For a long time the UFC Welterweight division has been the most fascinating one for me.Of course, its a bit hard to call a division that for the past 4.5 years has been totally dominated by a seemingly unbeatable champion fascinating, but for the past 3-4 years the top of the division has been filled with fighters of seemingly even level, where each can beat the other on any given night, and each can deserve a title shot without raising an eyebrow.I'll try to sort out my current rankings at the top of the division, and see where things seem to be going for the near future.
1. Georges St. Pierre
In other news, the sun will shine tomorrow from the east, Stefan Struve is one tall dude and Chael Sonnen doesn't deserve the title shot.Move along, people, nothing to see here.
2.Johny Hendricks
He KOed John Fitch and Martin Kampmann in a combined time of less than a minute, and grinded decision victories over expert grinders Josh Koscheck and Mike Pierce.And he's the official #1 contender, so who am I to argue.
3.Carlos Condit
Although he's coming off a loss to GSP, he's still 5-1 in his last 6 fights, with four of these five being Jake Ellenberger, Rory McDonald, Dong-Hyun Kim and Nick Diaz.If I was Joe Silva, I would give him a rematch against Kampmann next.
4.Jon Fitch
His only two losses in the last 10 years were against the men ranked #1 and #2 on this list.However he's 1-1-1 in his last three fights, and with all due respect to the victory over Erick Silva, he still needs one more win to rise back to #2 or at least #3.This win will most come at the Demian Maia fight at UFC 156 in early February.
5.Martin Kampmann
Pretty much the same reasoning as the one that put Condit at #3 over Fitch.He's coming off a brutal loss to Hendricks, but he was in a #1 contenders match for a reason, and that reason being victories over Rick Story, Thiago Alves and, most importantly, Jake Ellenberger.
6.Jake Ellenberger
The KO loss to Kampmann was Ellenberger's only loss in his last 8 fights.Although his only upper-tier victories in this period were over Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez, its still a record to be reckoned with
7.Rory MacDonald
Seriously - I have no idea why I'm jumping on this bandwagon, with all due respect to the youngster's heroic performance in the loss to Carlos Condit.I suppose this one would be more based on upside than on record.After he beats BJ Penn next week (which I'm sure he will), he'll probably jump to #5, and this time I'll be less doubting.
8.Nick Diaz
He's one of the dumbest fighters to ever step foot in the octagon, and most of the time he's a disgrace to the sport of MMA.But he also has a really good record of 11 wins in a row before his loss to Carlos Condit - which was controversial enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.I hope he will get the fight with Koscheck they both want so badly, so I can see two of my least favourite fighters beat the living hell out of each other.
9.Demian Maia
He has just moved to the welterweight division, but victories over Dong-Hyun Kim and Rick Story are a nice start.I'm quite certain he'll lose to Fitch in February (although he does have a submission win over Chael Sonnen at middleweight).
10. Josh Koscheck
Currently not in a great momentum, and injured.But his track record can't be ignored.
So that was a recap on the UFC welterweight division.The Rory MacDonald - BJ Penn fight on Saturday will probably shake some things up, and so will an impressive outcome in the Mike Swick - Matt Brown fight on the same card.At some point I'll probably try to do similar rankings regarding other divisions.
1. Georges St. Pierre
In other news, the sun will shine tomorrow from the east, Stefan Struve is one tall dude and Chael Sonnen doesn't deserve the title shot.Move along, people, nothing to see here.
2.Johny Hendricks
He KOed John Fitch and Martin Kampmann in a combined time of less than a minute, and grinded decision victories over expert grinders Josh Koscheck and Mike Pierce.And he's the official #1 contender, so who am I to argue.
3.Carlos Condit
Although he's coming off a loss to GSP, he's still 5-1 in his last 6 fights, with four of these five being Jake Ellenberger, Rory McDonald, Dong-Hyun Kim and Nick Diaz.If I was Joe Silva, I would give him a rematch against Kampmann next.
4.Jon Fitch
His only two losses in the last 10 years were against the men ranked #1 and #2 on this list.However he's 1-1-1 in his last three fights, and with all due respect to the victory over Erick Silva, he still needs one more win to rise back to #2 or at least #3.This win will most come at the Demian Maia fight at UFC 156 in early February.
5.Martin Kampmann
Pretty much the same reasoning as the one that put Condit at #3 over Fitch.He's coming off a brutal loss to Hendricks, but he was in a #1 contenders match for a reason, and that reason being victories over Rick Story, Thiago Alves and, most importantly, Jake Ellenberger.
6.Jake Ellenberger
The KO loss to Kampmann was Ellenberger's only loss in his last 8 fights.Although his only upper-tier victories in this period were over Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez, its still a record to be reckoned with
7.Rory MacDonald
Seriously - I have no idea why I'm jumping on this bandwagon, with all due respect to the youngster's heroic performance in the loss to Carlos Condit.I suppose this one would be more based on upside than on record.After he beats BJ Penn next week (which I'm sure he will), he'll probably jump to #5, and this time I'll be less doubting.
8.Nick Diaz
He's one of the dumbest fighters to ever step foot in the octagon, and most of the time he's a disgrace to the sport of MMA.But he also has a really good record of 11 wins in a row before his loss to Carlos Condit - which was controversial enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.I hope he will get the fight with Koscheck they both want so badly, so I can see two of my least favourite fighters beat the living hell out of each other.
9.Demian Maia
He has just moved to the welterweight division, but victories over Dong-Hyun Kim and Rick Story are a nice start.I'm quite certain he'll lose to Fitch in February (although he does have a submission win over Chael Sonnen at middleweight).
10. Josh Koscheck
Currently not in a great momentum, and injured.But his track record can't be ignored.
So that was a recap on the UFC welterweight division.The Rory MacDonald - BJ Penn fight on Saturday will probably shake some things up, and so will an impressive outcome in the Mike Swick - Matt Brown fight on the same card.At some point I'll probably try to do similar rankings regarding other divisions.
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