The landscape of the UFC welterweight division has dramatically changed over the past five months starting with the injury to Champion Georges St. Pierre (22-2), which escalated to a serious problem requiring surgery and approximately 10 months off.
This instantly narrowed the previously rock solid division where everyone knew where there place was, to a competition where an interim championship is attainable to several of the welterweight fighters.
An interim title fight was called for challengers Carlos Condit (28-5) and MMA “bad boy” Nick Diaz (26-8 (1 NC)), who had both been previously offered bouts with St. Pierre but due to injury were unable to play out.
While Condit has been one of the more explosive fighters in the division, with his last three wins before the Diaz fight ending by KO or TKO, he still went into the fight with Diaz as underdog, even being counted out as the interim champion, as fans and the injured champion looked towards a Diaz vs. St. Pierre fight.
The only person who wasn’t told of this script was Condit himself, who applied his own game plan to a frustrated Diaz and overcame the angry fighter to win a five-round unanimous decision, in what seemed to fans as controversial circumstances.
As fans and fighters debated the decision, it was quickly announced that Diaz and Condit were looking at a rematch, until the results of the UFC 143 drug test came back. Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites and may face a suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
With all of this confusion and change happening at the top of the division, it is forgivable to have missed all that happened underneath the surface, and we now look at a division that really has shaken up its potential title contenders.
The fighter that always seemed to be sitting around the top contenders position, Jon Fitch, was looking at a potential re-match with the champion going into 2012, until a fellow-bearded competitor in Johnny Hendricks knocked him out in round 1 of their fight at UFC 141 back in December 2011.
While this is a great win for Hendricks, he really needs to have more experience in the higher tier of the division and has now been scheduled to fight Josh Koscheck (17-5) at UFC on Fox 3 in New Jersey.
For Koscheck, his approach and attitude to the Hendricks fight will be under the microscope thanks to his public acknowledgement about his lack of interest in fighting previous competitor Mike Pierce (13-5). Also mentioned was Koscheck’s split with the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) camp, which may have contributed to the attitude and focus going into the UFC on Fox 2 fight.
Koscheck really should see this as a time (with St. Pierre out on injury) where he has the chance to step up into the number one contender spot if he was serious about wanting the title.
With a win over Diego Sanchez (23-5) last week, Jake Ellenberger (27-5) has emerged as the next favourite to fight for the title, against who is another question. His stand up aggressiveness equally matches that of Carlos Condit, and we have seen this when Ellenberger debuted in the UFC against the now-interim champ in a battle that saw Condit with the win by split decision loss.
This fight makes sense. Ellenberger has been climbing the ladder with six straight wins, the last two against big names Sanchez and ex-Strikeforce Middleweight champion Jake Shields (26-6-1), which surely entitle him to the next shot at the title either against Condit, or against GSP after the unification fight.
With Condit prepared to sit out and wait for St Pierre in hope to unify the welterweight belt, this really raises the question as to whether there was a need for an interim champ. Essentially we are faced with another waiting game in the ever changing division as fighters who we assumed would remain at the top are finding it hard against the up-and-comers.
With so much activity is it fair to the rest of the division if there is a hold on title bouts while the interim champ waits? It could be possible that the UFC encourages Condit to fight again, but who should have the next shot: Ellenberger or another welterweight fighter?
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