Weekend Update: Dec. 17, 2007

So Randy Couture and Andrej Arlowski are going to wait out their UFC contracts, and Vitor Belfort wants back in. Couture's motivation is a chance at fighting Fedor.
Who knows what Arlowski's motivation is? Perhaps Jerry Springer is starting an MMA organization (tongue in cheek, there!).
Belfort is staging a comeback from mediocrity, and he realizes that the octagon is going to be the venue for such a comeback. But to call out Tito Ortiz for his comeback fight? The Light Heavyweight division is packed with contenders that would provide a more interesting fight. But Tito draws a card, and Vitor knows it.
Speaking of the stacked 205lb division, Michael Bisping finally decided to move down to 185 lbs and perhaps give either Anderson Silva or Dan Henderson some company. Middleweight could use it, with the dethroning of Rich Franklin being solidified in October!

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Forrest Griffin gets Title Shot vs Quinton Jackson

Quinton Jackson VS Forrest Griffin, coming soon!! Well, kinda soon.

Saturday night, after the Ultimate Fighter season 6 finale, Dana White announced that Forrest Griffin would be one of the coaches for a revamped season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter next spring. He also announced that Forrest would fight the other coach at the conclusion of the hit reality show. It didn't leave much doubt in my mind that the other coach would be Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, since it was obvious that Forrest took Shogun's title shot away from him, back in September. During last night's Video Game Awards, Dana confirmed that Forrest would indeed get his title shot.
But...
...not until the conclusion of season 7, which will air in April of 2008! Assuming that season 7 will run for about 3 months, as is the run for most TUF shows, this title fight would likely happen during the summer of 2008. Quinton's last fight was in September, when he won (or didn't lose) against Dan Henderson. It was nice of Dana to give Forrest and Jackson plenty of time to heal and train for this fight, but nearly a year? There could be a lot of Big Macs and Twinkies between now and next summer!

Ultimate Fighter... no so Ultimate Contract?

Well another TUF season is in the bag. I enjoyed the last episode... great fights! I wanted to comment on one topic.

I have to say... I have to agree overall with Matt Arroyo's decision not to fight. Here's why.

Dana Hypes up the whole TUF experience of winning that 6 figure contract. But look at the history of what happens to "non winners". There are just as many people from TUF that are in UFC contracts making just as much coin as TUF winners! Stephen Bonnar, Nathan Quarry, Chris Leben, Josh Koscheck, Kenny Florian, Mike Swick... and that's just season 1! What about Luke Cummo, or the guy to heated up the Ice Man, Keith Jardine! Others like Kendall Grove, Ed Herman, Matt Hamill, Joe Lauzon all doing quite well for themselves in the UFC without winning their seasons!

I think it comes down to the fact that this "6 figure contract" isn't all that attractive at all! As a matter of fact, in my opinion for some fighters, it's almost a ball and chain!

Look at Keith Jardine. The guy knocked out Chuck Liddell! He should be in title contention talking to Zuffa about a $500k/fight contract. Instead, he's locked in to some $100k/year contract for multiple fights.

If it was me, I would be making decisions based on my whole career rather than some whimpy 6 figure contract. Matt made the right call. You never know, his next fight Dana might throw him in against a star that needs a tune up and Arroyo might upset. BAM, just like that, he is now a star and a possible contender! Either way, his chances of making a living in the UFC are just as good as Mac or Tommy's.

Randy Couture turns down UFC HW Title Defense

First, the bad news... Randy Couture turns down UFC Heavyweight Title Defense.

MMAWeekly.com reports that Randy "The Natural" Couture has opted out of a title defense fight against former Pride Heavy Weight Champion Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira. It looks like with this move he has also vacated the UFC Heavyweight title. The UFC matchmakers are now working on putting together a HW contenders match to fill the vacated title.

The good news is it looks like the UFC and The Natural are mending up their relationship. It was reported that Randy will slow down his career and spend more time with his family and "smelling the roses" as he says, but will work with the UFC and his current contract with Zuffa.

My opinion... I like this move. Randy isn't a spring chicken. Yet he has proven just about all he needs to prove already. Laying back and hoping one of the two following situations comes to fruition seems like a smart move to me; 1) Wait to see if M1 fails as a competing organization and Fedor swallows his pride (no pun intended here) and comes to the UFC to fight Randy, or 2) Zuffa works out a fighter sharing contract with M1 to put on what many believe to be the fight of the century.

What ever happens out of this latest move, I think everyone can at least somewhat breathe a sigh of relief knowing now that the chances of seeing one of the best heavyweight mma competitors fight again is more likely than it was 2 months ago.