After UFC 104, I was amazed at how deep the UFC stable of brilliant fighters is as many contenders stepped up and proved themselves worthy for title shots, maybe not immediately but in the near future. That night, we saw that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua deserves another shot in a rematch with Machida to settle once and for all who really is the 205 champ. And we also saw the rebirth of the new and improved Joe "Daddy" Stevenson as he demolished a helpless Spencer Fisher with relentless and violent elbow strikes on the ground. Sure BJ Penn bloodied and choked him out with ease but ever since Joe switched training camps, he went 2-0 against top-caliber opponents. And what about Cain Velasquez, the champion and standard bearer of brown pride and Latinos everywhere? His wrestling is arguably the best in the heavyweight division, maybe second only to the champ, Brock Lesnar. But he proved that he can takedown and dominate bigger and stronger fighters when he manhandled and beat up Big Ben Rothwell all throughout the fight.

But the fighter who really caught my eye and showed a set of skills that is title-shot-worthy (not saying that the above mentioned warriors did not) is Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, a hard-hitting 170 pounder. He was a little heavier for the fight, weighing in with an excess of 6 pounds but that wouldn't have mattered because he looked like a man possessed when he sought and destroyed Yoshiki Yoshida in just 41 seconds on the very first round. Yoshida is a world class judo black belt but he looked like a kid when he tried to clinch and possibly takedown Johnson. Yoshida ate hard shots after hard shots and was hurt really bad before Johnson delivered the knockout blow right on his jaw that floored him once and for all. Seriously, that dude has scary and legitimate knockout power in both of his hands (probably the hardest hitter in his division) and his takedown defense is not bad, too. If he can land a couple of those power bombs against Georges St. Pierre and if he could improve and further work on his ground game and takedown defense, maybe we'll see a new champ at 170. Maybe but I also think he needs to face Thiago Alves first and use him as a springboard for that title shot.

If I am not writing custom term papers and other articles for local sports journals, I will be following Cain Velasquez's ascent to the top. I will also monitor AnthonyJohnson's career closely and see if he is all that he seems to be. He proved that he can punch and strike with the best of them but I think he was never really  been tested against a top-caliber fighter like Jon Fitch and/or Thiago Alves. If he can improve his overall game and not just bank on his striking, he may very well be the next contender for the 170 belt. It will be a wild ride and the champs better man up and bring their A game because the hungry contenders are out for blood. Till then, I'm out, boppers.