Jacob Cooper

Originally Posted by cooperjacob

In my opinion, the best way to replace JDS vs. Cain at UFC 139.

A five-round war with title ramifications makes perfect sense to headline a card a week after a title fight, that already has names such as Faber, Kampmann and Story featured on.

The first contest between the Brazilians were simply a joy to behold. Although the decision wasn't agreed on by many, it was still a great fight displaying great stand-up.

I believe that if the fight is promoted a lot in the UFC on Fox broadcast the week prior to it, showing clips of the first two fights, it could get a great amount of viewers despite being a non-title fight.

Due to the stacked Light Heavyweight division, it could make things a lot clearer title shot-wise. For instance, there are a lot of guys that may or may not be ready to take the step up against the winner of Rampage and Jones. If the UFC be smart about this dilemma, we could see Machida-Shogun, Davis-Rashad and Gustafsson-Matyushenko, just to see who should be considered top 5 and who shouldn't. Although I believe this is unfair on Rashad, he wouldn't be able to challenge for the title for at least a few months as Jones already has a match lined up.

Should the winner of Machida and Shogun fight for the belt? Possibly. But I know for damn sure that it will separate the men from the dogs and also solve whether Rua should go down to Middleweight or not - I personally don't believe he should.

Also, now Rua has overcome ring rust and is more active inside the octagon, I could see him giving Jones/Rampage a great challenge, possibly capturing the belt; and Machida and his elusiveness would be tricky for Jones, and Rampage vs. Machida II makes a lot of sense also.