The Rebirth of the UFC's Welterweight Division

Dana White's recent acknowledgment at the UFC 116 pre-fight presser that the UFC's heavyweight division has "sucked" in recent years led me to consider the vibrancy of each of the UFC's weight classes in general.  My assessment is that the "state of the UFC union" is strong at all but welterweight; but I see that division heading into a very enticing rebirth phase.

Lightweight is as dynamic as ever.  From the belt recently changing hands and an upcoming rematch between former champion BJ Penn and current champion Frankie Edgar, to the addition of PRIDE standout Takanori Gomi, to Joe Stevenson's "rebirth" from the ashes under the auspices of Greg Jackson, to Kenny Florian's demonstrated ability to finish just about anyone not named BJ Penn, to the host of high-paced multifaceted fighters such as Sean Sherk, Clay Guida, Tyson Griffin and others, the division has plenty of exciting fights and storylines ahead of it.

Middleweight "suffers", if you want to subscribe to such language, from a dominant champion in Anderson Silva; but that can be good as well as bad, with each of his victories increasing the intensity of interest - in both fighters and fans - in seeing how long the streak will continue. There's lots of room for the picture at 185 to resolve itself. Kid Nate has discussed how the UFC's  Liddell/Couture/Ortiz/Belfort round robin defined a clear pecking order in the 2004-2006 era of the 205-pound division.  I hope for the same in the current 185-pound picture. BloodyElbow's rankings have Chael Sonnen > Nate Marquardt > Vitor Belfort > Demian Maia > Yushin Okami.  However, with Sonnen having lost to Maia while beating Marquardt and Okami; Marquardt, who lost to Sonnen, beat Maia; Okami having faced only Chael Sonnen (among these "top 5 contenders"); Maia having beaten the #1 contender while losing to the #2 contender; and Belfort having never fought at MW in the UFC, the picture is very muddied, which inherently means there is lots of room for movement and change.  Don't sleep on Michael Bisping and even Chris Leben (I said it) to at least threaten to enter the frame.

More after the jump.

If middleweight was in flux, light heavyweight is downright flummoxed.  Not only did the belt recently change hands; now the new champ is sidelined for 9 months which will allow a clear contender (and maybe yet another interim champ) to emerge. Rashad Evans was slated to challenge Shogun, making it probable that he will also be out of action for the foreseeable future. The guy to emerge as the #2 contender will be the first one of the "big four" (Lyoto Machida, Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Rogerio Nogueira) to put together some wins: Machida has just lost to Shogun (and arguably lost to him at UFC 104); Rampage just lost to Rashad and has lost to Forrest Griffin recently; Forrest has beaten Rampage and Shogun but lost to Evans; and Nogueira plays the Vitor Belfort role in having yet to face any of these guys (other than Shogun 5+ years ago).  With plenty of "unused" matchup combinations featuring Rich Franklin, Randy Couture, Thiago Silva, Matt Hamill, and the prophesied future king Jon Jones, 205 pounds has plenty of excitement for many months.  Oh, and a guy named Anderson Silva is known to fight at this weight as well.

The aforementioned heavyweight division is the most exciting, arguably, that it's ever been. Start at the top:  Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin are champ and interim champ and will sort that issue out in less than 36 hours.  Along with the other two of The Four Horsemen, these four men have one UFC loss total among them - and they are about to sort out a rough pecking order with Cain getting the next title shot at the UFC 116 winner. Throw in brutal strikers Pat Barry, Cheick Kongo and resurgent Mirko Cro Cop, ground wizards Gabe Gonzaga, Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir, and seasoned threats Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson, and you have the ingredients for explosive stylistic fights and great dynamic storylines for a long time to come.

And then there is welterweight.  Of late, 170 pounds has become a little too "set in".  You have the dominant champ in Georges St-Pierre, who has roundly beaten all three top challengers: a fairly clearcut #2 in Thiago Alves, Jon Fitch who is impossible to finish but in turn seems incapable of finishing anyone (three years of decisions, Jon...three years), Josh Koscheck whose smothering performance against Paul Daley sent of the few breaths of fresh air the 170-pound division has had packing. You have an exciting fighter in Dan Hardy whom everyone nevertheless knew was not a legitimate threat to GSP's reign.  Once one of the most exciting divisions in the UFC (Matt Hughes was still a champ; Diego Sanchez, Karo Parisyan and Nick Diaz were young exciting threats, GSP was a clear future champ, Marcus Davis and Chris Lytle could beat anyone on a good day), welterweight has settled into a routine with too-little variety.

But all of that is in the midst of changing as 170 is coming back to life.  The most obvious change in store is the imminent arrival of Strikeforce 185-pound king Jake Shields. While he could fight at either/both 185 and 170 pounds in the UFC, Dana has stated he would prefer Shields to start at 170.  But there are plenty of other winds of change originating from in-house. Nate Diaz has recently moved up in weight and is fighting at welterweight.  Diego Sanchez, always a wild card, is back at welterweight again.  The mention of Sanchez brings us to John Hathaway, another very bright near-future prospect at 170.  Well rounded at all of 22 years old, Hathaway is undefeated with roughly equal numbers of submission and (T)KO finishes.  The division is bound to produce another top contender or two from the ranks of world-class athletes Anthony "Rumble" Johnson (26 years old), Phil "Mr. Wonderful" Davis, (25 years old and former NCAA champ), Dong Hyun Kim (an old man at 28), Dustin Hazelett, and others. Under-represented and relative newcomers like Jake Ellenberger and Carlos Condit will provide great matchup tests for everyone.  The "Big Dog", Ricardo Almeida, is now fighting at 170 pounds. And finally, there's nothing to shake up the division like the long-dominant kingpin moving on.  With White recently hinting that he will make GSP vs. Anderson Silva happen, I foresee GSP making a permanent move to 185 pounds, leaving the 170 throne wide open for someone to get after it.  GSP has said several times that if/when he moves up to 185, he will take time to do it right (and will not return) by adding weight/muscle mass in a responsible way.  Taking Dana's "superfight" teaser ("I guess I have to make that fight") in context with the fact that fighters naturally add weight as they age, it seems only a matter of time till GSP leaves his longtime home at welterweight for new challenges at 185 pounds.  All of this adds up to a rebirth of the once-riveting 170-pound division and lots of thrilling battles just ahead.