UFC Champs: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Challengers
By Curtis Clontz on May 21, 2008
In the Ultimate Fighting Championship there are 6 champions if you include the one interim champion. It is time to take a look at the top, what makes them great, and who could be the next to beat them!
The UFC’s lightweight division is comprised of fighters that range in weight from 145 to 155 pounds and the current champion is “The Prodigy” B.J. Penn. Penn is considered to most, to be the greatest American practitioner of Ju Jitsu (possibly ever). His amazing flexibility allows him to snake away from opponents and place his limbs in abnormal positions and keep him in control on the ground. Many fighters claim that they can finish a fight from any position; Penn is surely one of them! His highly underrated standup game could pose problems for anyone. He throws bombs and can knock an opponent out if he can’t get them to the ground. His only true weakness comes in the terms of his heart. He is known to gas early and under train for fights. It is said that early in his career, his conditioning workouts were surfing. Aloha means hello and aloha means goodbye, Penn could be saying aloha to his title in his next fight which is against Sean “The Muscle Shark”, Sherk. Matchups make fights and this could be the wrong time to go swimming. The muscle shark will look to test Penn’s conditioning, and will probably come at Penn 110% from bell to bell. This could mean bad things are on the horizon for this Hawaiian hero.
The next weight division in MMA’s best organization is the welterweight division which is made of up fighters from 155 to 170 pounds. The current champion is Canadian wrestling extraordinaire George St. Pierre. GSP has showed that you can learn to wrestle with the best around as he out wrestled the most decorated college wrestler in the UFC in Josh Koscheck. GSP has a decent standup game (I know, just wait), a great ground game, and an entire country on his back. GSP has been the top dog since dethroning the 170 pound king Matt Hughes. Anytime you are considered the best in a weight class with a fighter such as Matt Hughes you have achieved something! GSP’s has two large weaknesses; his chin and his mentality. Against Matt Serra at UFC 69 he was rocked by a great punch which led to his defeat and title loss! His other glaring weakness is his mental state. He has been called a “mental midget” by Serra, and GSP is considered to be weak minded. This leads many to believe that when pushed he will fold. One person in this division that is a sure danger to GSP is Jon Fitch. Fitch is undefeated since making the move to the American Kickboxing Academy and is on a run with his eyes on the title. His strong kickboxing and wrestling could challenge GSP and force the fight to go into the later rounds. If this is the case and GSP is mentally weak, then he could be in trouble.
The next step in the weight ladder is the middle weight division. This division contains the most dominate MMA fighter in the world at any weight class as its champion. Anderson “The Spider” Silva is on a tear since stepping across the pond and into the octagon. Unlike many of the Pride guys that have came over, he has flourished in the cage. His striking is considered top 3 if not 1 in the world! Like Penn he can finish a fight from any position, but his standup is far superior that Penn’s. He has beat the All American Rich Franklin twice, and Olympic caliber wrestler Dan Henderson. At this point in time it does not appear that Anderson has a weakness, but everyone does. In his 4 losses in his career, 2 of these were by submission. It could be that the blind squirrel found the nut, and everyone makes mistakes. The only weakness (and you have to look hard) would be his ground game. He is a black belt, but he was close to losing to former UFC fighter Travis Lutter. The last time he went on a tear similar than the one he is now, he lost after winning 8 in a row. He has won 7 in a row. Such a streak could lead to him becoming complacent and weaken his training resulting in a loss. His most dangerous opponent is his last win. Dan Henderson is the only person in his division at this time that can push him. In this division it is Silva………….then everyone else. Many believe that he has to change weight classes before he will be challenged again.
The next and deepest weight division in the world is the UFC’s light heavy weight division. The division that was led by Chuck Liddell is now owned by former Pride fighter and TUF coach Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Rampage dropped Chuck in the first round and took his title. Since then he has only put it on the line once, which was against Dan Henderson. Rampage has yet to show that he can dominate this division and hold the title for an extensive amount of time. His next fight is against Forrest Griffin, but many don’t feel that Forrest has too much for Jackson. It will be a great fight but in the end Rampage will be the victor. Rampage has several chinks in his armor. The biggest is his lack of a ground game. He can ground and pound but has a limited ju jitsu background and that can hurt him. Another that many believe will hurt him in the end is his love for the sport. It is no secret that Rampage is in it for the money. Similar to other fighters it will be interesting how he defends his title in the 4th or 5th round against a fighter such as Jardine or Wand that will push you throughout the fight.
