State of Welterweights

1. George St. Pierre

2. Thiago Alves

3. Jon Fitch

4. Jake Shields

5. Josh Koscheck

6. Diego Sanchez

7. Matt Hughes

8. Carlos Condit

9. Matt Serra

10. Karo Parisyan

1. George St. Pierre

2. Thiago Alves

3. Jon Fitch

4. Josh Koscheck

5. Diego Sanchez

6. Matt Hughes

7. Matt Serra

8. Karo Parisyan

9. Mike Swick

10. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

The rumors surrounding Koscheck and his unwillingness to sign the UFC licensing agreement for the upcoming video game, may result in him being cut from the UFC. A poor showing against Yoshida may quicken Zuffa's response. While of course this is still speculative let us remove Koscheck and Sanchez, one for dropping weight the other for being cut due to contract issues, while assuming that Swick wins and Yoshida doesn't fall on his face against Kosccheck. Once again we will fill in the next top two ranked UFC welterweights from Bloodyelbow.com's meta rankings.


Now if we look forward to UFC 94, the welterweight champion, George St. Pierre, will be fighting B.J. Penn for the welterweight belt. Alves is sidelined to fight the winner most likely. Jon Fitch is in limbo most likely to fight an up-and-comer with Hughes and Serra fighting each other in a retirement bout. Karo is most likely hurt again and then there a slew of new top-ten UFC welterweights needing to be sorted out. Now if B.J. Penn defeats St. Pierre then the UFC is in a serious bind with two stacked division waiting on one fighter. Who does Penn fight first Florian at 155 or Alves at 170? It is very possible to see the top of the division at a stand still after January 24th.

While a lot of the questions with regards to Swick, Yoshida and Koscheck will be answered tomorrow night (hopefully), it is still possible to see a new group of welterweights entering the top-ten within the UFC very soon. Still the top crust will be Alves, St. Pierre and Fitch. Regardless, the welterweight division may not be so clear cut now.