That's what the gang at Pro MMA Radio think, including our man from MMA Mania, Jesse Holland (transcription via Fight Opinion):
JESSE HOLLAND: "Well, I'll tell you, there was... there was one reaction in the history of in doing this for MMAMania, there was one reaction that I would say was equal to this and that was when they announced Liddell/Ortiz III. The fan reaction to this, nobody was screaming from the roof tops, nobody was applauding, just a complete and total indifference and we had the same exact thing when they announced Koscheck/St. Pierre after the Daley fight. Nobody really cared and nobody was really interested and you know it's one of those things... Good heat is what you want, bad heat is what you don't but it's still OK because it sells fights, no heat at all? Then you're in big trouble. I mean you got St. Pierre coming off two straight decisions. You've got a guy in Koscheck who doesn't really fight, you know, the kind of fight the fans want to see. And what happens, you know, after that? And here's my question - if Kampmann pulls off the win against Shields, does Kampmann goes into a GSP fight or does he get the winner of Fitch/Alves?"
Basically the complaint boils down to this -- GSP has already utterly dominated Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Thiago Alves, but they keep feeding potential challengers like Anthony Johnson and Paul Daley to Koscheck and now they're risking a Jake Shields vs GSP megafight by putting Shields in against Martin Kampmann.
While I understand the logic, I have to disagree. The worst fights we've seen from GSP have been his dominating wins over Dan Hardy and Thiago Alves where he was reluctant to trade on the feet and unable to finish on the ground. I don't see what would have been different about GSP fights with Johnson or Daley. Against both fighters, GSP could simply score take downs and dominate from the top while grinding out a tedious decision win.
Shields I agree presents some interesting challenges for GSP and would likely be an entertaining fight as GSP would keep it on the feet and avoid the ground.
Also, they characterize the Koscheck fight as a blowout for GSP, when it was actually more back and forth than that. Josh Koscheck, with his combination of knock out power on the feet and top notch wrestling, presents the most formidable challenge for GSP. There's every reason to believe that Koscheck has learned from his first loss, when he blithely assumed that GSP wouldn't be able to take him down, and will be prepared to fight for position in the rematch.
Fundamentally the problem, if there is one, in the UFC's welterweight division is that Georges St Pierre is that rare athlete who stands head and shoulders above his competitors. If the UFC had cleared paths for lesser competitors like Daley and Johnson to get title shots, fans would only be complaining more after watching GSP "lay and pray" to easy decision wins.
Having said that, it will be deeply unfortunate if Jake Shields can't get past Martin Kampmann and get a title shot. MMA is about styles as much as it is about fighters and Shields' combination of wrestling + jiu jitsu makes him uniquely dangerous to GSP, or at least presents a more novel challenge than one dimensional strikers like Hardy or Daley.
But that would imply that Martin Kampmann isn't a worthy challenger and I'd have to disagree there. He's incredibly well-rounded and has gone 4-1 as a middleweight and 4-1 as a welterweight in the UFC. Kampmann could provide a stern test for GSP, or give GSP a chance to score a dramatic KO win. Either way, fans win.