UFC Fight Night 24 Results: Ranking the Top 10 Welterweights in the UFC

In all, UFC Fight Night 24 showcased four welterweight fights.

Most notably, Anthony Johnson returned to the Octagon with a victory over Dan Hardy.

The fight was Johnson's first in more than 16 months, after a knee injury forced him out of a UFC Live on Versus 1 bout against John Howard. 

While the win was an important one for Johnson; beating Hardy, who has now lost three straight fights, was not quite enough to catapult him into these rankings.

Nevertheless, Johnson may be one win away from becoming a legitimate contender in the welterweight division.

10. Jake Ellenberger

Since joining the UFC, Jake Ellenberger's only loss has been a split decision to Carlos Condit.

Since that loss in September 2009, Ellenberger has gone 3-0 against stiff competition.

Ellenberger's UFC wins have come against Mike Pyle, John Howard and Carlos Eduardo Rocha.

In his most recent win over Rocha, Ellenberger injured both hands and is likely to be out of action for several months. 

9. Carlos Condit

Like Jake Ellenberger, Carlos Condit has also gone 3-0 since losing in his UFC debut.

After losing in a split decision against Martin Kampmann, Condit rattled off wins against Ellenberger, Rory McDonald and Dan Hardy.

Condit had been expected to face Chris Lytle at UFC 127 in Febraury 2011, but was forced out of that fight with a knee injury.

A new opponent has not yet been scheduled for Condit.

8. Martin Kampmann

After losing to Diego Sanchez in his last fight, Martin Kampmann has now lost two consecutive fights by narrow decisions.

In the fight prior to the one against Sanchez, Kampmann nearly pulled off an upset against top welterweight contender Jake Shields.

Kampmann holds wins over several notable UFC fighters including Carlos Condit, Jorge Rivera and Paulo Thiago.

7. Diego Sanchez

After losing to John Hathaway in his first fight since returning to welterweight, some began to question whether or not Diego Sanchez had made the right decision to leave the lightweight division.

Sanchez quickly answered those critics with back-to-back wins over Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann.

Although Sanchez's decision victory over Kampmann was controversial, his gutty performance showed that he can give any welterweight a tough fight.

6. Josh Koscheck

After winning consecutive fights against Frank Trigg, Anthony Johnson and Paul Daley, Josh Koscheck was defeated in a unanimous decision by UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre.

Two of Koscheck's five career losses have come at the hands of St-Pierre.

After said loss, Koscheck was forced to undergo corrective eye surgery.

As he is still recovering, Koscheck's next opponent has not been named.

5. Jake Shields

Jake Shields has won 15 straight fights dating back to December 2004.

During that streak, Shields has defeated welterweights such as Carlos Condit, Mike Pyle, Paul Daley and Martin Kampmann. 

However, it was his controversial decision win against Kampmann in his last fight that began to raise questions about just how good Shields really is.

That question will be answered at UFC 129 in April 2011, when Shields will fight Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship.

4. Thiago Alves

After losing in consecutive fights for the first time since his career began in 2001, Thiago Alves bounced back with a dominant win over John Howard at UFC 124 in December 2010.

Now, Alves is set to fight Rick Story at UFC 130 in May 2011.

In the last five years, Alves has only lost three times. Two of those losses came against Jon Fitch and the other was to Georges St-Pierre.

3. B.J. Penn

Since losing two straight fights to Frankie Edgar, B.J. Penn has looked rejuvenated at welterweight.

After knocking out Matt Hughes in their rubber match, Penn battled to a draw with Jon Fitch, who is widely considered the best welterweight in the UFC not named Georges St-Pierre.

Penn and Fitch will now fight in a rematch at UFC 132 in July 2011.

The winner of their first meeting had been promised a title shot, but no such statement has been made regarding the rematch.

2. Jon Fitch

With his draw against B.J. Penn, Jon Fitch's five-fight winning streak came to an end.

However, Fitch has still only lost one fight in more than seven years and that came against Georges St-Pierre.

Fitch will now fight Penn once again at UFC 132.

With a win over Penn in the first fight, Fitch would have received a long-requested title shot. That may not be the case with a win in the rematch.

1. Georges St-Pierre

Georges St-Pierre will attempt to defend his title for a sixth consecutive time when he faces Jake Shields at UFC 129.

A win over Shields could potentially mean a superfight between St-Pierre and Anderson Silva.

However, St-Pierre has recently lightened talks of the dream matchup by saying that he would need time to gain weight for a middleweight or catchweight fight.

Regardless, St-Pierre will need to beat Shields before that fight can even happen.

UFC Fight Night 24: Results, News and More

Sean Smith is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, you can follow Sean on Twitter @BR_Sean_Smith