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daresplaining · 5 years

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Blindspot: Empowering Invisibility

I’ve been writing posts reflecting back on my favorite parts of Charles Soule’s Daredevil run... and hey, I almost got through all of them before the new run started! The final topic I wanted to cover is Sam Chung/Blindspot, who-- alongside Real Boy Mike Murdock-- is the most significant new character Soule created during his time on the comic.

Sam has come a long way for a guy everyone thought was Gambit when his image was first released. With his introduction, he became Matt’s first official, long-term “apprentice” and a compelling addition to the ranks of Marvel’s young, up-and-coming superheroes. I’d always wanted to see how Matt would handle a sidekick, so I was very excited about this, and while I think Sam’s story was not as strong as it could have been, I am eager for him to return to further cement his role within the Daredevil universe and beyond.

Matt has acted as a mentor in the past (most notably to Angela Del Toro, the second White Tiger, during Bendis’s run), but Sam is the closest he has ever come to having an actual sidekick. Thus, his new working relationship with Sam puts him in a fun new role: passing on what he has learned as a superhero, and testing his abilities as a teacher.

Sam: “Whoa, hold on now... what are you--”

Matt: “And suddenly, everyone can see you. What do you do now, Blindspot? You need to be the weapon-- not some gadget.”

Sam: “I dunno. Iron Man seems to do okay.”

Matt: “You could drop Tony Stark naked in the middle of the desert and he’d fly out in a jet made of sand and cactus needles. It’s not his stuff that gives him power. It’s his brain. Try using yours. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #2 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

Soule’s run, overall, suffers from a lack of emotion. It is all plot, no character, and this weakens the development of Matt and Sam’s relationship. Beyond a touching glimpse of their initial first encounter in All-New, All-Different Point One (Sam’s introductory issue), we don’t get to see much of their developing dynamic. The run jumps right in after they have already started working together, and that’s mostly the context in which we see them-- work. We don’t get any real bonding scenes. We don’t get to see Matt decide to train Sam (which must have been a huge decision-- Matt would have been hesitant to take on that responsibility, especially since he’d just tightened up his secret identity again) or the early negotiating of their relationship. Sam later comes to see Matt as a father figure, which should be very powerful, but the only way we know that is because he comes out and says it, because of the shortage of actual parent/child-type moments between them.

That said, there is a lot to enjoy in their dynamic. Matt and Sam are very similar people, and this makes them great foils for each other. Like Matt, Sam is stubborn, smart, and often reckless. He has an attitude, as well as a huge amount of compassion and a desire to help others. He also has a lot of secrets (neither knows the other’s civilian identity for a significant amount of time, which contributes to the emotional distance mentioned above, but is also completely in-character.) And Sam and Matt work well as a team and develop a lot of respect for each other. Matt is a tough but fair teacher, and he sees himself in Sam.

Sam: “Well, I finally got the cast off my arm.”

Matt (caption): “Right. The cast for the arm Elektra broke when I introduced her to you in a fit of utter idiocy.”

Sam: “Thought I might get a workout in. It’s been a while.”

Matt (caption): “A workout. He means he’s going out on patrol as Blindspot. I get it. The hero game’s addictive. It’s hard to stay away for too long. God knows I’ve rushed back out before I was ready a hundred times. [...] He’s not listening to a word I say. Then again, when I was in his place, training with Stick... I didn’t listen much either. I heard... everything. But I didn’t like to listen. Oh, well.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #10 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

The similarities don’t end there. Like Matt, Sam grew up in a low-income single-parent household, and has close ties to a particular Manhattan neighborhood (in his case, Chinatown). But his situation is made even more challenging by the fact that he is an undocumented immigrant, and this distinction between Matt’s experience and Sam’s is actually really interesting. Matt fully sympathizes with Sam, but there is a disconnect that highlights the additional challenges in Sam’s life that impact his budding superhero career.

Matt: “Wait. I didn’t realize... you’re hurt.”

Sam: “Yeah. One of them got me. Stings like hell.”

Matt: “You need to go to the hospital.”

Sam: “Sure thing. You remember when I told you I don’t have papers, which means I can’t get a real job, which means I can’t get insurance? So, you got a spare twenty grand you can loan me for an E.R. visit, I’ll head right over. Otherwise, it’s band-aids and Advil.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #3 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

Sam: “I’ve been working on this suit since I was twelve. It was supposed to be my big break. My ticket out. Until I found out how expensive it was to file a patent. How easy it is to steal inventions from illegal immigrants doing their best to stay off the radar so they don’t get deported. I invented a miracle-- a damn invisibility suit-- and now I have to spend half my pay on batteries just to keep the thing running. How the hell do the other guys do it?”

