Taking a Closer Look at the UFC Weight Divisions

Each UFC division is very exciting and unpredictable and after UFC 102 last night, let's put things into perspective for each weight classes. We have five champions right now that look unstoppable. Each of them have simply dominated their last opponents and retained their titles.

BJ Penn made an example out of Kenny Florian who was thought to be his toughest test to date. Georges St-Pierre did the same against Thiago Alves. Although he did not finish the fight, GSP showed why he is the top fighter in the world at welterweight.

Anderson Silva is Anderson Silva, he dominates competition at middleweight and now at light-heavyweight. Lyoto Machida sits atop his throne in the light-heavyweight division and it doesn't seem anybody will be able to take him off of it.

Of course, there is Brock Lesnar who erased all doubts with a dominating victory over top contender Frank Mir at UFC 100.

Now let's take a closer look.

Lightweights

BJ Penn won the UFC lightweight championship back at UFC 80 against Joe "Daddy" Stevenson and has since then knocked off Sean Sherk and Kenny Florian from contention.

BJ looked incredible in all his lightweight fights since winning the title and top contenders are pretty rare in the division right now. It now seems Diego Sanchez will be next in line for a shot at Penn's title. Sanchez poses a serious threat to the title because of his cardio and his willingness to push the pace non-stop.

Problem is, I was not impressed with Sanchez in his fight against Guida, he'll need to perform much better then that if he hopes taking the title.

Frankie Edgar is coming off an impressive win over Sean Sherk at UFC 98 and that should certainly be enough to get him a title shot very soon. A title fight against the winner of Sanchez vs Penn could be very interesting unless the UFC decide to put Kenny Florian as an obstacle in front of Edgar.

Another fight that alot of people may not consider very important but I personally think it's very interesting is the Huerta vs Maynard fight at UFN. Why it's not the main event of that show is a shock to me. Maynard is still undefeated in the UFC and Huerta is (although he was gone for a while) a top contender in the lightweight division.

Whoever wins that fight could easily be one fight away from a title shot.

Welterweights

Right now, it doesn't seem anybody can beat Georges St-Pierre. He is as dominant a champion as there can be beating top competition in the process. Since winning back the title from Matt Serra at UFC 83, he has successfully defended against Jon Fitch, BJ Penn and Thiago Alves who were all thought to be serious contenders for St-Pierre.

It will be interesting to see what happens next with Thiago Alves, but Jon Fitch is certainly ready for a rematch against GSP. I love Fitch, he's one of my favorite fighters in the division but what can he seriously bring new to the table in such a short amount of time?

UFC 103 will showcase a number one contender's fight between two former middleweight fighters, Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann. The fight should be very interesting but can anyone of these two pose a serious problem to GSP? I doubt it. I like Swick's chances more them Kampmann but still.

That, is pretty much it as far as top contenders go in the division right now. UFC 106 will feature the return of everybody's favorite nerd, Dustin "McLovin" Hazelett. A win over Karo Parisyan would certainly be a great thing for the young Jiu-Jitsu specialist but he is still far away from a title shot against.

Middleweights

Being dominant is beating everybody in your weight class and doing it easily. So I ask all of you, what do you call somebody who cleans out his whole division, makes every fighter look bad and then moves up in weight and dominates bigger fighters and makes them look like they never fought before?

Well that ladies and gentlemen is Anderson "The Spider" Silva. His list off fallen foes since winning the title against Rich Franklin at UFC 64 is a who's who of top fighters. From Nate Marquardt to Rich Franklin to Dan Henderson to Patrick Cote and Thales Leites, Silva has mowed through these guys with ease.

A lot of people were wondering a while back who was the top contender for Silva's title. Well in recent fights, this question got answered. Dan Henderson eliminated Michael Bisping from the run while Nate Marquardt eliminated Demian Maia from the run.

Now Marquardt and Henderson are left standing and a fight between these two men is the only way to go in my opinion.

Whoever wins this fight should become the real number one contender and challenge Anderson Silva for the title. There doesn't seem to be anybody else in the division left for Silva to fight.

Yushin Okami is a favorite to get the title shot among the fans, but it seems the UFC is keeping him as far away from Silva as possible...but why?

Light-Heavyweights

It would be an understatement to say that the light-heavyweight division is the most stacked division in the UFC right now. Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, Rich Franklin, Shogun Rua, Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin, Thiago Silva, Tito Ortiz are all fighting for the top spot to get a shot at the champion Lyoto Machida.

With Forrest Griffin caught up with Anderson Silva and the rivalry between Rampage and Rashad, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua will be getting the next title shot at the seemingly invincible champion. The winner of the Jackson/Evans fight at UFC 107 should get to fight the winner of Shogun/Machida.

Griffin probably took a couple of steps back from his loss to Anderson Silva, by the way has anybody found him yet?

Tito Ortiz still needs to show us if he still has "IT" before becoming a top contender and a win against Mark Coleman would certainly NOT do that.

Thiago Silva eliminated Keith Jardine from the race last night at UFC 102 in dominating fashion. Thiago Silva could possibly be much more dangerous then a lot of people think. Don't take his loss to Machida too seriously, Machida tends to make the best fighters look like idiots.

It would certainly be interesting to see what Thiago could do against a challenger like Rampage or Rashad. Don't be surprised if Thiago gets a shot the the light-heavyweight championship in the future.

Rich Franklin will fight the returning Vitor Belfort at UFC 103 in a fight that will eliminate one fighter from the race and move the other in serious title contention.

Thiago Silva vs the winner of Franklin/Belfort could be very entertaining and would continue seperating the real contenders from the posers.

Heavyweights

UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is certainly no joke. With his first title defense succesfull, Lesnar proved he was ready for anybody at heavyweight.

Cain Valasquez and Shane Carwin were the top challengers for Lesnar's title and they were about to fight at UFC 104. Now I'm using the word "were" because everything has changed. Shane Carwin no longer has to pass through Cain Valasquez, instead he will fight Brock for the title at UFC 106 in what we should call the battle of the titans.

Cain Valasquez takes a step back and will now have to fight Ben Rothwell at UFC 104. I don't see the winner of this fight getting a title shot after that. Whoever gets the W would most likely have to beat another top challenger before getting a shot at the heavyweight championship.

Antonio "Minautoro" Nogueira is coming off a win over Randy Couture and that certainly puts him in a good position in the heavyweight division. Nogueira even expressed being interested in fighting Lesnar for the title down the road.

UFC 103 will feature a fight between Mirko Cro Cop and KO machine Junior Dos Santos in what should be an explosive fight that has title opportunity written all over it. It is also rumored that Frank Mir will fight Cheik Kongo at UFC 107. This is an opportunity for both men to get back in the title picture.

Since it's official that Carwin and Lesnar will lock horns, well in their case muscles at UFC 106, that leaves all the others mentioned above to duke it out for the number one spot. I would personally love to see Nogueira take on the winner of Rothwell/Valasquez and have the winner of Mir/Kongo take on the winner of Cro Cop/Dos Santos.

Wait a minute...is it just me or does this smell like a little elimination tournament?