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Why Dana White will be rooting for Joe Stevenson

Coming off of perhaps their best pay-per-view of all-time in UFC 79, the premiere fighting organization has no where to go but down for their next venture at UFC 80 on January 19th. It’s no ones fault, but there’s just no way anything can top two of the greatest fights in UFC history.

The main event of UFC 80 will pit “The Prodigy” BJ Penn against Joe “Daddy” Stevenson for the Lightweight Championship. BJ Penn will be a heavy favorite as he holds victories over the likes of Matt Hughes, Takanori Gomi, Jens Pulver and Matt Serra. Penn is also a former UFC Welterweight Champion.

Stevenson will serve as a major underdog but has been on the big stage before when he defeated Luke Cummo to win season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter. Stevenson will also have UFC President Dana White in his cheering section. Although he’d never admit it publicly, White is secretly hoping for a Stevenson win against Penn. Sound crazy? Well, if you look at it a bit closer, you might see why White is hoping for the Stevenson win.

Stevenson has recently gained mainstream attention in response to Floyd Mayweather’s proclamation that he is giving thought to entering the MMA world. Stevenson is just the man that could shut Mayweather’s mouth. Stevenson can take a punch and would still be able to inflict a great deal of hurt on Mayweather once he took the fight to the ground.

Joe Daddy is also a young and very marketable fighter. Still only 25, Stevenson has a great deal of experience but is still young enough to be a major player in the UFC for several years. He is by no means the best fighter in the Lightweight division, but he is a top contender and could have great fights with any of the top fighters in the class.

Finally, as is the case with everything else in the world, money is the biggest factor in White’s hope of a Stevenson victory. It’s not the money in Stevenson as champion though. It’s the money in Penn moving back to the Welterweight division. As everyone knows Matt Hughes is now considering retirement but he would still like to finish his career when the UFC debuts in Chicago. There wouldn’t be too many better opponents for Hughes than Penn. They have fought twice before, each scoring a victory over the other. Penn made Hughes tap out at UFC 46 and Hughes avenged that loss at UFC 63 via a TKO. A final chapter to the trilogy in Chicago would be a fitting end to Hughes’ career and would no doubt be one of the biggest draws in UFC history.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 at 3:04 am and is filed under Dana White, BJ Penn, Joe Stevenson, The Ultimate Fighter, Great rivalries, Matt Hughes, UFC, Floyd Mayweather, Pay-Per-View, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.