All-New, All-Different Marvel Point One, “Blindspot” by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

This is what makes Sam extra compelling and unique among the ranks of Marvel’s heroes. As an undocumented immigrant, he is in constant danger. Drawing attention to himself is really risky, because if something goes wrong and the police find out who he is, he could lose everything. The precariousness of his life makes his actions as a superhero, his willingness to put himself into the spotlight and take those risks, all the more admirable. It’s also symbolic that the invention that prompted him to become a superhero is an invisibility suit, because invisibility is a key part of his life. As a non-citizen, he feels like an outsider-- unseen, insignificant. But that invisibility is also a source of protection. The idea of someone in Sam’s position actually weaponizing invisibility, while at the same time making himself visible by became a superhero-- who, by their very nature, are public figures-- is a powerful concept. And of course, there’s symbolism in the fact that Sam is working alongside Matt-- one of the few people who can perceive him while he is invisible.

Over the course of the run, we see Sam start to build himself a reputation by becoming a benevolent presence to the people of Chinatown. By working with Matt, he gains the confidence to operate on his own-- which is helped by the fact that Sam is an independent person by both nature and necessity (much like Matt). I love the detail of the shrine in Chinatown where people leave requests for help from Blindspot (“Ghost Brother”). It’s a neat way of depicting Sam’s connection to his neighborhood and his own unique approach to hero work.

Sam: “Okay, let’s see what we got. Wealth, long life, luck... can’t do much about those...”

Daredevil vol. 5 #10 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

Over the course of the run, we see Sam grapple with many of the key questions of superheroing. Sam, like Matt and many other heroes, started down this path to thanks to his family-- in Sam’s case, to protect his mother and sister. And like all of these heroes, he is compelled to continue out of a sense of compassion. Sam’s struggle to decide whether it is worthwhile or smart to behave selflessly, to put his life on the line for strangers, is addressed with a sense of emotional honesty that makes Sam extra relatable. It’s easy to claim to be heroic, but it’s another thing entirely to put yourself out there and actually behave heroically, and to take on the responsibility of ensuring other people’s survival.

Sam: “Why did I say that? ‘I’m not letting him kill anyone else.’ Who do I think I am? I just want to impress Daredevil. It sounded like something he would say. Do I really mean it? How far will I actually take this? This guy’s a judge. If he found out I was a vigilante, he’d probably deport me. Why should I die for him? Hell, why should I even fight for him?"

Daredevil vol. 5 #13 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

Man: “How do you know that? Tenfingers said he would save us, and he lied.”

Sam: “Because... I... Because I am one of you. I live in this neighborhood. I know most of you. Your name is Mr. Chen, and you run the bodega on Mott Street. Because Chinatown is my home, and I’m going to keep it safe. Because I am Blindspot. And I am not lying to you. Just... just stay in here. I won’t let anything happen to you. I hope.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #5 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

Sam’s story is enhanced by the fact that his origin is so challenging. While he is enthusiastic about working with Daredevil and the idea of being a superhero, he quickly acquires a degree of cynicism thanks to the difficulty of his situation. He became a superhero to save his mother, who doesn’t want to be saved. He is filled with doubt about his own abilities. Every time he does something heroic, he suffers for it: he is blinded after trying to rescue Muse’s victims, his mother is killed when he decides to save Matt from the Beast, and his refusal to kill Muse causes the Hand to attack New York City. He is given reason after reason to give it all up, and for a while he seriously considers it. But in the end, he doesn’t.

Sam: “It’s getting harder for me to tell the difference between something right and something wrong. When you work on this level, trying to be a super hero, life and death... there’s all these consequences. Things just happen. I’m trying to do things I know are right when I can. That’s all I can do. Muse is back. Maybe you saw those paintings he put up all over the city. I’m going to find him, and make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else. I know that’s right. I know it. [...] You’re a good person. Don’t let this city take that away from you.”

Hannah: “Why are you talking like you’ll never see me again, Sam?”

