The UFC 95 event last weekend highlighted a number of interesting events. Nate Marquardt transforming himself mid-fight into Ryu from Street Fighter, dismantling his foe, the heavy handed Wilson Gouveia. Then there was Diego Sanchez's entrance, reciting Tony Robbins tapes, yelling "YES! YES!" While some celebrated in glory, others were not so fortunate. Josh Koscheck left England asking himself "What the f**k?" after getting caught by a Paulo Thiago uppercut, marking his third defeat inside the octagon. Feeding unknown fighters, to legitimate contenders in the UFC is becoming an interesting and dangerous trend in the sport.

For clarification, as you can see here, Koscheck is clearly out (similar to the Houston Alexander/James Irvin fight) as his eyes go to the back of his head. There have been many arguments, even from Koscheck himself that the fight was stopped early. It's debatable, but at the end of the day, it's the referee's job to stop the bout when necessary. We've seen this type of upset in the UFC before with Houston Alexander over Keith Jardine, Joe Lauzon over Jens Pulver, Goran Reljic over Wilson Gouveia and of course in PRIDE with Sokoujou over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. But a more recent (and probably more likely) example was the UFC 90 when between Junior Dos Santos upset Fabricio Werdum. At the time Werdum looked to be on his way to a heavyweight title shot after stopping Brandon Vera in the 1st round at UFC 85. Facing an unknown Dos Santos, it appeared like Werdum was on the way to getting his wish. But we all know what ended up happening, Dos Santos knocked out Werdum in the first round, not only costing the Brazilian a title shot, but also a one-way ticket outside the UFC. For Koscheck similarly, a dominant win this past weekend would have situated him nicely in the welterweight title picture. Instead, he goes 1-2 in his last three fights with uncertainty looming for a suitable next opponent. 

It's no secret, to earn your stripes into the UFC you need to have a 3-5 fight undefeated streak and (or) a win against an MMA veteran. In Dos Santos case for example, it also helps if your manager (Ed Soares) is involved with the UFC on a regular basis. Legitimate contenders in the UFC should be capable of fighting anyone, at anytime. However with that said, clearly the advantage in a situation where a contender fights an unknown, goes to the debuting fighter. Before this fight, Koscheck stated in an interview regarding Thiago "I don't know anything about him. To be honest with you, I don't even know what he looks like. I've never seen video on him, nothing. For me, it's a fight. I expect to go in there and fight and just do what I do, which is win" In other words, it's difficult to train for an opponent when you don't know anything about him, even if Thiago had lost, everyone was expecting him to. Thaigo's win brings up the question, where does this place the Brazilian inside the UFC welterweight division? Should he continue to win a few more fights, would that put him up for contention for the welterweight title?

The danger in this strategy is like what happened to Houston Alexander. When Keith Jardine pulled off the upset against Forrest Griffin at UFC 66, it only seemed fitting that the Dean of Mean, would face a legitimate opponent on the road to the light-heavyweight title. Instead, the UFC chose an unknown Houston Alexander, a 6-0 fighter from Nebraska. Jardine (like Koshceck) also didn't have a clue about his opponent and was ready to face anything. This strategy backfired and Jardine would lose the fight via 1st round knockout. When Alexander knocked out Alessio Sakara in his next fight, the hype machine began to wind, and it looked as though Alexander was the real deal. This would all change when he faced Thiago Silva, an opponent who discovered Alexander's kryptonite, the ground game.  From there he would lose his next two bouts (not surprisingly on the ground) and fizzled any possibly of being a legitimate fighter. Meanwhile, that loss has still haunted Jardine, marking him as a potential gatekeeper in the division

The real question is what does the UFC gain from this type of strategy? We've seen the opposite happen many times, where a debuting fighter is haunted by a crumbling loss and the result isn't any better. Take the Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks fight at UFC 91 as an example. Gonzaga could have fought legitimate opponent like Heath Herring in pursuit of heavyweight title glory. Instead, he destroys the debuting Josh Hendricks in less than 3 minutes (which by the way sent Hendricks out of the UFC) and nothing is gained. The idea of showcasing a new fighter to the fans by feeding them to named opponent makes sense. But is it worth it to derail the path of a contender in that division?  Paulo Thiago could be end up being the real deal, but his upset win has asked who should be next in line after Thiago Alves for the UFC welterweight crown, than the performance itself.