The biggest in terms of weight and weakest in terms of talent is the UFC’s heavy weight division. This weight class has done some recent remodeling. The losses of Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, Mirko Cro Cop, the possible loss of Arlovski, and the failure to sign Fedor really hurt this division. The current champion is Randy Couture but he will never fight in the UFC again. The interim champion is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Since joining the UFC he has been on the verge of disaster in every single fight, but has somehow managed to win both! His weakness is his ability to seemingly be on the edge and quickly recover, this doesn’t sound like a weakness but it could lead to his own demise. If Frank Mir somehow rocks Nog and he seems out, the ref could stop it. This could lead to his loss of the title. Mir more than likely won’t be the one to do this, but Brandon Vera, or another fighter with a solid striking game could be the one.
In the UFC it is a constant struggle to get to the top and stay their. Few will succeed and many will fail. The same goes for the organization. They are the current champion but new organizations are forming with a plan to take over as top place to fight. The best thing about the sport is not the champions, but the fact that anyone can lose on any given night, and everyone has a punchers chance.
When are people going to give up on the GSP is mentally weak bullshit? That’s getting pretty old. No one bothered to give him the benefit of the doubt that perhaps the situations that affected him in his life prior to the Serra fight were true and he was just being honest. Since the first Serra fight GSP’s gone on to dominate the top of the welterweight division showing none of this mental weakness you speak of. Try fighting in front of 22,000 hometown fans against the man who knocked you out and see if you fold. Did he? NO. He manhandled him and handled the pressure inside and outside of the octagon. And a weak chin? Does Chuck Liddell have a weak chin cause Rampage knocked him out? Must be because according to your logic a fighter only needs to get knocked out once in order to qualify as having a weak chin (or actually knocked down- like GSP who wasn’t actually knocked out). Guess there’s lots of weak chins in the UFC aren’t there?
Come up with some more creativity with your argument next time.
Chris,
Thanks for the reply.
I am sorry that you don’t agree with the GSP comments.
You can’t blame me for our society. In the view of public opinion athletes typically are seen as guilty well before they are tried. Did Barry Bonds receive the benefit of the doubt regarding roids? How about Roger Clemens or Sean Sherk? Nope, no benefit their (especially Sherk)
GSP is one of the top 3 fighters in the UFC. However, he has shown his mental state could be a chink in his armor. When has he been tested? I mean in a real barn burner where he could lose by decision? When has he been in a submission and fought to hang on before the bell? When has he been rocked and recovered? Until he does some of these things his mental strength will always be in question.
Challengers. I’m not Mr. Grammar at all, but the title of your post should be close to perfect. Who knows how many errors I have in this comment.
^Chuck is absolutely right. Many sports writers tend to believe their own theories concerning a fighter then other writers pick up on what was already written and cite it as a fact. Reiterating certain tidbits about fighters as if MMA fighters are not beings capable of change.
People tend to forget Anderson Silva issue’s with his knees. But then again, he doesn’t talk about it himself. So yeah, Lutter “nearly” beat Rich Franklin. He was able to hang with Rich Franklin.
Although I am a fan of Anderson Silva, he has yet to “clean out” the division as Dana and many would like us to believe. There are many that he did not fight like Patrick Cote, Demian Maia, etc. Styles makes fights right, maybe Cote has the chance of rocking and dropping Silva. You never know.
The upcoming Affliction card IS the UFC Heavyweight division.
The last fighter that I’ve seen actually GO at a fighter bell to bell was Diego Sanchez against Jon Fitch. That was exciting.
Vee,
Thanks man, I will have that fixed.
Sports writers def do that, but that is my opinion.
Lutter was just as close in finishing Silva as he was Franklin if not closer. Either way his conditioning and lack of an all around game had as much to do with him getting cut as his losses.
