Age Of Dominance: Why The 3 P4P Kings Need to Move Up in Weight.

  Over the last 2 years there has been a proverbial reign of terror within 3 of the 5 divisions inside the UFC in which Anderson Silva at Middleweight, GSP at Welterweight, and BJ Penn at lightweight have been head-and-shoulders above the competition in there respective weight classes. This could be a developing problem for the UFC because finding interesting match ups and opponents for these fighters are wearing thin, and in GSP's case even rematches with some of the welterweight elite are not interesting because he's clinically dominated all of his opponents since his KO loss to Matt Serra.There dominance within there divisions is unrivaled by any of the championship predecessor's and there is no argument in the fact that Anderson Silva, GSP, & BJ Penn are the best fighters in the history of each of there weight classes.

  Its been just about 3 years since BJ Penn returned to the UFC's Lightweight Division and he hasn't looked back since. First he started by dismantling the only man ever to beat him at that weight in Jens Pulver, and then Penn took advantage of the chance to capture the vacant Lightweight title with the crushing of the very game competitor Joe Stevenson. After those wins he succeeded in finishing former Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk before clinically beating down and submitting Kenny Florian and embarrassing #1 contender Diego Sanchez. No disrespect to Frankie Edgar, Grey Maynard, or Tyson griffin but that about empties out the division with only wrestlers with interior boxing that may or may not be able to take him down left to fight. With no real interest in seeing this continue its about time now that he has a new found dedication to strength and conditioning that he could train and put on the weight the right way and return to the weight-class where had previously become champion. Although the size of his overall frame could become a problem in light of all the new aged huge welterweight's light Anthony Johnson, and Dan Hardy this would become a new challenge for BJ and something interesting for the fans to watch.

  After the performance on last Saturday night put in by Georges St. Pierre in dominating #1 contender Dan Hardy with not only his world-class take-downs but his superior wrestling, grappling, and ju-jitsu as well; its about time for a new challenge for GSP as well. During his reign as champion GSP has dominated top contenders who previously looked dominant themselves. During this period he dominated former Welterweight king Matt Hughes, dominated Josh Koschek, battered Jon Fitch, wore out BJ Penn, finished Matt Serra in the rematch, and really just demolished his weight class. GSP put on an MMA clinic against Thiago Alves and has taken out every #1 contender and now he's left to face challengers who haven't really deserved there shot at the title, because there the only opponents left after rematches with guys he's already destroyed. Paul "Semtex" Daley is a vicious striker with one-shot KO power but has to get through the tough task in Josh Koschek who will stand with him and if he feels inferior will utilize his wrestling ability to see what Daley is really about. Even if Daley gets through "Kos" their's no way GSP would give him a chance in the stand-up to catch him with strikes and their's an even lesser chance that Paul Daley will have a say in the matter because GSP will do the same thing he did to the rest of the heap at 170. The only thing a lot of people see as a relevant match-up would be to bring Jake Shields over from StrikeForce because of his wrestling ability and his own dominance in his fights, but that's only if he can get through Dan Henderson who most see Knocking Shields out. Personally i don't see this as a good match-up because Shields does not posses the striking prowess of GSP and although Shields has great wrestling, with all do respect he's no GSP on the ground. GSP is done at Welterweight and all challengers are just a formality at this point whereas if he jumped up to Middleweight he could take on Chael Sonnen because of his cardio & wrestling, Demian Maia because he is a huge threat to submit opponents off his back, Vitor Belfort because he's Vitor Belfort and this all could get him ready for what all the fans want to see which is a "SuperFight" with Anderson Silva.

  At 185 LBS. Andrson Silva is king. He is the longest reigning champion in the UFC, has the record for most title defenses, most consecutive victories in the UFC, and is widely considered the best pound for pound fighter in the world. Anderson Silva wants to move up to the 205 LB. division and he has openly talked about this, with his two ventures up to Light-Heavyweight being more destructive then the ones in his natural weight-class even though most believe 205 would be his natural weight-class. With Vitor Belfort having pulled out of the 112 card due to injury insteps Demian Maia a very one dimensional grappler himself who has very little chance to win this fight unless he can get this fight to the ground or has a crazy submission to throw a-la Ryo Chonen who threw a flying scissor heel-hook to be the last man to defeat Silva. Chael Sonnen battered Nate Marquardt who before many thought would be the one to push Silva the most before his defeat to Sonnen. But Sonnen's record shows that he is very very susceptible to being submitted if he lands on his back, Jeremy Horn, Renato Sobral, Paulo Filho, and Demian Maia all submitted Sonnen very quickly as soon as he was on his back. Anderson Silva is a dangerous ju-jitsu black belt and if that makes Sonnen weary of take-downs he would get more then dismantled on his feet against the Muay-Thai specialist. With Vitor Belfort being the only exciting fight left for Anderson Silva at Middleweight, its about time that he moves up to Light-Heavyweight especially if his close friend Lyoto Machida falls from the thrown in May against Shogun Rua. There would be a ton of great match-ups for him at 205 whether its Rashad, Rampage, Thiago Silva, Shogun, etc. It would be great for the fans as well as the UFC.