Hughes vs. Sanchez in the works for 2011
Posted by Drew Ellis (04/28/2011 @ 12:08 pm)
In a little bit of surprising news, MMAMania is reporting that the UFC is working on a future bout between welterweights Matt Hughes and Diego Sanchez.
Hughes, a current UFC Hall of Famer and former welterweight champion, is coming off a 21-second knockout loss to B.J. Penn at UFC 123, but had won his last three fights prior to that.
Sanchez is coming off back-to-back decision wins over Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann. He is 2-1 since making his return to welterweight after losing to Penn for the lightweight championship back in December of 2009.
This fight would be intriguing as Sanchez has a high motor and is somewhat reckless. He relies on his grappling and pressure to really win fights, but will be facing a stronger grappler in Hughes. Hughes also shows more composure and patience with his fighting.
I am a little surprised to see Hughes taking this fight as I felt like he was leaning toward retirement following the loss to Penn. If he was to fight again, I thought it would be more along the lines of another fight with Matt Serra or a fight against an older fighter to allow himself a better chance to go out on a win. This is a tough fight for Hughes, but is still one that he can win.
Top 10 Welterweight Rankings
Posted by Drew Ellis (04/27/2011 @ 8:56 pm)
This week I turn my rankings to the welterweight division.
Like my middleweight rankings, the No. 1 spot is quite obvious and everyone else isn’t really all that close.
Still, here is my take. If you need to go back and find my pound-for-pound, heavyweight, or light heavyweight rankings, click on the links.
1. Georges St. Pierre (21-2) – GSP is the clear leader of this group and close to being the best fighter in any weight class. I would argue that St. Pierre is the most complete fighter in all of MMA as he exhibits diverse striking, superior wrestling, and solid submission skills. The beauty of GSP is, he is always looking for ways to evolve and stay ahead of the game and I am curious to see how he attacks his UFC 129 fight with Jake Shields this Saturday.
2. Jon Fitch (23-3-1) – Fitch is the fighter that can do no right. All he does is win, for the most part, but he isn’t able to do it in a flashy fashion, so he is often overlooked. He dominated B.J. Penn in the third round of their fight in February, but a slow start forced a draw and unfinished business. If St. Pierre is to beat Shields and move up to middleweight, I would suspect that Fitch is the favorite to become the new 170-pound champion in the UFC.
3. Jake Shields (26-4-1) – I am still a little unsure of what to think about Shields. He has some impressive wins, but I think he is kidding himself if he thinks getting St. Pierre to the ground is going to be a walk in the park. He is a world-class grappler, but I would dare say he is one of the worst strikers in the division. You would think a guy of his talents would really work at striking to become a complete fighter, but he still clerly lacks in that department. A win over St. Pierre on Saturday would be an upset, but it would surely catapult him to the top of my rankings.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Fighters, Strikeforce, UFC
Tags: B.J. Penn, Carlos Condit, Dong Hyun Kim, Georges St. Pierre, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Martin Kampmann, Nick Diaz, Strikeforce, Thiago Alves, UFC, Welterweight Division