I do howeveer feel that in that division there are 3 different tiers. 1 is obviously Silva. He is on a tear and is showing that he is the best fighter by far in that division. Second, is Rich and Hendo. I would like to see them fight (Even though I think Hendo would take it very decisively). Then you have everyone else. The problem is, the Maia, Herman, and McDonald (the next level), can’t beat Franklin or Hendo, let alone Silva.
Easy there Chuck. It’s commenters like you who make me lean towards just disabling comments on the site until readers can provide constructive criticism. It’s cool to disagree and provide your opinion, but you can be just as “wrong” or lacking the same creativity as Curtis when it comes to opinion with your response. Chill out and have some fun.
I also fixed the title which I completely missed as well.
Curtis, even though McDonald can’t beat Franklin or Hendo, wouldn’t it still be cool to watch McDonald, Maia, Cote, Almeida and Kampmann match up against Silva. Who says Silva or Franklin should move to a different weight division? Silva admitted that he probably has a couple of years left and considering injuries and other issues that stalls fights . . . Do we really want to potential rematches? I never really cared for the whole let’s prove who’s the best because its not like Anderson Silva will be facing Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, or Kang.
That’s good, 3 tiers. I wonder why Leben hasn’t been considered for match ups against Hendo or Franklin, considering his recent improvement, durability and ignoring his recent arrest.
As far as the Light Heavy weight division is concerned, I really think that any of the top contenders can possibility win the title. So if Forrest beats Rampage, I will not be surprised.
I love the light weight division. Go Guida, Huerta, Sherk, Penn, Florian, etc.
Vee,
I liked the way McDonald came up. He was supposed to be a stepping stone and turned out to be far from that. If you look at it like Tiger Woods and people watch just to see if he can be beat then I think it is interesting, but at the same time if Silva is winning every fight in 1 minute then it will turn some fans off to him.
During season 1 of TUF I couldn’t stand Leben, but as I re-watch the season, and see him fight you have to root for the guy. He never gives up and the heart he shows in his fights is amazing. You may like this article if you are a Leben fan (http://www.mmaopinion.com/2008/02/26/chris-leben-deserving-of-the-main-card/)
Think about how many people now know what spritzing is…..haha
I agree with the 205 division too, good thoughts. Anyone can be top dog in that class. Rampage, Forrest, Wand, Chuck, and I think Jardine is underrated too!
As much as I hate to see Penn win over and over again, if he dominated Sherk he could separate himself from the rest of that division similarly to the way Silva has. I would say Penn is the 3rd best all around fighter in the UFC. Guida is fun to watch. I am not sure about Huerta yet, I love Sherk, KenFlo, and Joe Daddy! It amazes me how far that division has come over the past year.
Apologies for the personal attack on the author of the article.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion that GSP’s mental game is questionable however I believe that he showed great tenacity in his fight with BJ Penn. Having a busted nose and one eye swollen up from an inadvertent eye poke against someone as dangerous as Penn certainly has to be a scary situation. GSP persevered and pulled out the win- albeit a potentially controversial one. I believe however that people hold GSP to an abnormally high standard of accountability and scrutiny in terms of his actions both in and out of the ring. Having seen the forums full of people piling on to the “GSP is mentally weak” bandwagon as soon as he opened his mouth about it was overwhelming to say the least.
Ultimately I believe that defensive posturing for anybody’s favorite fighter is natural. People love to put their heroes on a pedestal and perceive them as invincible but for some reason many MMA fans seem to be a fickle bunch. Perhaps the excessive backlash against GSP was a result of just that.
Chuck,
It’s all good, I understand your emotion seeing that GSP is your favorite fighter.
GSP has only lost twice. Once by arm bar and the other by TKO. He is a devastating fighter that truly doesn’t have many flaws. It is unfortunate but the media and many fans/ haters search deep for flaws that may or may not be there.
GSP is held to a high standard but he is a champion in the best MMA organization. He is a professional athlete and gets paid well. The high expectations and scrutiny are just small things that go along with the territory. Some people deal with it very well (Brett Favre, Liddell), others don’t (Mike Tyson, Terrell Owens, Randy Johnson)
Curtis, good piece, but there are some things that I think you’re just straight up wrong about.