Daredevil vol. 5 #599 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

Sam’s journey is informed by the three main antagonists he encounters over the course of this run. One is Muse, who I consider to be the first member of Blindspot’s rogues gallery rather than an addition to Daredevil’s (how cool is that?!), one is the Punisher (who he encounters in DD/Punisher: Seventh Circle), and one is Tenfingers-- and by extension, the Hand. All of these challenge Sam’s superhero aspirations and force him to decide what kind of hero he wants to be. I loved Muse and Sam’s dynamic, and found the Hand a bit less compelling. (I really like the Hand, and they can be used well, but they lacked depth in this run.) But they are significant in shaping Sam’s character development, and they also tie into arguably the biggest theme of his origin story: family.

Sam wants to take Tenfingers down to save Chinatown-- but more than that, to save his mother. When he is blinded and grows disillusioned with hero work, his mother calls on the Hand to heal him and train him. Sam’s blinding is another weak area of his story. I would have found it more compelling if he had remained blind (this is Daredevil, after all!) rather than being magically healed right away. While having the Beast restore his eyes causes big problems down the road, it still feels like a side-step away from what could have been a much more interesting twist in Sam’s story. I was at least expecting the eyes themselves to cause him problems, since they’re obviously not normal eyes, but they never did. That whole story arc felt underdeveloped, which was disappointing. However! What really matters is that Sam’s time with the Hand challenges him in character-defining ways. They train him and turn him cynical about traditional superhero morality. His mother pays for the Hand’s help by promising her soul to the Beast, and to save her, Sam settles on a morally grey solution: trading her soul for Matt’s.

Lu Wei: “You are thinking foolish thoughts. I can see them in your eyes. The eyes Daredevil took from you. The eyes I sold my very soul to give you back.”

Sam: “You really want us to just go? To forget every evil thing we did here... and maybe, if we want something bad enough, do it again? Moving through life like sharks, preying on anyone useful? No, Mother. I reject that.”

Lu Wei: “You reject me? I have given you everything, Samuel! My life for you! Every choice I’ve ever made.”

Sam: “I know that, and I love you for it. I always will. It’s like you said... only one thing matters. Family.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #28 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

Once again, this plot point is weakened by the lack of emotion in this run. We know that Sam’s relationship with his mother is complicated. She is a good person who has become ruthless as a way of protecting herself and her family from all of the difficulties in their life. Sam clearly loves her. But we don’t see enough of this relationship (or, for that matter, Sam’s relationship with his sister Hannah) to make this story as powerful as it should be. Sam is forced to choose between trading Matt for his mother or trying to save both, and despite his new cynicism and all of the pressures in his life-- from both his mother and the Hand-- to become a killer, Sam makes a heroic-yet-futile choice and tries to save both of them. This results in his mother’s death which, in spite of the lack of development mentioned above, is still one of the most powerful moments in the whole run.

Daredevil vol. 5 #28 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

This serves as a turning point for Sam that carries over into the rest of the run. Despite everything he has been through and all he has lost, he decides that he still wants to be a compassionate person.

Beast: “You have taken our gifts, Samuel... now, you must repay us. One death. A small thing. Think of how many lives Muse’s death with save. This is a small thing we ask.”

Sam: “No... no...”

Beast: “You want this. You know he will kill you if you do not kill him. You do not want to trade your life for his. Reject us, and we will come for you. You cannot use our power and not expect to pay.”

Sam: “No. I do reject you. I reject death.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #600 by Charles Soule, Ron Garney, and Matt Milla

While Sam fades out of the story toward the end of the run (he didn’t get to meet Mike!) he plays a major part in battling the Hand when they attack New York. This restores his partnership with Matt, allows him to bring his animosity with both the Hand and Muse to a conclusion, and cements his image in the minds of the citizens of New York. Blindspot officially joins the ranks of Marvel’s superhero community, which-- for an undocumented immigrant who has grown up feeling displaced and unwanted-- means a lot.

Karnik: “Hey! Beast! My name is Nalini Karnik. I am the Police Commissioner of New York. I serve and protect every last one of its citizens. That includes Sam Chung. He is one of us. You want him... come get him.”

Daredevil vol. 5 #605 by Charles Soule, Mike Henderson, and Matt Milla

This is hopefully only the beginning of Sam’s story, and I look forward to seeing him again-- both in future Daredevil runs, and ideally also within the wider Marvel universe.

