November - 2015
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
38
Contenders Finally Emerging
In UFC’s Heavyweight Division
Article By: Jay Anderson
For what seemed to
be an eternity, the UFC
heavyweight
division
was a three-way dance
between Cain Velas-
quez, Junior Dos Santos,
and occasionally, Anto-
nio “Bigfoot” Silva (who
fought Velasquez twice,
though just once for the
heavyweight title). That
changed with Fabricio
Werdum’s shocking dis-
mantling of Velasquez at
UFC 188 in June, but in
reality, it simply replaced
one name for another.
While Werdum was fi-
nally recognized as the
best of the best in the
business (something he
arguably held claim to
after becoming the first
man to defeat Fedor
Emelianenko in a decade
back in 2010), he had
simply jumped to the
top as Bigfoot had fallen
from contender talk.
That’s not a knock on
Werdum, mind you. He
has the ability to be a
very successful cham-
pion, and his late-career
resurgence has been im-
pressive. It’s just that the
UFC’s heavyweight di-
vision still looked like a
three-way dance.
That has changed over
the past several months,
however. At long last.
Andrei Arlovski’s return
to the top has been much
discussed, and with a vic-
tory over Frank Mir in his
last outing, he is now 4-0
in his current UFC run.
With the announcement
this week that he’ll face
Stipe Miocic at UFC 195,
it feels like a true number
one contender’s match.
The winner of that bout
could instantly step
into a title shot and no
(Dave Mandel/Sherdog)
