UFC on Versus Results: Despite Win, Diego Sanchez Not a Top 10 UFC Welterweight
Diego Sanchez won a unanimous decision over Martin Kampmann last night at UFC on Versus. Despite Sanchez coming out of the fight looking like he had been in a violent car accident, all three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of the Ultimate Fighter season one winner.
The decision came in very controversial fashion as most fans, experts, and even Joe Rogan himself expressed that he thought Kampmann had won the fight.
Sanchez recently returned to the Greg Jackson’s “Jackson Submission Fighting” team for his previous fight with Paulo Thiago, citing a desire to take fighting more seriously again. He lost a unanimous decision to John Hathaway in his previous fight and mentioned that he was drinking heavily and not committing to training like he should.
Sanchez looked hungrier last night than he did in the Hathaway fight, but he still wasn’t back to the “Nightmare” that we remember him being early in his UFC career when it appeared he was destined to be a champion.
With the controversy of the decision, it’s hard to really move Sanchez up too much in the UFC welterweight rankings. In fact, I wouldn’t even put him in the top 10.
Here are the top 10 current welterweights in the UFC followed by a breakdown of where Diego “The Dream” Sanchez stands.
10. Dong Hyun Kim
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Undefeated South Korean Dong Hyun Kim cracks the list at 10th.
At 5-0 in the UFC, he has defeated Nate Diaz and Amir Sadollah, two former Ultimate Fighter season winners, in back-to-back fights.
Though each of his past four wins have come by way of decision, Kim has shown off some impressive judo and wrestling skills that have allowed him to control his opponents.
Kim isn’t the most well-known fighter on this list but he is getting to the level that his next fight may be against one of the higher-ranked welterweights in the UFC. He defeated Nate Diaz relatively easily in his last fight and the only loss of his career, against Karo Parisyan, was negated when Parisyan tested positive in a post-fight drug test.
9. Jake Ellenberger
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Jake Ellenberger made his UFC debut at UFC: Fight Night 19 when he lost a split decision to Carlos Condit. Ellenberger had been on a five fight winning streak going into his debut in the promotion and took the fight on short notice, replacing the injured Chris Lytle.
Ellenberger looked good even in defeat as dominated the first round, knocking Condit around with a few big punches. In the end though, he fell short on two of the three judges’ scorecards.
Even with the loss, Ellenberger impressed the UFC enough for them to bring him back. He has since been on a three fight win streak, defeating Mike Pyle, John Howard, and Carlos Eduardo Rocha.
He was expected to get his shot at a big-name fighter in his last bout but his fight with Jon Fitch was canceled when Fitch was matched up against BJ Penn instead. When he recovers from his hand injuries, Ellenberger could be in line for a big opportunity in his next fight.
8. Dan Hardy
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2010 was a tough year for Dan Hardy. After going on a seven fight win streak going into the year, Hardy was matched up against pound-for-pound king and UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 111.
St. Pierre put on a clinic, dominating the fight for five rounds in what had to be the longest 25 minutes of Hardy’s life. The only good thing that really came out of the fight for “The Outlaw” was that he may have gained some fans by refusing to tap out in numerous painful-looking submissions.
Things got worse for Hardy in his next fight when he was viciously knocked out in the first round by Carlos Condit at UFC 120.
But even with the tough year, Hardy is ready to get back in the cage and will face the returning Anthony “Rumble” Johnson at UFC Fight Night: Seattle later this month. A win would put him right back on track as one of the UFC’s top welterweights.
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7. Carlos Condit
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As the final WEC Welterweight Champion, Carlos Condit easily makes this list as one of the top 10 welterweight fighters in the UFC today.
He has amassed an impressive record of 11-1 in his last 12 fights, including three straight wins in the UFC over Dan Hardy, Jake Ellenberger and Rory McDonald. McDonald was undefeated going into their fight at UFC 115 but was knocked out with just seconds remaining in the third round in a fight that earned Fight of the Night honors.
Condit does have a loss against Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut in Apr. 2009 but it was an extremely competitive fight that really could have gone either way.
“The Natural Born Killer” was expected to face Chris Lytle at UFC 127 but had to be pulled from the card after suffering a knee injury while training. When Condit returns, he should get a shot at another top 10 fighter.
6. Josh Koscheck
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A perennial top contender, Josh Koscheck is currently on the shelf after a punishing loss to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 124. Koscheck and St. Pierre were the two coaches on The Ultimate Fighter season 12 which helped fuel the fire of their already pre-existing rivalry.
Early in the fight, St. Pierre caught Koscheck with a punch that broke his orbital bone, causing Koscheck to be unable to see out of that eye for most of the fight.
Koscheck is expected to be back during the middle of the year but has expressed a hunger to get back in the cage as soon as possible. He was unsatisfied with his performance in his last title shot and will need to work his way back up to the top and may need to be even more dominant in his fights to get another title shot.
5. BJ Penn
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When BJ Penn made his return to the welterweight division, he was coming off a two-fight losing streak. In those fights, he lost his UFC Lightweight title and was thoroughly dominated in the rematch a few months later. But his return to welterweight was a successful one as he avenged a previous loss by knocking Matt Hughes out early in the first round.
