| UFC 170 Division is Stacked! |
Reported by NBC sports. A couple of months ago, we thought we knew exactly where the welterweight division was going.Either Georges St. Pierre was heading for a long reign at the top, or Matt Hughes was going to avenge his loss to the French-Canadian and reassume his crown and throne. Isn’t that what we all thought? Matt Serra? With all due respect to the Long Islander, those odds were just too long to believe an upset could happen.
What a difference a few weeks make.
What do we make of the welterweight division now?
There’s only two things we know for sure right now, and the first is that Serra is the 170-pound champion. That itself is still stunning even after being digested for a few days, but it’s an undisputed truth. The other thing that we’re sure of – even though Dana White said it’s "likely" and not guaranteed – is that Matt Hughes will be the first in line to challenge him for the title. (There’s a third thing — Hughes and Serra don’t like each other. More on that later.)
Even though Serra will probably be an underdog in that fight despite coming in with the belt around his waist, after watching Randy Couture beat Tim Sylvia at UFC 68 and Serra beat St. Pierre at UFC 69, we’re definitely not counting Serra out this time. He told us prior to the fight that he was sure that his standup was the best it’s ever been. And his trainer, Ray Longo, also told us before the fight that Hughes was actually a better matchup for Serra than GSP was. "His standup is better than Hughes’, and if Hughes wants to put him on the ground, he’s going to have a hard time with Matt [Serra]," he said.
We’ll add a little more fuel to the fire with the Serra-Hughes rivalry that began on The Ultimate Fighter. Serra was competing on the show while Hughes was there coaching, and the two didn’t get along. The feeling hasn’t waned. In fact, in case you missed it, check out this exclusive video with Serra’s take on the ex-champ. He’s not pulling any punches.
So that will help clear up the title picture, but what about the rest of the 170-pound division. Right now, if you had to rank the fighters, how would you do it? In alphabetical order, here are the top welterweights in UFC with their records:
Comparing the 170-pounders
FIGHTER RECORD NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Jon Fitch 13-2 def. Thiago Alves (TKO), def. Josh Burkman (submission), 12 straight wins
Matt Hughes 41-5 def. B.J. Penn (TKO), def. Georges St. Pierre (submission), two-time champ
Josh Koscheck 9-1 def. Diego Sanchez (decision), 5 straight wins
Diego Sanchez 19-1 def. Karo Parisyan (decision), def. Nick Diaz (decision)
Matt Serra 9-4 def. Georges St. Pierre (TKO), Current champ
Georges St. Pierre 13-2 def. Matt Hughes (TKO), def. B.J. Penn (decision), ex-champ
Karo Parisyan 16-4 def. Drew Fickett (decision), def. Matt Serra (decision), Only 24 years old
The interesting thing about this is that most of these fighters are fairly young and still have a bright future ahead of them.
Hughes, at 33 years old, is the elder statesman of the group, and also the most decorated. He’s won the welterweight title on two separate occasions, and as the current No. 1 contender to Serra, he’ll have a chance to make it a third.
Ironically enough, Serra probably wouldn’t even have been in this conversation without his stunning yet complete destruction of Georges St. Pierre last Saturday. Serra has had a successful career to be sure, but hadn’t beaten a championship-caliber fighter, losing closely contested decisions to B.J. Penn and Karo Parisyan. Now, he’ll forever been known as a champion. And after beating St. Pierre, there is no reason to think he’ll be a walkover for Hughes, who suffered his own destruction at the hands of the French-Canadian last November.
Further muddling the picture is Josh Koscheck’s win over Diego Sanchez on the undercard of the UFC 69 main event. If Sanchez had won and improved his record to 20-0, he might have been the next challenger to get in line behind Hughes. Now that’s not likely the case. Koscheck, meanwhile, has won five fights in a row and probably leapfrogs Sanchez in the pecking order. Or does he?
Jon Fitch and Parisyan are two others still rising in the rankings. Despite winning 12 straight matches overall (five in UFC), Fitch may be the least well-known of this class of welterweights, but any fighter capable of putting together a run like that is dangerous enough to be mentioned among the top level. Parisyan has a crowd-pleasing style with his judo takedowns and willingness to exchange on his feet. He’s won six of his last seven fights, and at only 24 years old, he’s likely still improving.
Finally, where does this fight put St. Pierre? Just a week ago, experts were proclaiming him nearly unbeatable and a perfect fighter. Now he’s not even getting an immediate rematch with Serra. That likely means he’s going to have to step back into the octagon to fight at least once before challenging for the title again.
So here’s our question to you: Which one of these fighters is the best at 170? It can conceivably be any one of them. While Matt Serra can simply point to the belt around his waist to make his argument, the UFC has a lot of fighters who can make a strong case as the best. That embarrassment of riches is a great thing, but it doesn’t make it any easier for those of us who like to debate the division
| " | Ironically enough, Serra probably wouldn't even have been in this conversation without his stunning yet complete destruction of Georges St. Pierre last Saturday. Serra has had a successful career to be sure, but hadn't beaten a championship-caliber fighter, losing closely contested decisions to B.J. Penn and Karo Parisyan. Now, he'll forever been known as a champion. And after beating St. Pierre, there is no reason to think he'll be a walkover for Hughes, who suffered his own destruction at the hands of the French-Canadian last November. |
I wouldn’t count GSP out, despite his defeat at the hands of Serra pound for pound the man is still the master of the 170bl devision.
I like Serra, I think he is a well rounded MMA Fighter but he is just not of the caliber of a George St. Pierre. GSP is truly the superior athlete, no one can dispute that.
I think GSP is on his way backup the latter, he has learned from the loss against Serra and anyone would be hard pressed to repeat it. Penn, Parisyan or Hugh’s just don’t have the tools to compete against GSP at his best.
Thank you,