Breaking Down the UFC Welterweight Division

The Champion: Georges St. Pierre

The Top Contender:  B.J. Penn & Thiago Alves

The Next Tier:

·         Jon Fitch

·         Josh Koscheck

·         Diego Sanchez

·         Karo Parisyan

·         Martin Kampmann

·         Mike Swick

·         Matt Hughes

·         Matt Serra

 

On the Rise: 

·         Yoshiyuki Yoshida

·         Dong Hyun Kim

·         Dan Hardy

·         Dustin Hazelett

 

Other Notables:

·         Marcus Davis

·         Chris Lytle

·         Yoshiyuki Yoshida

·         Chris Wilson

·         Dustin Hazelett

·         Ryo Chonan

·         Dong Hyun Kim

·         Akihiro Gono

·         Luigi Fiorvanti

·         Dan Hardy

·         Jonathan Goulet

·         Tamdan McCrory

·         Kevin Burns

·         Anthony Johnson

·         Rory Markham

·         Paul Taylor

·         Roan Carneiro

·         Brad Blackburn

·         Pete Sell

 

Scheduled Fights:

·         Josh Koscheck vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC Fight Night 16 on December 10

·         Mike Swick vs. Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 16 on December 10

·         Luigi Fiorvanti vs. Brodie Farber at UFC Fight Night 16 on December 10

·         Ben Saunders vs. Brandon Wolff at UFC Fight Night 16 on December 10

·         Steven Bruno vs. Johnny Rees at UFC Fight Night 16 on December 10

·         Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns at TUF 8 Finale on December 13

·         Brad Blackburn vs. Ryo Chonan at UFC 92 on December 27

·         Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle at UFC 93 on January 17

·         B.J. Penn vs. Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 on January 31 (For Title)

·         Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 on January 31

·         Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 94 on January 31

·         Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer at UFC 94 on January 31

·         Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra April 2009

 

Match Ups I’d Like to See:

·         Dustin Hazelett vs. Chris Wilson

·         Martin Kampmann vs. Pete Sell

·         Thiago Alves vs. Georges St. Pierre/B.J. Penn

 

Other Thoughts:

·         When people talk about staked divisions they think of the UFC welterweight division.  The best welterweights are here.  There may be a handful of decent welterweights outside the UFC including Jake Shields, WEC’s Carlos Condit, Hayato Sakurai, Jay Hieron and Nick Thompson.

·         Jake Shields will likely land in the UFC.  That is what he wants and where he wants to be.  There are a lot of potential match ups here for him.

·         Thiago Alves will get a title shot in 2009 against the winner of Penn vs. St. Pierre.

·         Martin Kampmann signed a new contract and should fight at 170

·         B.J. Penn very well could become a fixture at 170 as he could vacate his lightweight title win or lose against St. Pierre.

MMABlog’s Welterweight MMA Rankings

Rank	Name	Organization	Next Fight
1	Georges St. Pierre	UFC	Penn (LW #1) 1/31
2	Jon Fitch	UFC
3	Jake Shields	EliteXC?
4	Josh Koscheck	UFC	Alves (#5), 9/25
5	Thiago Alves	UFC	Koscheck (#4), 9/25
6	Carlos Condit	WEC
7	Diego Sanchez	UFC
8	Karo Parisyan	UFC	1/31
9	Matt Hughes	UFC	Serra (#10) 4/?
10	Matt Serra	UFC	Hughes (#9), 4/?
11	Mike Swick	UFC	Goulet (NR) 12/10
12	Marcus Davis	UFC
13	Hayato Sakurai
14	Nick Thompson	EliteXC?
15	Brock Larson	WEC
16	Chris Lytle	UFC
17	Jay Hieron	Affliction
18	Dustin Hazelett	UFC	McCrory (NR) 11/15
19	Chris Wilson	UFC
20	Yoshiyuki Yoshida	UFC	Koscheck (#4) 12/10
21	Dan Hardy	UFC
22	Ryo Chonan	UFC	Blackburn (NR), 12/27
23	Akihiro Gono	UFC
24	Dong Hyun Kim	UFC
25	Luigi Fiorvanti	UFC	Farber (NR), 12/10

Best Non-UFC Fighters

Here are the best non-UFC fighters.  This shows where the UFC is stacked and where they lack.  There competition is mainly in Affliction at heavyweight and DREAM at lightweight.  Here are the best non-UFC guys that the UFC should look to sign if possible. 

Rank	Heavyweight	Light Heavy	Middleweight	Welterweight	Lightweight
1	Fedor Emelianenko	Antonio Rogerio Nogueira	Paulo Filho	Jake Shields	Takanori Gomi
2	Andrei Arlovski	Ricardo Arona	Matt Lindland	Carlos Condit	Shinya Aoki
3	Josh Barnett	Rafael Feijao	Robbie Lawler	Jay Hieron	JZ Calvancante
4	Tim Sylvia	Vladimir Matyushenko	Kazuo Misaki	Nick Thompson	Eddie Alvarez
5	Ben Rothwell	Babalu Sobral	Gegard Mousasi	Mach Sakurai	Mitsuhiro Ishida
6	Mirko Cro Cop	Tito Ortiz	Vitor Belfort	Mike Pyle	Joachim Hansen
7	Roy Nelson	Steve Cantwell	“Jacare” de Sousa		Tatsuya Kawajiri
8	Aleks Emelianenko	Brian Stann	Jason Miller		Josh Thomson
9	Antonio Silva		Melvin Manhoef		Gilbert Melendez
10	Alistair Overeem		Murilio Rua		Vitor Ribeiro
11			Cung Le		Jamie Varner
12			Denis Kang		Ryan Schultz
13			Joey Villasenor		KJ Noons
14			Frank Shamrock		Nick Diaz
15			Yoshihiro Akiyama		Caol Uno
16			Jorge Santiago
17			Chael Sonnen