Obviously, people have commented on the mental capacity of Georges St. Pierre, acting as though his second loss to Serra was a mental failure. After watching that fight about twenty billion times (yes, I’m exagerrating, but not by a whole helluva lot), that fight had nothing to do with the mental warfare and everything to do with the fact that Serra showed up with a gameplan that involved counterpunching and cutting inside on St. Pierre’s striking.
Oh, and as for St. Pierre’s admittedly mental loss to Matt Hughes, it’s clear that he’s a little more mature than that now. So please, get over it. There are other weaknesses in his game, I promise. I’ll explore those another time.
As far as Anderson’s grappling being a weakness, I think that you’re just flat wrong about that. Yes, Lutter mounted him, but Anderson’s defense from that position was great. He saved face and in the next round he submitted Lutter. If he had actually been outgrappled by Lutter, then I’d be more inclined to agree with you, but the fact that he smashed Lutter on the ground in the second just shows that all of this ridiculous concern over his wrestling is flat wrong.
I originally suspected that someone would beat Anderson off of his back, but I knew Nate Marquardt wasn’t going to be the guy to do it. Honestly, I think that Nate’s back game is okay, but it’s not out of this world.
Anderson, like GSP, has weaknesses and there are alot of guys feverishly clinging to both of their sacks right now, but they do most definitely have weaknesses.
I think you’re insane to believe that we will see Rampage go to a fourth or fifth against Jardine. Maybe against Wanderlei, but that’s doubtful too since Wanderlei hasn’t really gotten the feel for the cage yet. Page is aggressive and without someone like Henderson holding him down (which neither Jardine or Wanderlei can do) Rampage will get a KO.
As for Nog, I agree that Mir has the best shot at beating Nog if he lands a big punch. The other guy in this division that I think isn’t considered a contender, but can beat Nog if he develops substantial wrestling, is Cheick Kongo. It has nothing to do with whether Cheick can hang on the ground, because he can’t, and we all know that. If he can keep the fight standing, he hits hard and quick and could very well put Nog out or win a decision.
Still, I think Nog gets a substantial benefit of the doubt when he fights and the refs don’t protect him as early, so as far as getting a bad stoppage on Nog, I don’t think that will happen. If we do see Nog get stopped, it’ll be legit, because the ref definitely doesn’t want to be the guy that f*cks Nog’s stoppageless streak unless he really has to.
Josh,
Great reply, best by far to this point!
GSP still needs to show that he is mentally tough before I come around. I am a huge Hughes fan, that may have something to do with it…haha
As for Jackson, I think the fight could be similar to the Jardine and Liddell fight. If so, then I think it would benefit Jardine more than Rampage. I am not completely sold on the UFC Wand. I loved him in Pride but he still has to show it in the cage. I almost put money down on Jardine this weekend…
Seriously Nog SHOULD be the beneficiary of a weak division and hold the title for awhile. I thought about Kongo, but the way he was embarrassed in his last fight it changed my mind.
Josh thanks again for the reply! I like comments like these. Maybe Chris will pay attention and understand how to respectfully criticize. Josh me and you def have different views on many MMA topics, but those are the things that makes this fun.
Yeah, I see where you’re coming from.
As far as Jardine vs. Rampage being similar to Jardine vs. Liddell, I think you’re overlooking how incredibly different those two strikings styles are.
Liddell is a counterpuncher and so Jardine had the opportunity to work combos and leg kicks. Rampage will push the action much more and I think that will make for a much harder fight for Jardine.
Why does GSP need to show his mental toughness?
He hasn’t buckled since the Hughes fight, if you acknowledge that Serra’s win came from a legitimate technical strategy, as I do. Even so, he’s kicked the crap out of the only two guys he’s lost too. I think we’re past his mental issues. If they come up again, then we’ll see. Still, I think there are technical ways to beat him.
You’ve given me a great idea, so my next piece is going to get written soon.
As for guys like chuck, whatever. People’s emotions get out of control when they talk about MMA, like any other sport. I’ve learned to ignore it, pick them apart and move on.
I see conversations like fights. If your opponent is calm and technical, that’s great, you’ll have a great fight. If he’s not, you pick him apart cooly, slowly and viciously, until there’s nothing left.
Anyway, he apologized. I’m over it.