#Daredevil vol. 5 #Blindspot #Sam Chung #Commentary

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thesportssoundoff · 6 years

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“Main card a dime, prelims are fine”The UFC On FOX Preview

Joey

December 10th

Fights: 12

Debuts: 2 (Pietro Menga, Julian Marquez)

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 6 (Justin Scoggins OUT, Pietro Menga IN vs Tim Elliott/Antonio Rogerio Noguiera OUT, Jan Blachowicz IN vs Jared Cannonier/Sultian Aliev vs Nordine Taleb cancelled due to Aliev injury/Danny Roberts vs Sheldon Wescott cancelled due to Westcott injury; Roberts vs Taleb put together in its place, Vitor Miranda OUT, Darren Stewart IN vs Julian Marquez)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 10 (Robbie Lawler, Rafael Dos Anjos, Mike Perry, Glover Teixeira, Misha Cirkunov, Ricardo Lamas, Santiago Ponzinibbio,Jan Blachowicz, Tim Elliott, Erick Silva)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 3 (Jordan Mein, Oluwale Bamgbose, Darren Stewart)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 5 (Rafael Dos Anjos, Santiago Ponzinibbio, Ricardo Lamas, Mike Perry, Chad Laprise)

Stat Monitor for 2017:

Debuting Fighters (Current number: 44-38)- Pietro Menga, Julian Marquez

Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 24-36-1)- Pietro Menga, Darren Stewart, Jan Blachowicz, Josh Emmett

Second Fight (Current number: 32-39)- Galore Bofando

Cage Corrosion (18-15-1)- John Makdessi

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- #1 contender fights are basically suggestions. When I was studying to be a paralegal, they had an entire course (or what felt like it) on the term "reasonable expectations." #1 contender fights bend, twist and split the concept of a reasonable expectation. In boxing or kickboxing or MMA, the concept of the #1 contender is flexible since there's nothing binding to them. You can win an interim title and then never fight the champion OR you could win a #1 contender fight, become the mandatory challenger and then never get the fight. Or you could win the title fight and then move on with your life, we're talking about a reasonable expectation. Should the winner of this fight between RDA and Lawler have a reasonable expectation of a title show? Well.....

We can begin by setting the stage a bit. Who IS here and who ISN'T here as it pertains to the champion. Scratch our GSP and Nate Diaz, neither guy is getting this fight. Tyron Woodley is out for the foreseeable future with a shoulder injury. Before that point, Woodley bleeted about money fights and not thinking either fight did anything for him or so on so forth until death do us part. For one half of the equation, I can see the argument. Woodley beat Lawler and left no doubt----so hey! It might be fair to say "Look I beat Lawler and since then he's beaten two blown up 155ers (even if RDA is legit at 170 lbs), what else can I do?" It's not a knock to say that. It may be rude and unfair---but it's also kinda factual, am I right? Woodley doesn't GET anything from that fight. What's more, it could be genuinely argued that from a business standpoint, that fight is a hard sell unless Lawler KOs RDA in a fashion by which nobody expects.

For RDA though, it's a different situation. Dos Anjos is a fresh face at 170 lbs. He is a former champion at a different weight class. A win over Lawler establishes him as a genuine force at 170 lbs and RDA fights frequently (June to September to December) so it's not like Woodley would be in for a long wait. Dos Anjos would be beyond credible as a challenger and he'd be new to the picture. Also it's not RDA's fault that Woodley isn't a draw. One of the things that the UFC/MMA has stolen from its TRUE business model; the art of pro wrestling is that the heat is always on the B Side for not upping the numbers. When a Hogan feud didn't work or draw, the onus turned to whoever he was facing. When Mr. Perfect vs Hulk Hogan did poorly, they didn't blame Hogan (and why would they I suppose?) and it fell on Perfect. The Miz was punished for Rock/Cena vs Miz/R-Truth not doing big numbers. It's easiest to blame the #2 guy because why not? It's not RDA's problem that Woodley can't draw but if he wins, he's earned it. Why wouldn't he be the #1 contender? Woodley denying RDA would be foolish and incomprehensibly bad when he should be trying to get some positive publicity.

Then there are the three outsiders who could steal the title shot. Kamaru Usman is one, Colby Covington is another and Darren Till is the last. Usman PROBABLY is far off from a title fight for various reasons; some his fault and some not his fault. Darren Till would be an interesting story but one win over Cerrone probably isn't enough. Colby Covington, unfortunately, is the winner of this fights biggest threat. He has the big name win over Maia and he built an angle for himself, as tawdry as it may be. Covington's attitude attracts attention and while it's primarily the wrong kind, this is the fight business and not the "Do the right thing" business. Even so it feels like Usman vs Covington is in the works so why would Covington jump the line at this point? Wonderboy vs Woodley III needs to be a total non-starter.

