The Welterweight Debacle

After a major purchase of a rival promotion, one might think that the UFC has all the answers in MMA. Unfortunately for a choice few, some questions have gone unrequited....

For Diego Sanchez, Martin Kampmann, Jon Fitch and BJ Penn, the Welterweight division is a mess. At back to back events, a controversial decision and a draw have created a bottleneck on the ladder to the #1 contender spot. For these four fighters, one judge's poor understanding of Mixed Martial Arts could cost them a spot at the Welterweight Championship of the World.

In the UFC 127 Main event, Former Two Division Champion BJ Penn controlled the first two rounds with significant takedowns and superior striking only to fall victim to Jon Fitch's stamina in the 3rd and final round. Going in to this last round, Penn had a two round advantage, scoring 20-18 and winning the fight. Unfortunately, Penn's performance in the 3rd round was so insignificant that Fitch earned a 10-8 round in the 3rd. This gave Fitch enough points to draw against Penn and leave the two in a sort of limbo at the top of the division.

Following UFC 127, at UFC on Versus 3, energizer bunny Diego Sanchez went to war with Danish kickboxing sensation Martin Kampmann. In a "Fight of the Year" candidate, Kampmann used superior technical striking to pick away at Sanchez, disfiguring him in the process. Kampmann stuffed 14/15 takedown attempts and was only on the mat for a brief moment once finally taken down in the last moments of the fight. Sanchez failed on nearly every takedown attempt and put together no real effective offense. The highlights of Sanchez's performance included two flurries that netted the fighter more air than flesh at the end of his fists. Shockingly, the judge's found reason enough to award Diego Sanchez a Decision victory in what was the worst display of judging in recent MMA memory.

So this situation leaves us with a sort of traffic jam on the road to the Welterweight title.

The current title challenger, Jake Shields' last fight was a Split Decision win over Martin Kampmann. He will face Georges St. Pierre at UFC 129 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Jon Fitch has faced St. Pierre before for the title, but arguably lost to BJ Penn in their UFC 127 meeting.

BJ Penn has fought and lost to St. Pierre on two seperate occassions, but, can still draw a big crowd with his marquee status.

Martin Kampmann arguably won his last two fights, first against the current title challenger, and most recently against Diego Sanchez. He has shown incredible improvements in his game, especially takedown defense and has the most technical striking in the Welterweight division.

Diego Sanchez has lost to BJ Penn and Jon Fitch. He is the least evolved fighter of the four and trains with champion Georges St. Pierre. Making a fight unlikely (though not impossible).

With these four fighters having made a shamble of the ranking system, let's try to sort it out.

1. Georges St. Pierre

- Current UFC Welterweight Champion

2. Martin Kampmann

- Was robbed of victory in both the Shields and Sanchez fights

3. Jake Shields

- Current Welterweight #1 Contender

4. Jon Fitch

- Lost to Champion St. Pierre and Drawed with BJ Penn

5. BJ Penn

- Has two losses to Georges St. Pierre and a victory over Diego Sanchez

With those fighters holding the top 5 positions in the UFC Welterweight division (in my opinion), it creates the need for a tournament in order to eliminate competition and find the true #1 contender. Fortunately for the UFC, they have some time to figure it out. According to UFC President Dana White, if Georges St. Pierre is successful in his title defense against Jake Shields, he will consider a move up in weight to 185 lbs for a superfight with Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. With this time off, the UFC can build and hype a multi-event tournament for the vacated Welterweight Championship. This roadblock has created the brackets for the tournament.

Kampmann -- \
Penn-------------/

Fitch-----------\

Sanchez-----/

Condit--------\

Alves---------/

Shields--------\

Koscheck----/

In this tournament arrangement, or a variation of it, the UFC should have itself a year worth of highly promotable fights while Champion Georges St. Pierre makes the jump to Welterweight. But, with the hurdle of misinformed judges, there is bound to be another Welterweight Debacle.