UFC 138 Results: Thiago Alves and the 5 Hardest-Hitting Welterweights

What is not to love about the welterweight division?  You have incredible wrestlers like John Fitch and Josh Koscheck, slick Jiu-Jitsu practitioners like Nick Diaz and Jake Shields and big power strikers to boot. 

Although Thiago Alves may have just put away Papy Abedi with a submission, his Muay Thai made him famous.  Where does he sit in the pecking order of the welterweight division’s greatest power punchers?

Let’s rank the top five and find out.

No. 5: Carlos Condit

One thing about Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit—he’s a finisher.  He’s got but one decision tucked away in his 27 victories and that one to Jake Ellenberger, who is also on a tear.

The remainder of his finishes are evenly split between submissions and knockouts with 13 a piece.  In all, 48 percent of Condit’s victories come by way of knockout.  Further, he has dropped or pounded out his last three opponents in the UFC, including a beautiful knockout of Dan Hardy.

No. 4: Thiago Alves

While Alves, always the growing fighter, has been adding Jiu-Jitsu to his assault of late, which resulted in the strangling of Papy Abedi just a few hours ago, his standup inspires dread.   

Watching Thiago teach his opponents Muy Thai the hard way is an absolute pleasure.  The bruised alum from Pitbull University include Matt Hughes, Karo Parisyan, Chris Lytle and Tony DeSouza.

Of his 19 wins, 11 are (T)KOs, or 58 percent.

No. 3: Anthony Johnson

At 6’2” with a 78” inch reach, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is a gargantuan welterweight.  One quick look at him and you can see he truly belongs in the middleweight division where he will be making his debut at UFC 142.  Nevertheless, while fighting as a welterweight he racked up a record as imposing as his form.  

Johnson, a decorated collegiate wrestler, has found a great deal of success in punching people really, really hard.  He has only had 13 fights in his career of which 10 have been wins; be that as it may, of those 10 wins, three have come via TKO and four have come by way Ko  That is seven of 10 (T)KOs, a full 70 percent.

No. 2: Jake Ellenberger

In addition to ranking No. 3 on this esteemed list, the pride of Omaha Nebraska, Jake “The Juggernaut” Ellenberger is also the No. 3 ranked welterweight by Fight Metric. 

Ellenberger, who is on track to challenge for the welterweight strap in the very near future, has recently made headlines disparaging Nick Diaz as reported here in Bleacher Report. 

He is the proud owner of 26 wins with 17 (T)KOs.  While that 65 percent knockout rate is very impressive, when you take into account that two of his five submission victories are from strikes (i.e. he hit Deryk Riply and Sean Huffman so hard they tapped), that raises his strikerelated victories to 19, or 73 percent. 

A Pause for Arianni Celeste

She's not a welterweight but she can drop any man with nothing but a single smoldering look.

No. 1: Paul Daley

If Queer Street were on a Monopoly board Paul "Semtex" Daley would own hotels. 

Presently sliding down the Fight Metric rankings to No. 21, Daley threw away a chance at super-stardom when he attacked Josh Koscheck after the bell at UFC 113 back in May of 2010. 

Banned from the world’s premier MMA organization, Daley fights for Ringside and BAMMA after having dropped two decisions in Strikeforce. 

Despite this string of hard times, Daley holds a terrifying 69 (T)KO-of-wins percentage.  He has won 29 fights and has 20 (T)KOs.  In addition, the only two submissions on his records are taps due to an elbow and a body punch.  That raises his strike related victories to 22 or 29, or 75 percent. 

The upside for Daley’s opponents is that it is likely to be over quickly.