You’d figure that a fighter who has made eight appearances and suffered his lone loss against a former champion would have had a title shot by now. However, it seems as though Yushin Okami will once again have to bide his time until UFC brass gives him an opportunity to challenge for a belt.
Although rankings are very subjective in the sport of MMA due to the usage of MMAth, Okami is ranked #2 in Sherdog’s and MMAWeekly’s middleweight rankings.
How often is it that a #2 ranked fighter in his division doesn’t even make it onto the televised portion of a pay-per-view card?
Unfortunately, Okami finds himself on the outside looking in with four of his Octagon wins coming via unanimous decision, not the fashion of victory the UFC tends to reward.
It’s not like Okami is even fighting a guy who shouldn’t be on the main card either. Chael Sonnen handed highly-regarded Paulo Filho his first loss in the final middleweight fight hosted by the WEC.
By the looks of it, Okami won’t be able to fight Anderson Silva for the middleweight title before Silva’s UFC contract ends, which would be unfortunate not only for both fighters but for MMA fans as well. Okami holds a victory over Silva, albeit via disqualification.
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