Contenders

The times are a-changing’!

Well, not exactly changing but I have a feeling that in the near future we are going to see some new champions in the UFC and these are the guys that could be the ones to take the gold.

Anderson Silva has defended his title eight times, UFC 134 will be his ninth title defence and I think that he should be able to get through Okami. I am not sure what happens next, there is a lot of talk about a Silva and GSP showdown and who knows, Silva may relinquish his championship to move on up to Light Heavyweight. I think that the next man to hold the gold will be Mark Munoz, he has shown a skill set that will be able to dominate inside the octagon and once he gets his shot he will be the one to hold the belt for quite some time.

If anybody has a chance to dethrone Cain Valasquez  it’s Junior Dos Santos. We all saw what happened in that first round against Shane Carwin, can you imagine it all over again? Dos Santos is fast and his takedown defence just seems to be getting better and better. Surely he will continue training to ensure he can keep Cain on his feet. Cain has great stand up but JDS’ is just that little bit better. Cain has never lost in his career so that first loss has got to be rearing it’s ugly head. I think that JDS is going to be the dominant champion of 2012.

Jose Aldo really took the fight to Mark Hominick in Toronto and Kenny Florian did the same with Diego Nunes in Vancouver so naturally you would think these two would be colliding soon. Dana White said early on that should Florian win against Nunes he would be next in line for the title, who knows what is going to happen and whether these two face of next or whether Aldo steps into the cage with Mendes first. Ironically all four of Florian’s UFC losses were when it was all on the line, three unsuccessful attempts at securing a title and his first UFC loss being for the Ultimate Fighter Season One glory. I think that Florian will have learnt from his mistakes and his experience is what will get him a victory at one hundred and forty five pounds for his first UFC title. Kenny looked great against Nunes, I am sure he can replicate that against Aldo.

It’s going to be an interesting finish to the year, we still have six months and I think that JDS will be the first of these three to get his belt and the other two will follow in early 2012. I know for sure that all of those fights are fights I am going to want to watch.

And should they be successful in winning the gold, they are all champions I would cheer for.