The State of the Welterweight Division – UFC Edition
A snapshot on March 1, 2011
With the sudden question of what to do with the welterweight division pending the recent draw of Penn-Fitch and upcoming GSP-Jake Shields, I decided to look further into one of the UFC’s deepest and most talented division. If GSP beats Jake Shields on April 30th and moves up in weight to face Anderson Silva, the belt will likely be vacated (GSP has indicated in the past that when he decides to move up to middleweight, it will be for good). A popular opinion would be to have a tournament.
Much like the Strikeforce Heavyweight GP and the Bellator Fighting Championships, fight fans in North America have been re-introduced to tournaments, and many like myself love the thoughts of a clear winner. However, the UFC have not used this way of match making in the current era, moving away from the forman for a variety of reasons; fighters not being at their best for finals, fighters pulling out, and with the current status of unique contracts it would be very difficult for the UFC to put a 16 or even an 8 fighters. Not that they lack the quality of fighters, in fact it’s the opposite. The welterweight division is, arguably, the most stacked with hoards of talented well rounded martial artists as well as specific martial art specialists’ (see Groups A and B below).
Without declaring it a tournament, let’s look at the welterweight division current matchmaking and come to some sort of logical conclusion as to what would be best once/if GSP vacates the belt.
March 3, 2011 UFC Versus 3
Diego Sanchez – Martin Kampmann
March 18, 2011 UFC 128
Ricardo Almeida-Mike Pyle
March 26, 2011 UFC Fight Night 24
Dan Hardy-Anthony Johnson
Amir Sadollah-Duane Ludwig
John Hathaway-Kris McCray
Dennis Hallman-Anthony Walburger
April 30, 2011 UFC 129
GSP-Jake Shields
Rory MacDonald-Nate Diaz
Brian Foster-Sean Pierson
Claude Patrick-Daniel Roberts
May 28, 2011 UFC 130
Rick Story-Thiago Alves
Not listed for upcoming fights: Jonny Hendricks, Carlos Condit, Paulo Thiago, Jake Ellenberger, Mike Pearce, BJ Penn, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Matt Serra, Charlie Brennemen, Demarques Johnson, Chris Lytle, Brian Ebersole, Carlos Eduardo Rocha.
Conclusion:
3 Groups of fighters. Depending on how good one looks in their next fight, I may want to reconsider my groupings. Group A – Immediate title shot consideration or 1 title eliminator. Group B - 1-2 fights, then title shot/eliminator shot. 3 or more then title shot/eliminator shot.
Fighters should only fight those within their own groupings for the next year to help sort out the division. Reward impressive performances by promotion to next grouping.
Group A
– GSP, Shields, Fitch, Penn
Group B
– Alves-Story, Hardy-Johnson, Sanchez-Kampmann, Condit, Koscheck, Ellenberger, Pearce
Group C
– Patrick-Roberts, Diaz-MacDonald, Almeida-Pyle, Serra, Swich, Thiago, Rocha, Ebersole, Kim, Lytle, Hathaway-McCray, Hendricks, Hallman-Walburger, Sadollah-Ludwig, D. Johnson, Foster-Pierson, Brenneman
Hope you enjoy the post!
Matt from Belleville, Ontario, Canada