So what, pray tell, is our reasonable expectation here as it pertains to a title fight for the winner? I'm not betting on it. Woodley is far, far, far away from being healthy and I can totally see him throwing a stink at whoever the winner is. As much as people might not wanna hear this, it's almost as likely that the UFC strikes while the iron is hot and rolls with Covington as it is that the winner of this fight gets a title shot. What's more, given that the UFC needs to fill up February soon-ish, why would they rush to conclusions anyways when you could probably get Lawler or RDA to fight again soon anyways?

2- Keep a VERY close eye on Lawler in rounds 2-5. Robbie's reputation in five round fights can be summed up as such; when it's going well, he's engaged for twenty five minutes with the occasional pauses in action. When he's just not firing, rounds 2, 3 and 4 are rounds where he seems incapable of turning up the jets and going.

Against Hendricks 1 and Rory-- He was always in the fight, laughing during exchanges and being a generally all around wild human being.

Against Condit, Hendricks 2 and Matt Brown- He came out fast and firing early----and then slowed. Now he did score a big knockdown in the second round vs Condit so in that fight it was more about him just being mentally asleep for the middle portion of the fight. Now 5th round Lawler is a thing because he takes those rounds off BUT rallying vs a tremendously durable guy in RDA might be a tough ask.

3- I hope RDA understands that Lawler is hard to take down and even harder to keep down so his usual technical leg kicks into the clinch aren't going to work this time.

4- Dana White talked about Frankie Edgar as the #1 contender and he left the door open that Holloway COULD fight before Edgar is ready to fight again. That combined with Ricardo Lamas staying n the co-main spot despite a more attractive fight in Ponz-Perry, leads me to believe that there's a slight chance Lamas could sneak his way into a title fight with Holloway soon.

5- Does the fact that Ricardo Lamas' last three wins all lost their next fight make it harder to buy into him as a top 5 featherweight?*

So @theanticool corrected me and pointed out that Diego Sanchez beat Jim Miller (which I forgot about) and Oliveira beat Will Brooks. I’ll leave this here because I like laughing at my dumbness but will instead rephrase point five: Does the fact that Lamas’ top wins recently have all basically flamed out make it harder to make the argument that he’s a top 5 featherweight?

6- So much of what makes Mike Perry work is his aggressive approach backed by his one hitter quitter-esque power and sterling chin. Perry lives to create 50/50 exchanges where he believes his one will trump your two or three. He isn't entirely out of his element on the ground but it's clear what his gameplan is. His secret weapon are knees, be it in the clinch or out of the plum set up. Mike Perry is not the walking gimmick some people believe he is---but Santiago Ponzinibbio is one of those fighters who is always different in his approach going into each fight. Against Gunnar Nelson, he had a good idea how to attack Nelson even if it meant eating fire on the way in. Against guys Nordine Taleb and Zack Cummings, Ponz just outworked them with pressure, volume, versatility and power. Ponzinibbio can still be hurt by strikes and he isn't always the most intelligent survivor (the two times I remember him being most hurt, he just seemed to throw caution to the wind and fire back despite having no base of support on the feet) BUT he's one of those guys who doesn't need much to get going on offense. His footwork, movement and ability to turn the pressure on and off at a moment's notice makes him a serious threat for Perry who has struggled with those kinds of guys in the past. If this gets into a firefight in the pocket though, I think we'll ALL be winners.

7- So what do we make of Misha Cirkunov? Cirkunov is 4-1 in the UFC and he just turned 30 in a division devoid of youth. He is a prized commodity for sure and his last fight went by so quickly that it's hard to even know what went wrong. It seems everyone not named OSP falls victim to the Volkan Oezdemir dim mak. At the same time, Misha Cirkunov has one win over someone still in the UFC and he's so rigid and stiff on the feet that it's fair to wonder just how high is upside really is. He and Glover Teix is a great match up that'll test what Glover has left and whether Misha can beat a top 10 LHW. This division really needs Misha Cirkunov to be everything people think he can be.

