is questionable at best. He's a legitimate striker, but as his performances had been unimpressive even before the Couture loss, it doesn't make sense to throw him right in the mix.
Brandon Vera: he will fight Sylvia at UFC 77 in a match that will show whether Sylvia is really back or if Vera is the next generation of UFC champion. Still, I don't believe that Vera is big enough, versatile enough or smart enough when it comes to fight planning to be a really solid heavyweight contender, and he has yet to really bet a solid top contender.
Cheick Kongo: while he beat Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic a little while ago, his ground game is still lacking and his loss to Carmello Marerro was not so long ago that it can't be taken into consideration. He doesn't match up well with wrestlers, and that's a fairly common breed of fighter in the UFC. I don't see how he can be considered eligible until he really proves his ground game.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: with only one fight in the UFC, it's hard to just let Nogueira have a go at the heavyweight belt. Even with his previous accomplishments, I have a hard time getting passed his passable performance against Heath Herring. I'd like to see him fight a few more times and really start to show some dominance before we put him up for a title shot.
Andrei Arlovski: he's definitely a top contender, but as he didn't finish Fabricio Werdum, who's standup isn't great, I don't think his form is quite up to where it was during his first reign as champion.
So where does that leave us?
I'd like to see a tournament because it will give these guys a chance to really prove they deserve the title and, if the matchups are done right, we'll get to see their games really tested on every level. It would also give some no name guys an opportunity to fight for the belt, and when that sort of motivation is on the line, the fights get a hell of a lot better.
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