Rumor has it that 43-year-old Ron Waterman is being considered for Lashley. Lashley is far enough along in his MMA career that he doesn’t have to fight a tomato can like Waterman.
Ron Waterman is far from an elite heavyweight. However at 16-6-2 and wins in the UFC and PRIDE I think we can safely say he doesn’t fit the bill of “tomato can.” It’s people like Cofield who perpetuate this idea in our sport that anyone outside of the elite is a “can.” It starts with a guy like Cofield with a visible position at a Yahoo! blog and trickles down into the forum trolls on sites like Sherdog and The Underground. It’s an ignorant, ugly, and dismissive attitude which shows a lack of comprehension of the fight game.
Furthermore I’d say that Ron Waterman is exactly the right step for this stage in Lashley’s career. Joshua Franklin -> Jason Guida -> Mike Cook -> Bob Sapp -> Ron Waterman is exactly the kind of path that fighters are developed through. Obviously Brock Lesnar’s career being fast tracked has created a disconnect between Steve and the reality of fighter development. A fight against a legitimate heavyweight such as Waterman with decent wrestling, good strength and fair ground skills is an interesting challenge for Lashley, and probably a safe one.
But the real point here remains the irresponsible and disrespectful words of Cofield. The idea that a writer in Steve’s position can’t grasp the different levels of competition in this sport baffles me while the idea that a fighter with a .666 win percentage (including a 4-2-1 record in the UFC and PRIDE) is a can only serves to out him as clueless.