8- Speaking of LHWs, Jared Cannonier gets a chance (again) to join the big boy lunch table when he draws Jan Blachowicz as the prelim fight headliner. Cannonier since dropping to 205 lbs has gone a tidy 2-1 with the loss being a fight where Glover Teixeira simply had too much for him in the grappling department despite Cannonier occasionally landing hard shots on the feet. Cannonier was expected to get a big name in Antonio Rogerio Noguiera but instead draws a tougher test in Jan Blachowicz. Jan's coming off his first UFC win in about 9 years and 28 fights but he showcased a lot of the stuff that made him such a highly regarded LHW to begin with. It's worth pointing out that Blachowicz has only lost to ranked opposition (Gus, Manuwa and Cummins) so if Cannonier wants to take a step up, this is the right opponent to try it against.

9- The Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series has delivered onto us some dandy fighters, would you not agree? Thus far, fighters who have competed on DWTCS in the UFC are 4-3 thus far BUT there are some caveats inside those numbers. Two of those fighters were short notice additions who were NOT offered contracts during the show (Mike Santiago and Azunna Anwanyu) and another one was Allen Crowder who was signed by virtue of just being big. On the other hand, Benito Lopez, Alex Perez, Karl Roberson and Sean O'Malley have all had exciting fights and wins in the organization. Julian Marquez will be the latest DWTCS guy to take to the cage and I'm....torn. I discovered Marquez while watching him fight in Combates Americas vs Matt Hammil. At the time a typo had me thinking he was older than he really was, like 10 years older. At just 27 years old, Marquez is already an interesting name and I think he can be something although he was very adamant that cutting to 185 lbs was really hard for him on the Contender Series so I can't imagine that being a cut he'll want to take more often. He takes on short notice Brit Darren Stewart at 185 lbs.

10- Is it a lock that Darren Till winds up facing the winner of Ponz vs Perry?

11- Danny Roberts has a 3-1 UFC record but it hasn't been easy outside of his debut vs Nathan Coy. Roberts is one of those guys who is winning until he loses and losing until he wins. Vs Mike Perry, Roberts won a ton of exchanges---except for three. The one that dropped him in the first round, dropped him in the 2nd round and then finished him in the third. He was getting lit up by Bobby Nash before he iced and finished Nash in the third. Roberts has that sort of talent where he's always in a fight no matter what the odds or the scorecards say.

12- Aye leggo Pietro Menga! New flyweight on the block!

Must Wins

1- Glover Teixeira

Once upon a time, Glover was in the position of needing a must win to really save his spot in the division. He rallied from that with three straight finishes over OSP, Patrick Cummins and Rashad Evans. NOW he's back in the same spot after a 1-2 run since that Evans finish. He was blasted by Rumble, beat Cannonier while looking shaky on the feet and then got beat up and battered by Gus. Glover is an old man in an old division which means that so long as you don't lose it all overnight, you've got a chance to be relevant. Still at this point you're left wondering just how relevant Glover can be. He's lost to the elite of the elites (Jones, Davis, the aforementioned Rumble and Gus) but a loss to Misha Cirkunov would officially close the door on him. This is a must win for both dudes if ya think about it.

2- Santiago Ponzinibbio

Ponz is one of those fighters who deserves a ton of credit for wall walking his way up the rankings. After losing to Lorenz Larkin, he's racked up five wins and three of those by finish. He's not just eating up on jabronis either with wins over the likes of Gunnar Nelson, Nordine Taleb and Court McGee. He's a damn good fighter who is improving every single performance he has. The problem is that Ponz is not the most marketable WW even if he's action packed and capable of speaking multiple languages. Ponz is the guy who should be a bigger force but alas alack. He's gotta beat Mike Perry to really secure his spot in the 5-10.

3- Ricardo Lamas

In the world of "all things are connected", Ricardo Lamas is competing vs not just Josh Emmett but also the likes of Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar and etc etc down the line. Lamas has done a lot of good recently---but look at his wins at 145 lbs. We just saw Moggly Benitez eat up Jason Knight over three rounds, we've seen what's happened to Diego Sanchez recently and Charles Oliveira, while very credible, is not the sort of win that gets you talking title shot. He's got a short notice opponent he's being expected to run right through but Josh Emmett is no joke with how hard he hits.

Top 5 Must See Fights

1- Robbie Lawler vs Rafael Dos Anjos

2- Santiago Ponzinibbio vs Mike Perry

3- Jared Cannonier vs Jan Blachowicz

4-Chad Laprise vs Galore Bofando

5- Darren Stewart vs Julian Marquez

#MMA #UFC #Main Card #FOX #Lawler #Dos Anjos #Ponz #Perry

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