ATTN: UFC! We Want a Gran Prix Tournament!!!

Potential UFC problem: an unestablished ladder of legitimate contenders vying for the belt in most weight classes.  A lack of exposure (excluding the champs) to the fans regarding the top 5-7 "ranked" fighters who are battling their way towards a shot at the belt.  Potential lack of momentum, or smooth continuity, and appealing storyline transferring from event to event.

The Tournament Solution: clear solidification of the pecking order of challengers in the corresponding weight class.  The benefit of spotlighting the key fighters entrenched in the title race to familiarize fans with their styles, personalities, and MMA history.  The provision of a smooth carryover from one event to the next and the associated excitement and anticipation of a bracket-style tournament.

One of the most highly-acclaimed facets of the Pride Fighting Championships were the stellar Gran Prix tournaments they held, which are cemented in MMA history as some of the most memorable and remarkable events.  It all started with the gritty performance by American Mark Coleman after losing the UFC heavyweight title, who entered Pride's first open weight Gran Prix in 2000, and finished all but one of four opponents to be crowned the tournament champ. His inspiring performance, topped off by a failed celebratory somersault from the ropes (which he didn't even seem to notice in his exaltation), revived his fanbase and sparked his re-emergence as a top HW.

Takanori Gomi had one of the most impressive runs in MMA history by crushing the #2 and #3 ranked lightweight fighters in Tatsuya Kawajiri and Hayato Sakurai before winning a high-velocity stand-up war with Luiz Azeredo to attain the Gran Prix crown, also marking the highest point of his illustrious career.  In between these two tournaments, we saw the electrifying elimination tournament pitting Pride MW (205 lbs.) fighters Wanderlei Silva, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Murilo Bustamante, and Alistair Overeem amongst others- and Pride even "borrowed" former UFC LHW champ Chuck Liddell to join the mix.

The same card featured a 4-man heavyweight tourney with Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera in his controversial war with another former UFC champ, HW Ricco Rodriguez.  Rising star Mirko CroCop also added flavor to the HW brackets by beheading slugger Igor Vovchanchyn.  All fights delivered- and the fans couldn't wait to see more. The final Open Weight Gran Prix in 2006 featured another series of exhilerating fights as Mirko CroCop potentially caused permanent damage to Wanderlei Silva's chin-durability by distributing another KO by way of the legendary cemetary kick, moving on to meet Josh Barnett in the finals after Barnett squeaked by Minotauro Noguiera only to fall to CroCop by strikes in the tournament finale.

So... why don't we see a tournament in the UFC, now that they have acquired the best gathering of overall talent the world of MMA has ever seen?

The common arguments are that the American Athletic Commissions will not allow a fighter to engage in more than one fight per night.  This can be easily solved by simply following the same format that the UFC adheres to for "The Ultimate Fighter" television show, where each event would feature only one bracket of the tournament.  This would also alleviate one of the biggest problems with having multiple fights in one night:  injuries, which have caused some tournament results to be distorted because of a fighter having to be replaced by an alternate due to taking too much damage, even in victory.

The most legitimate complication is whether or not the divisional champion would compete in the tournament, and if so, whether or not his belt would be on the line.  One of the negative aspects of Pride's tournaments can be exemplified in the situation with Wanderlei Silva, who lost a close decision to powerhouse grappler Ricardo Arona, but remained the MW champ; the tournament winner was crowned the "Tournament Champ" instead of being the overall king of the weight class.  If the belt-holding fighter did not compete in the tournament, he would be rendered inactive for quite a long time as the events unfolded for approximately 6-8 months, depending on the number of participants competing.

I would vote strongly for the champion to compete in these elimination bouts to counter all of the issues mentioned above.  After all, why wouldn't he?  The champion is the one who emerges victorious over all the contenders in the division, and if he loses, then his conqueror more rightfully befits the title.  The purpose of a tournament is to gather up the best fighters in the weight class and let them battle it out to determine who is the best fighter.

I think the idea of a tournament is very logical at the present time, where the respective champions in each division have secured somewhat of a vice-like stronghold on the strap.  For example, who is left to take on Brock Lesnar in the thin HW division?  Who remains for GSP after he's methodically blown through the division?  Demian Maia is the only hope to challenge MW monarch Anderson Silva, and he has his biggest challenge coming up in Nate Marquardt.  Although the talent-laden 155 and 205 divisions are somewhat exempt from this issue, there is enough depth in each division to formulate a list of brackets that would be of the utmost quality.

Let me entice your imagination with the following hypothetical tournament competitors: Heavyweight / 1st Round: CroCop x Nog rematch, Gonzaga x Lesnar, Carwin x Velasquez, Mir x Couture Light Heavyweight / 1st Round: Cane x Franklin, Shogun x Machida, Rampage x Rashad, Wanderlei/Forrest x Coleman Middleweight / 1st Round: Henderson x Marquardt, Akiyama x Bisping, Maia x Okami, Sonnen x Cote Lightweight / 1st Round: Florian x Penn, Sanchez x Maynard, Edgar x Stevenson, Pellegrino x Guida.

I know some are already noticing that many of those fights are already scheduled to happen, or would conflict with fights that are already booked.  But wouldn't that also serve as justification to add a storyline, meaning, and direction to the outcome of each fight?

Please keep in mind that my brackets are purely hypothetical, and in some instances I've included match-ups that are confirmed (Shogun/Machida, Rampage/Rashad, Penn/Florian, etc.), and in other cases I've substituted a different pairing to show that there is a wealth of appealing match-ups between the top guys, no matter if they win or lose.  The aftermath of the original fights would only provide a plethura of resulting match-ups in the events to follow.

If I am missing something, or simply blinded by my pro-Pride goggles, then someone please inform me as to why the UFC hasn't executed a tournament since the days when the corporation was owned by SEG.  The new era of fans have not necessarily been exposed to the grandeur of this format, and I can't find any reason why this would not by a mega-hyped blockbuster event, and a win/win for the UFC and its fans.