It's hard to imagine that it wasn't even that long ago that the heavyweight division was one of, if the not most, sought after division in UFC or perhaps even MMA as a whole. The idea of juggernauts that weight 220 lbs (100kg) or more getting in a ring for a scrap with almost no holds barred is something that brings about a level of excitement that the little guys simply cannot bring out. I remember really dreading the flyweight and lightweight categories as we made our way to the "big guys" but now it is the other way around.
It certainly wasn't entirely because of him, but Brock Lesnar being an absolute beast certainly helped a lot and the fact that they didn't pave the way to the top for him was a big plus as well. This addition, and the genuine nature of his abilities, perhaps lead to UFC and WWE becoming "pals" and that is why they fly under one banner these days.
One thing I liked about Brock was that once he started to flounder, UFC didn't tailor-make fights for him that they knew he could win just to finagle his way back to the top. They put him in real fights and he lost a lot of them. Then he left the sport on his own to return to WWE where it was a lot less likely that you were going to get put to sleep in front of millions of people.
The heavyweight division these days is just a joke. There is nobody worth watching in there and the "champion" is out indefinitely due to an eye gouge and the necessary surgery that has come along with it.
Ciryl Gane was the new "golden boy" for UFC and the hope was that he was going to breathe new life into the foundering division. The main problem with him was that he was extremely boring and people therefore couldn't wait for someone to come along and knock his block off.
Jon Jones came back out of retirement to fight in the heavyweight division, defeated Gane, then dodged a fight with Tom Aspinall for ages citing various excuses, then retired again, then unretired but is unconfirmed about which division he wants to fight in, and now the latest news from him is him hanging out in IG videos and complaining about his arthritic hip. Not exactly the sort of talk and actions of someone that is dedicated to a sport.
Number 2 ranked Volkov has two split decision in a row and very boring 15-minute dance contests that had boos erupting from the crowd even when he was declared the winner. Pavlovich's last 3 fights have also been decisions and very boring ones at that.
If you venture further down the list you have a group of people that most in the world can't probably even imagine who they are and this is because they are so boring that if they do have a fight at all they are on some minor event, or so far down the fight card that it is unlikely that they are going to be seen at all. Tai Tuivasa, deservedly, has been removed from the top 15 while his opponent in the last fight, Tallison Teixeira has gone DOWN a spot despite "winning" his last fight. It seems as though they just don't know what to do with this division and well, I wouldn't either.
There just isn't any really good talent left in the big boys and I really don't have any idea how they could change this. They keep trying to push Derrick Lewis because he is funny on the microphone and has a fun little thing he does when he wins but that is the problem... the dude just doesn't win very much unless he is fighting against a "nobody" that the UFC was probably hoping he would lose to. Derrick has been around so long that UFC is in the phase now where they are using him as a springboard for new talent, but the new talent just isn't there.
When we look at other forms of combat sports, the heavyweight division is normally the one that people look forward to the most, but here we are with UFC and it is one that people don't really even think about at all.
There was a time when we could fill up almost an entire card with heavyweight fights but these days if there even is one, it is normally relegated to the background because so much can go wrong. Tai Tuivasa and Teixeira was supposed to be a slugfest that reignited interest in the division but the opposite happened and the fans were booing and just wanted the two fatties to get out of the octagon and get out of there so they could see a good fight.
I get that nobody wants to get caught with a tree-trunk sized arm catching them on the face but if the alternative is to win on points for being the best dance-hugger, this isn't going to get you future fights, money, fame, or fans.
At this point in time I really feel as though the best thing that UFC could do for the heavyweight division is to take a play from the film "Aliens." Take off, nuke it from orbit...it's the only way to be sure.
Let's stop thinking that we can tweak this division back out from obscurity. We can't. It is too far broken to repair. Nobody cares about anyone in this division and even if you did manage to bring back Jon Jones for a fight the people would care for just that one fight and then go back to groaning whenever there was a heavyweight fight on the card. It really shouldn't be that way.