Why Dana White Is Right

Prior to UFC 87, most people(including myself) were labeling the Roger Huerta/Kenny Florian fight as a fight to determine the #1 contender in the UFC LW division. Initially Dana White supported this sentiment, but as the fight drew near he backed off of that support due to a number of reasons in my opinion.

1. BJ Penn wants to fight GSP next


2. Roger Huerta irking Dana White with his talk about money/contraction issues


3. Does Kenny Florian actually deserve a second shot at the LW belt at this point

We all know how big GSP/BJ Penn 2 will be if in fact that fight goes down in December as most believe it will. It's a super-fight with 2 of the best pound for pound fighters mixing it up, and if you know anything about MMA you would want to see this fight.

Also, with Huerta's situation even had he defeated Kenny Florian I don't think he had deserved a shot at the title. The only credible win Huerta has in the UFC is against Clay Guida, and Guida is a middle of the pack guy at this point. Then Huerta pretty much committed suicide by irking Dana White, then losing to Kenny Florian afterwards. Thus, leaving him with one fight left on his contract with virtually no leverage in contract negotiations.

With Florian's win over Huerta, everybody and their momma is talking about him getting a title shot next. However, he is smarter than all of those people. He recognizes that he has not cleaned out the LW division and that there are still some tough fights out there before getting a title shot. Here's what he had to say:

"Maybe I could fight the winner of Griffin-Sherk, I don’t know how the timing works out for that," quipped Florian. "Maybe we can bring someone in like a (Joachim) Hansen or (Shinya) Aoki or someone, to have kind of a super fight. I don’t care, I want to fight top guys, I want to stay busy and all I’ve got to do is keep winning. There’s still some fights out there for me. It’s not like I’ve cleaned out the division completely. There’s plenty of challenges out there at 155 for me."

I wasn't impressed by Florian at all this past weekend, but I must say I've gained even more respect for him after reading that statement.

So in the end Dana White is right, in that he will probably do the GSP/BJ Penn 2 fight on what is usually the most stacked card of the year. I suppose he'll deal with Huerta at some point, and grant Florian his wish to fight again against tough opponent. However, I don't know how feasible it will be for Florian to face the winner of Sherk/Griffin this year. That fight is slated to take place in late October, which would be a really quick turn around in terms of fighting again this year. Maybe Dana will pull a rabbit out of his hat and sign Aoki or Hansen...wishful thinking...lol.