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FightLines: Welterweights Vol. III

Decwelterweight_medium

Serra <> St. Pierre
Wilson > Markham > Blackburn > Wilson
Heleno > Miller > Blackburn > Heleno

FightLines: Welterweights Vol. I
FightLines: Welterweights Vol. II
FightLines: FAQ

Name BeatWins BeatLosses
1 Georges St. Pierre 38 0
2 Jon Fitch 37 1
3 Thiago Alves 36 2
4 Josh Koscheck 32 3
5 Jake Shields 15 0
5 Mike Swick 15 0
7 Diego Sanchez 22 4
8 Matt Serra 2 0
9 Marcus Davis 8 1
10 Karo Parisyan 17 5

 

Star-divide

Welterweight may have the deepest talent pool of any division in MMA right now.  Unfortunately, the entire division has been cuckolded by one Georges St. Pierre.  Dana White has hinted that St. Pierre could fight Anderson Silva if he gets by Lightweight Champ B.J. Penn, but I hope that plan gets put on hold for a potential clash with Thiago Alves first.  St. Pierre beating Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Penn, and Alves within three calendar years would be one of the more impressive runs through a division the sport has seen.

Should Penn pull off the upset (and I don't think it would be that big of an upset), FightLines would have an interesting look to it.  Immediately after the fight up until March 6th (when their first fight falls through the window), the weltweight champ would have a split with St. PIerre and a loss to Matt Hughes.  From March 7th on, he would just have a loop with St. PIerre and Hughes (via others).  Meaning, a Penn win would introduce a graph where the champ failed to make the top 10.

Speaking of Hughes, I've been a critic for awhile on his status in most rankings.  Here's what he's done in the past 3 years:

W - Royce Gracie*
W - Penn
L - St. Pierre
W - Lytle
L - St. Pierre
L - Alves*

* - fight was at a catchweight of 175 lbs.

The losses don't bother me here.  It's no shame to lose to fighters in the top 3 of the division.  That said, what has he accomplished since late 2005?  A win over an aging legend of the sport who was coming off a draw to a guy who now fights at 145, a solid victory over Penn, and a decision over a guy who is the posterboy for "gatekeeper." 

Looking at the rest of the division, you still have Jake Shields floundering outside of the Big Show.  With EliteXC's pending sale, it may be awhile for us to see how stacks up with the elite of the division.  Mike Swick has done a good job building his foundation.  It's too bad Diego Sanchez is moving down to 155 because I think that would be a nice logical step for Swick.  I wouldn't mind seeing Swick fight the winner of Karo Parisyan/Dong Hyun Kim instead.

I've harped on this awhile, but Carlos Condit really needs a step up in competition.  I can't say there is no reason for Zuffa to bury him in the WEC (because he's one of the few pseudo-draws they have at the moment), but he's really being wasted there.  A fight with the aforementioned Swick would be a very good bit of matchmaking.

Power Rankings Explanation

I've removed displaying the rating numbers and instead decided to show the raw beatwins/losses instead.  This serves two purposes: 1) it provides more meaningful data to the reader and 2) it allows my top ten to be a secret sauce that only I know about.

0 recs  |  Comment 14 comments |

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Comments

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Thank you for posting this now

I needed a break from the kerfuffle. At least there’s a nice, straight line to the top, with Alves all but assured the GSP/BJ winner.

I’m going to vote Swick/Koscheck to see if Kos deserves another #1 contender’s match. We can’t hold that loss to GSP against him forever… can we?

by subo on Dec 19, 2008 1:36 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

Swick and Kos are both part of AKA though.

I’m actually kind of interested to see where they go with Kos. GSP and Alves are out for now because they couldn’t fit in timeline-wise. He trains with Fitch and Swick. Shields isn’t in the UFC. Diego’s going to 155. A fight with Hughes or Serra doesn’t really do anything for me. Karo if he gets by “Stun Gun”? It would be a great time to bring Condit up.

He’s really in that Sean Sherk/Rich Franklin role right now.

by Mike Fagan on Dec 19, 2008 1:57 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

He is… ProElite just needs to fucking die and let their fighters go.

by subo on Dec 19, 2008 2:04 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Wouldn’t Penn <> Hughes as part of a strange loop, or is Penn’s win too far back to count?

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett

by themachiavellian on Dec 19, 2008 2:27 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

too long ago.

by Kid Nate on Dec 19, 2008 9:46 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

That explains it – what’s the cutoff date?

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett

by themachiavellian on Dec 19, 2008 3:16 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Three years.

Bolts from the Blue // "It is what it is." - A.J. Smith
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

by Richard Wade on Dec 19, 2008 6:19 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I’d really love to see a Carlos Condit rematch with Jake Shields, if the whole ProElite deal is ever sorted out.

by Carl P on Dec 19, 2008 4:01 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

I wanna see an Alves/Fitch rematch. After Alves’ destruction of Kos, Alves seems stronger and more improved since his loss to Fitch.

by Dooda on Dec 19, 2008 9:34 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

I can get behind this.

by Mike Fagan on Dec 19, 2008 10:08 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Is it me, or

does Serra seem out of place in the top 10? They guy has great BJJ, but outside of a lucky punch hasn’t done anything in recent history short of get one of his kidney’s bashed in.

by Razreshat on Dec 19, 2008 10:04 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

No doubt, but owning the only clean finish win over the best Welter in the world counts for a lot.

by Kid Nate on Dec 19, 2008 10:09 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

I love this stuff, Mike. Are you running a program or are you doing this (for lack of a better term) by hand?

Bolts from the Blue // "It is what it is." - A.J. Smith
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

by Richard Wade on Dec 19, 2008 12:44 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

A bit of both. A lot of it is “by hand.”

by Mike Fagan on Dec 19, 2008 9:40 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

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