The Gatekeepers of the UFC divisions
By (Contributor) on November 18, 2009
445 reads
Gate-Keepers are people who are the boundaries between elite fighters and average or lower fighters.They are the guards who determine who passes on to the top contention. Once you beat the gate-keeper you are for real.
Read who I think are the UFC gatekeepers are.They keep the divisions in order and choose title fighters.They are very important fighters and very under appreciated by most of the MMA crowd.
I hope you enjoy my slideshow and please give feedback.
Heavyweight
The heavyweight division is a smaller division but has lots of rising talent that needs to be sorted out. He has recenly become a top notch gatekeeper and it is no small task to get by him. This man is Gabriel Gonzaga. Napao is 250 pounds of pure monster and brings it when he enters the octagon, usually winning or losing in devastating fashion since none of his fights ever ended in decision. He's recently fought Shane Carwin,Josh Hendricks, and Chris Tuchscherer to determine if they belong in the upper echelon of the heavyweight division and will soon fight Junior Dos Santos to see if he deserves a title fight like Shane.
With commanding head kicks, Gabe may soon advance through gate-keeper stage though.
Light Heavyweight
Keith Jardine is the man. He always fights the strongest guys in the most packed division, sometimes wins, and will never back down from a fight. The reason he is gate-keeper now is that he is very inconsistent and usually loses to guys that he's suppose to beat.
His nickname fits him and his unorthodox striking will be a heavy problem for the new talent going into this division.
His next fight in my opinion should be Jon Bones Jones.
MIddleweight
Its a shame to see such a legend become a gate-keeper. Wanderlei always brings action to the table and has the menacing look he is famous for when he enters the octagon. Sure, he lost his last 5 out of 6 fights but those were to one of the best fighters MMA has to offer. Silva's recently moved down to middleweight and is going to test himself there. His wild hooks and aggressive style will make it hard for anyone to fight him. He will fight Akiyama soon and we will see if Wanderlei is a true gate-keeper or if he might make a run for the title and advance out of this position.
Welterweight
Chris Lytle has had over 40 fights on his record and is a true journeyman. He has been in the UFC for many years and has since helped by being a great gate-keeper. He has fought almost everyone that has advanced to top contender staus and silenced the ones that couldnt pull through. His last two fights were winning Kevin Burns and losing a split decision to Marcus Davis. Both of these men either beat or almost beat top dogs in Rumble Johnson and Dan Hardy. Chris's solid submission game, iron chin, and experience makes him a challenge for anyone trying to move up.
Lightweight
I had a choice between Joh Neer and Spencer Fisher and I picked Neer. Neer remains to be a quality opponent but recent flaws in his takedown defense moved him down and let other fighters like Tibau and Kurt pass through the threshold and into foreign territory (top 10 fighters). Neer is very well rounded with 10 wins by TKO and 11 wins by submission. He's beat Joe Stevenson and Melvin Guillard before and is looking to get out of this slump and tear things up among the rising talent.
Thank You
Thank you for readin and feedback is greatly appreciated.
Who else do you think are gatekeepers and do you think I am wrong on any?
Also which of these fighters do you think will evolve from a gatekeper?
What is the duplicate article?
Why is this article offensive?
Where is this article plagiarized from?
Why is this article poorly edited?
Flag This Article


7 Comments
Loading comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete