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The first event of 2009 for the UFC, entitled UFC 94: St. Pierre vs. Penn II, featured Clay Guida ending Nate Diazʼs UFC undefeated streak, Jon Jones becoming a star in the UFC by defeating Stephan Bonnar and Lyoto Machida defeating Thiago Silva to become a top contender in the UFC Light Heavyweight Division.
However, with all of the positives coming out of the event, there was a lot of negative factors coming out of the main event featuring UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn. Although Georges St. Pierre did defeat BJ Penn in the fourth round after BJ Penn didnʼt answer the bell, controversy reigned supreme following the fight.
The controversy occurred after BJ Pennʼs camp accused Georges St. Pierreʼs camp of improperly applying Vaseline to the UFC Welterweight Champion. After some discussions with various legal representatives, BJ Penn decided to issue a formal complaint against Georges St. Pierre and his camp. Some back and forth between all involved lead Georges St. Pierre to issue a rematch to BJ Penn, which it has been rumored that BJ Penn would accept the challenge.
However, as righteous as a possible rematch between Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn would be, there are two victims of this whole situation and those two victims could potentially lose their title opportunities due to a potential third fight between Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn. Those two perennial victims are UFC Welterweight Title top contender Thiago Alves and UFC Lightweight Title top contender Kenny Florian.
Both Thiago Alves and Kenny Florian are both potential victims because if Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn have their third encounter, both men would not receive their title opportunities until at least the end of the year or early next year. Which could cost both men their title opportunities, because undoubtedly they will both fight before that time and are risking their contender ship status.
Look at it like this, the rumored third fight between Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn would occur at UFC 100 in July, then each could return to action by November/December after a few months rest. That situation would lead to nearly a year off of competition for both Thiago Alves and Kenny Florian, assuming they didnʼt compete in between.
Lets take a look at Thiago Alves first, who became the top contender to the UFC Welterweight Title after defeating Josh Koscheck at UFC 90. Thiago Alves, after becoming the top contender to the title, was put on the backburner for the first time at UFC 94, so BJ Penn could get his second match with Georges St. Pierre, now it could very well happen again. Currently, Thiago Alves is stating that he will get his title opportunity at UFC 100, but nothing is ever set in stone.
Now lets take a look at Kenny Florian, who became the top contender to the UFC Lightweight Title at UFC 91 after defeating Joe Stevenson. Just like Thiago Alves, Kenny Florian was put on the backburner initially so BJ Penn can have his rematch with Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 and it could very well happen once more so BJ Penn and Georges St. Pierre can have their third fight. As of this writing, their has been no reports of a BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian fight at any future UFC events.
Do we need a third fight between Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn? I believe so, because the speculation from the Vaseline will not die down easily until the third fight takes place.
However, with a third fight looming between BJ Penn and Georges St. Pierre, at what cost will the third potential fight be to the top contenders to BJ Penn and Georges St. Pierreʼs respective UFC titles, Thiago Alves and Kenny Florian?
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
