Much hype has been bestowed upon UFC 100 and the title fights which will anchor the most seismic fight card in MMA history—and rightly so.

The co-main event will showcase Georges St. Pierre defending his welterweight title against a very dangerous Thiago Alves. For St. Pierre, it will likely be his toughest test to date as he looks to bolster his MMA legacy while potentially securing a super fight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

If St. Pierre looks past Alves though, he could be looking at the canvas floor.

To get a full a sense of the current era of the welterweight division, one must step into their MMA time machine and travel back to Jan. 31, 2004. UFC 46 was a fight card of great significance to the modern welterweight division.

Matt Hughes stepped into the octagon that night having successfully defended his belt five times. On the night in question though, Hughes would not be as opportune as he succumbed to a rear naked choke at the behest of B.J. Penn at 4:39 of round one.

For Penn, who stepped up a weight class for the first time in his career, he delivered one of the biggest upsets in the UFC welterweight history at that time.

Also of significance that night was the UFC debut of current welterweight champion George St. Pierre. St. Pierre rushed through his first opponent to secure a decision win over Karo Parisyan.

With Hughes, Penn and St. Pierre all in place the welterweight stage would bet set in some form or fashion for the next four years plus.

Penn would go on to be stripped of the UFC welterweight title in February after cutting ties with the organization while Matt Hughes would go on to regain his title in October at UFC 50 by defeating the young phenom George St. Pierre.

Matt Hughes would successfully defend his welterweight belt another two times—at UFC 52 against Frank Trigg and UFC 63 against B.J. Penn respectively. In the process, Hughes secured his hall-of-fame status and also his place as the best welterweight in the UFC history…for now. 

It is worth noting that the title fight did not originally include Penn, rather George St. Pierre. B.J. Penn had lost in his UFC return agaisnt St. Pierre at UFC 58 which earned St. Pierre his second title shot agaisnt Matt Hughes.

But a groin injury pulled St. Pierre out of his long-awaited rematch with Hughes, allowing Penn capitalize—only to be beaten in the process. 

St Pierre was finally able to position himself as the kingpin of the welterweight division on November 18, 2006 when he defeated Matt Hughes at UFC 65, becoming UFC champion by TKO at 1:25 of round two.

While the welterweight division was turned on its head, with Hughes losing his belt for a second time, the sense of a new era felt firmly in place. 

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