Josh,
You are correct, they are far different in striking styles. Do you feel that Wand will be able to pin him in a bad position in the cage and take advantage? I tend to think that Jardine will be able to use the leg kicks to keep his distance and be able to work Wand…If not he will be crushed and we can all laugh at my prediction…haha (I tend to over hype the underdog)
I will be looking for your article.
As far as the Wanderlei vs. Jardine fight, I think that this is the worst possible matchup for Wanderlei, because of Keith’s fighting styles. I don’t think that Wanderlei is going to be able to corner Keith for the same reason he wasn’t really able to corner Chuck (though he got close a few times).
If Wanderlei does beat Keith, it will be in the clinch. Wanderlei’s open distance striking is very good, but Keith is, as you mentioned, going to use those leg kicks and that’s going to make it hard for Wanderlei to use his best attack possible.
I agree with you that Jardine will win this fight, because I’m not convinced that Wanderlei has gotten over his issues with the cage, or that his fighting style will ever allow him to do that. I talked about that in my other piece.
Still, Wanderlei is a great fighter, he’s just not suited for the cage.
Either way I can’t wait for the fight!!!
Good article, I disagree with a few things but hey MMA has so many facets to it, it’s pretty hard to get consensus even with your clone.
You just plain could have skipped the HW division or rather just discussed the Affliction HW division. Really the UFC only has 3 HW fighters. Nog, Mir and Kongo. I don’t count Vera because I see him as a LHW, but ok, you can count him in. With Randy in limbo, Fedor, Aleks, Timmy (maybe AA) over at Affliction, that makes their division far and away the best. Throw in Rothwell whom I’ve never seen fight since I don’t get IFL in my part of the world and you’ve got the dream HW division that UFC really should have. But you were talking about UFC so….
Oh yeah, Hunt and Kharitonov too. Hope they make it to the next Affliction card.
Actually I think Mir’s stand up is so poor that I can’t imagine him hitting Nog. Nog on the other hand has great stand up so he could end the fight that way. It is interesting that the place Mir wants to take the fight to is the place where he’s finally fighting somebody better than he is.
You comment on BJ having underrated striking skills. I don’t at all think they’re underrated. They are extremely well known and well documented. Highlight reel KO over Caol Uno, out striking GSP and Hughes (not that out striking Hughes is much to talk about), he stood toe to toe with Machida. His boxing is fantastic, really fast, really accurate and his punches are really hard. I think he probably has the best boxing skills in the LW division so I’m certain nobody underrates them.
I won’t beat you up on the mental side of GSP but I agree with the other posters. GSP has never shown a mental weakness. He did succumb to an armbar from Hughes when he was young but did that shake him for the next and the next meetings with Hughes? He completely devastated Hughes in both. His comeback against (a gassed) BJ showed incredible heart. He got caught by Serra and what did he do as an encore. Dominated Kos, destroyed Hughes and destroyed Serra. Hmmm, very weak minded indeed.
Suggesting that until he comes back from a near sub or recovering from brutal hit he’s not mentally stable is silly. You can’t penalize him for not getting in those positions often, the guy is so good he destroys everybody in his path.
Ooops, I said I wouldn’t beat you up about GSP but hey, you got me started.
Just one comment on the LHW division that hasn’t been mentioned. Guys like Machida and even Thiago Silva are also very real threats to the division. Ok, more than one comment. It will be really interesting to see how Jardine does against Wand. This could really be a coming out party for Jardine, he beat Forrest but was generally losing the fight before knocking him out, he definitely got caught by Houston and did out point Liddle so he’s a bit on the fence right now as to has he really reached the upper echelons or not. Perhaps his time with Greg Jackson’s camp will help him reach it. Also, he is one big big dude. I watched a vid of him training, that guy looks seriously strong. I really think Wand isn’t going to win this one. No ropes to hold on to, no stomps, no knees on the ground, no ropes to bounce off. This has a Jardine win written all over it.
[...] UFC Champs: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Challengers [...]
I can see how Machida could be a threat, but if the organization doesn’t want him to be a threat, they’ll keep giving him gatekeepers long before he gets a shot.
There’s a huge different between Machida and ex and current UFC champs like St. Pierre, Liddell, Rampage, Penn, Sherk, and Silva. They all have an explosive personality in the cage; something that Machida currently lacks.