WEC 35 Thoughts and Recap

Quick Results

Carlos Condit def. Hiromitsu Miura via TKO (strikes) in Round 4

Steve Cantwell def. Brian Stann via TKO (punches) in Round 2

Jamie Varner def. Marcus Hicks via TKO (strikes) in Round 1

Brian Bowles def. Damacio Page via submission (guillotine choke) in Round 1

Josh Grispi def. Micah Miller via TKO (strikes) in Round 1

Brock Larson def. Carlo Prater via TKO (strikes) in Round 1

Blas Avena def. Dave Terrel via TKO (strikes) in Round 1

Shane Roller def. Todd Moore via submission (guillotine choke) in Round 1

Mike Budnik def. Greg McIntyre via submission (triangle choke) in Round 3 

Scott Jorgensen def. Kenji Osawa via unanimous decision

• I thought WEC put on another outstanding card
• Jamie Varner looked impressive and perhaps I underestimated his talent.  He looked dominant against a very game Marcus Hicks.  It appears he will fight the winner of the McCullough/Cerrone fight in Septmeber. 
• Josh Grispi may be a good challenge for Urijah Faber, but Faber must get through Brown first
• Brian Stann showed he is one dimensional and Steve Cantwell showed he has a vast array of striking skills.  I think Stann will get a rubber match soon though.
• Brian Stann though he losses showed that he was a class act.  He put the belt around Cantwell and he did nothing but show humility in defeat.  I like Brian Stann for that.
• Carlos Condit vs. Hirumitsu Miura was the fight of the night and one of the best I have seen.  I underestimated Miura.  He showed good ground game in reversing Condit numerous times and excellent Judo skills.  He also showed very tough striking.  I enjoyed the chess match here.
• Condit showed why he is the champ.  His conditioning is what proved to be the difference.  I have no problem with the stoppage as Mirua laid there for a while after the fight.  The question for Carlos Condit is where does he go now?
• The WEC showcased some newer and upcoming talent like Josh Grispi, Brian Bowles, Mike Budnik and Shane Roller

MY WEC 35 Predictions

Brian Stann vs. Steve Cantwell

Some people say that this fight will have a different outcome than their last fight and I agree.  I think the fight will last a little longer, but I don’t see Brian Stann losing.  Brian Stann is a star in the making.  I think he has all the goods to be a great fighter.  I like Brian Stann.  I think he will come off victorious in this fight by KO late in round 1.

Jamie Varner vs. Marcus Hicks

The 155 divison in the WEC is very weak, and Jamie Varner is the most likely champion in display at this event to lose.  Marcus Hicks is a good fighter and he could very well beat Jamie Varner.  I still think Varner wins this fight.  I think Varner will win by decision.

Carlos Condit vs. Hirumitsu Miura

Carlos Condit is a great fighter.  I think he is up there with the top fighters at welterweight.  He should be mentioend in the same breath as St. Pierre, Fitch, Alves and Shields.  I cannot imagine Condit losing this fight.  Carlos Condit has great striking and awesome submissions.  He doesn’t have a weakness.  I think Condit wins this one in round 1 by submission.

Brian Bowles vs. Damacio Page

Brian Bowles is a talented fighter that can go a  long way in the UFC.  He is one of the ten guys in the WEC that I believe stack up well agaisnt UFC level talent.  I look for him to win here.

Micah Miller vs. Josh Grispi

Cole’s brother will pull out the unanimous deicison win here.

L.C. Davis vs. Hiroyuki Takaya

Carlo Prater vs. Brock Larsen

Blas Avena vs. Dave Terrell

Shane Roller vs. Todd Moore

Kenji Osawa vs. Scott Jorgensen

Mike Budnik vs. Greg McIntyre

WEC News, Rumblings and Predictions

This is a good fight on paper.  The card would have been much better with the Sonnen vs. Filho II fight on it.  I am looking forward to this fight, it has been billed as a good guy vs. bad guy fight.  On one side you have the champ, Doug “Rhino” Marshall.  He talks a lot of talk, he has a foul mouth and he looks the bad guy part.  On the other side you have an army veteran, the “All American” Brian Stann.  I am not going to pull any punches, I am rooting for Stann.  I think he could be a great MMA fighter, especialyl if he has any ground game.  Marshall may never find out.  I am predicting a round 1 TKO for Stann.  He is a potential star, and a win for Stann translates to $$$ for the WEC. 

     Today it was announced that June would be the date for the Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver fight.  Also they announced a Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia bantamweight title fight.  I am lookign forward to that card.  Torres really impressed me against Beebe.  He is 33-1.  I think he could dominate that divison and then move up and beat Faber.  The Faber vs. Pulver fight will be good.  Pulver I thought was done in MMA and then he comes and beat Cub Swanson quickly.  Faber is the man and the face of his division.  I will root for and pick Faber and Torres to retain their belts.   

       I also wonder what other title defenses will come.  When will Paulo Filho get it together and come out of rehab ready to fight?  Who will he fight?  I would say Filho will be offered the winner of the Sonnen vs. Baker fight tonight, which I am not counting out Baker to win.  Who will Jamie Varner face in his first title defense?  My bet would be a re-match with Rob McCullough.  I think Razor Rob is a better fighter than Varner and will get the belt back eventually.  Who will Carlos Condit next fight?  Heaven knows, he is awesome.  The WEC has done well and have 4 or 5 stars in Faber, Torres, Filho, Stann, and Condit.  The WEC is better off when these guys win.  I’d still like to see some of them against the best in the UFC, especially Condit and Filho.  If Faber could move to 155, he could be a great UFC fighter.