I agree, but two cracks against the same guy. Styles make fights.
But if Max vacates, you need to re-establish the legitimacy of the belt.
Stephens is a veteran, on a hot streak. He makes for very interesting fights, re-matching Brian or Frankie, if he won the belt. And his style is extremely appealing to 'casuals'. Same story for Jose, a former champ who dominated the division before getting one-punched by Conor. You can rematch him with Brian right away, rematch Brian with Frankie, match Jeremy with Brian...all very compelling fights for the division. If Max moves up, any loss to Max is the same as Conor's loss to Nate..."He was fighting a guy 3 weight classes above him"...Basically, until Max loses at 155, you can hold him up as a 155 Killer who ran roughshod over a smaller division.
Worst case scenario is to have Frankie win the belt, because then the top 2 contenders are guys who have already beat him convincingly, and the #3 guy lost a competitive decsion. Also, Frankie's style and personality, while extremely entertaining for the 'informed' fan, is not a huge draw for 'casuals'.
