Saturday night in Brooklyn, New York, the UFC will hit pay-per-view airwaves with an eye on creating a new women’s featherweight champion more or less out of thin air.
Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie will knuckle up in hopes of capturing the newest belt up for grabs in the promotion, a curious turn of events considering that there are no other featherweights on the UFC roster and no other such fights booked down the line.
Alas, people have been engaged in the main event if the media is to be believed and turnouts at fan events are any indication. It's a good look for the UFC, but just below the ladies on the marquee is an interesting story that is perhaps not getting its due attention.
Anderson Silva, Jacare Souza and Glover Teixeira will all compete in succession at UFC 208, and the stakes are high for their shared home of Black House MMA. The supercamp has fallen on rocky times over the past couple of years, with most of its biggest names hitting the skids to varying degrees of severity.
Silva hasn't won a fight in over four years after previously having not lost one in nearly seven. He's looked every bit his near-42 years of age in recent bouts, a shocker for anyone who saw him at his best.
Souza has been in contender purgatory for what feels like his entire UFC life despite holding a 9-1 record in that time. He's been as close to the top of the mountain as anyone can be without getting there.
Teixeira is coming off a 13-second KO loss and has been relegated to fighting a total unknown on the rebound. At 37 years old and with 30 fights behind him, time might be running out for him to capture a title as well.
Throw in the earlier precipitous decline of the Nogueira brothers, the volatility of the recent career of Junior dos Santos and the ongoing suspension of Lyoto Machida, and there are reasons to think Saturday is big for the group.
The team has been aging for a while, and most of its members are exiting their competitive primes together. Where Black House was simultaneously ruling different weight classes and promotions a few years back, it is now simultaneously hitting turbulence and giving people reason to question its place among the elite.
It speaks to a couple of things: how hard it is to remain on top of a sport as unforgiving as MMA and just how good Black House was when all of its stars were at their best.
For there to be a group of athletes as gifted and hardworking as those at Black House, and for them to put together the run they did from 2006 to 2013, is almost unheard of. There was a time, and it wasn't long ago, that it felt like no one from the gym could be beaten and that most would win via something worthy of a highlight reel.
However, the game chews up and spits out even the best, and there's a concern that's what is happening with the team.
That's where UFC 208 comes in.
Silva has a challenging, but winnable, bout ahead against Derek Brunson. Souza, if he's careful, could score a nice win over a respected, durable veteran in Tim Boetsch. Teixeira, by all rights, should handle Jared Cannonier without much trouble.
For one of the top teams the sport has ever seen, it makes the potential of three wins contribute to a greater collective accomplishment.
So if everyone does their part on Saturday night, people will consider what happens in Brooklyn a resurgence as opposed to cause for a eulogy.
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