There has never been any doubt that BJ Penn is one of the most talented fighters on the planet. Penn’s combination of boxing, wrestling, and unbelievable Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills make him not only extremely dangerous, but also very difficult to train for.
Jon Fitch got a taste of this during their fight at UFC 128 when Penn shocked him by taking the wrestling to him in a fight when almost everyone expected Penn to try to win the fight standing up.
Penn and Fitch fought to a draw with Dana White and some others later announcing that they believe Penn had actually defeated the consensus No. 2 welterweight in the world. A rematch may be in the cards down the road but nothing official has been announced yet.
4. Thiago Alves
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Thiago Alves has proven himself to be one of the best welterweights in the world since joining the UFC in late 2005. With a 10-4 record in the UFC, he definitely deserves his spot as the No. 4 ranked fighter in the division.
Alves has only lost three fights since losing his first fight in the company to Spencer Fisher in Oct. 2005. While he has beaten such top welterweights as Chris Lytle, Karo Parisyan, Matt Hughes, and Josh Koscheck; Alves’ losses have come to UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and likely No. 1 contender Jon Fitch (twice).
One of the biggest questions with Alves is his ability to make weight. He has missed the 170 pound limit twice in his last five fights and also tested positive for a banned diuretic in 2006 when he was attempting to lose water weight for his fight against Tony DeSouza.
Alves is expected to face Rick Story at UFC 130 and could elevate himself back into the title discussion with a win and perhaps one or two more wins against top competition.
3. Jake Shields
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The former Strikeforce Middleweight and EliteXC Welterweight champion, Jake Shields made his successful debut in the Octagon at UFC 129. In the bout, he narrowly edged out Martin Kampmann to win a fairly controversial split decision.
Kampmann has proven to be a very legitimate fighter despite his back-to-back decision losses to Shields and now Diego Sanchez but the question now arises—is Jake Shields really ready to face the best of the best in the UFC?
We’ll find out at UFC 129 when he faces Georges St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship.
During his unbelievable 15-fight win streak, Shields has put together wins over some of the best fighters in the world, including Toby Imada, Carlos Condit, Yushin Okami, Mike Pyle, Paul Daley, Robbie Lawler, Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Dan Henderson.
His fight with St. Pierre will unquestionably be the most difficult of his career. If he wins, he will instantly shoot to the top of the welterweight rankings and he may be in serious contention as the best pound-for-pound fighter in all of MMA.
2. Jon Fitch
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Jon Fitch has been hovering between the No. 2 and No. 5 ranked welterweight in the world for years now. Currently on a 21-1-1 streak, Fitch has truly cemented himself as one of the most difficult to defeat fighters in the history of the sport.
Fitch uses smothering wrestling skills and ground-and-pound to win his fights but many fans and even experts have become sick and tired of the fact that he has now failed to finish nine straight opponents after fighting to a draw with BJ Penn last weekend.
Fitch completely dominated the fight and arguably deserved to be given the win but was unable to finish Penn in the third and final round—a round in which he had a completely exhausted Penn on his back for nearly the entire round.
Certainly the records indicate that Fitch deserves the next title shot but who knows what Dana White will do after he has publicly denounced Fitch’s style and proclaimed that he believes Penn won the fight.
1. Georges St. Pierre
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The top ranking on this list should come as no surprise. Georges St. Pierre has completely run through the UFC’s welterweight division in recent years on his way to becoming perhaps the best pound-for-pound fighter in the history of the sport, let alone right now.
St. Pierre has repeatedly faced the top welterweights in the world and has made it look relatively easy, other than his flash knockout loss to Matt Serra and a toughly-contested split decision over BJ Penn in their first fight.
St. Pierre has since completely outclassed both Penn and Serra in rematches, leaving no question who the better fighter was.
If he defeats Jake Shields at UFC 129, which is no easy task, St. Pierre is expected to face UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva in a bout that will end all questions of who the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world truly is.
So Where Does Diego Sanchez Stand?
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With Diego Sanchez not cracking the top 10 welterweights in the UFC, he really isn’t anywhere near being back to the title discussion.
He may have won the fight against Kampmann on the judges’ scorecards but fans, experts, and stat-tracking websites such as CompuStrike and Fight-Metric both scored the fight in favor of Kampmann.
Sanchez still appears to be making his transition back to 170 pounds and seemed to be carrying around a noticeable amount of body fat that we certainly are not used to seeing from him at 155 or even at 170. He looked slower than usual in his fight with Kampmann and his face at the end of the bout was one of the most horrific-looking sights in MMA history.
At this point, one could argue that there are a handful of fighters who didn’t crack the top 10 that are still ranked above Diego Sanchez.
Fighters like Mike Pyle, Matt Hughes, and John Hathaway could all be fairly easily argued as being better than Sanchez at welterweight. Even Anthony Johnson, who hasn’t fought since 2009, could potentially leapfrog Sanchez if he’s able to defeat Dan Hardy at UFC Fight Night: Seattle later this month.
Though he was given the win in the fight, there is even a real question on whether or not Sanchez should even be ranked above Martin Kampmann. With most of the experts and stat-tracking websites scoring the fight for Kampmann, it’s hard to really give Sanchez too much credit. To answer that question, a rematch may very well be in order.
But for now, Diego Sanchez is not only outside the top 10, he’s probably going to need a big win against a top fighter to get there.
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