The Rear Naked Column 12.17.09: Cleaning out the Division

Posted by Samer Kadi on 12.17.2009

BJ Penn’s dominating victory over Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 left many wondering who in the lightweight division can really challenge “The Prodigy”. Cries for permanent move to the welterweight division have emerged while others would prefer to see Penn “clean out his division” first. But at what point is a division considered “cleaned out” and is such a thing really possible?

In a staggering display of Mixed Martial Arts virtuosity, lightweight champion BJ Penn brushed aside challenger Diego Sanchez in one of the most memorable performances of the Hawaiian's career. Coming into the fight, Sanchez had been labeled as Penn's biggest threat at 155. But after five rounds of absolute slaughter, a Penn high kick opened up a gruesome cut on Diego's forehand which forced the fight to a merciful stop.



The victory marked Penn's third successful title defense, and his fifth consecutive victory in the lightweight division, starting with his second round submission victory over Jens Pulver, with all five wins coming by way of stoppage.

The question on everybody's mind is, what's next for BJ Penn? Many seem to be clamoring a permanent move to the welterweight division while others, including UFC president Dana White, would prefer to see Penn clean out the division first. White declared that Penn is "one or two fights away" from doing just that and he would be free to move up to the 170 lbs weight class thereafter.

The exact same issue has been raised in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions with both Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva reigning supreme. In fact, Silva's dominance has already earned him two successful trips to the light heavyweight division, adding James Irvin and Forrest Griffin to his highlight reel.



For his part, Georges St. Pierre has been making elite fighters look like rookies for two years now, with successive victories over Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Jon Fitch, BJ Penn and Thiago Alves, further inciting talks of a potential mouthwatering superfight with "The Spider".



The similarities between the three champions are striking, and while all three of them seem to have a challenger lined up, only a string of rematches await them should they emerge victorious. Dan Hardy and Georges St. Pierre are already slated for UFC 111, while Vitor Belfort expects to get a crack at Silva's title once the champion is healthy again. In the lightweight division, Gray Maynard is likely to get the nod should he manage to topple Nate Diaz in their upcoming matchup.

At some point, the UFC needs to sit down with Penn, GSP and Silva individually and decide on what they want to do. In my opinion, outside of the aforementioned fights, there are no compelling matchups that don't involve rematches. Frankie Edgar is too small. Anthony Johnson's momentum was cut short and we saw what Koscheck did to him. Demian Maia's fight with Nate Marquardt was a big indicator of how a potential fight with Silva would turn out.

I'm not suggesting that BJ, GSP, and Anderson all need to move up in weight. In fact, such a thing would have negative repercussions on all three divisions. Would anyone buy Jon Fitch as the welterweight champion if he captures the vacant title? People still remember him as the guy who got obliterated by St. Pierre. The same goes for a Kenny Florian or a Nate Marquardt.

Conversely, just how much are people interested in Anderson Silva fighting the Patrick Cotés of the world?

We have to ask ourselves, what exactly counts as cleaning out a division? Is it defeating every contender in sight? Or is it knocking down every realistic threat in the division?

If it's the former, then no champion will ever clean out his division entirely. There will always be another challenger down the road, whether it's a rematch against someone he's already beaten, or a fighter riding a winning streak. What if Tyson Griffin continues his impressive run? By the time Penn deals with Maynard, people would be talking about Griffin doing enough to earn a title shot. Kenny Florian will in all likelihood rack up a string of solid wins and Frankie Edgar will continue his winning ways. If GSP stops Hardy, Josh Koscheck will be making some noise. The same applies to the middleweight division, where Nate Marquardt seems to be on track for another shot at "The Spider".

I'm all for fighters building a legacy in a division. If Anderson Silva can defend his title eight successive times, I'll be watching in amazement as history is being made. If GSP breaks Matt Hughes' record, I would be thrilled to witness it. But we can't ignore the business aspect of the game. Whether we want to admit it or not, the UFC is essentially about making money, and I'm not quite sure they see plenty of dollar signs in a BJ Penn-Frankie Edgar fight or an Anderson Silva-Nate Marquardt rematch. So if they're actually waiting for Penn, St. Pierre and Silva to "clean out their divisions", it is never going to happen.

However, if cleaning out a division means dominating for a significant period of time while disposing of every realistic threat, then we are on the verge of seeing that taking place. I would even argue that St. Pierre has already done that, as Dan Hardy despite posing an interesting stylistic matchup and riding an impressive winning streak, hasn't beaten one of the absolute cream of the crop in the division. And had it not been for the signing of Vitor Belfort last summer, Anderson Silva would have been right there as well. While a win over Maynard would ensure that Penn has "cleaned out the division" himself.

While it has created a slight headache of some sort, the dominance of BJ Penn, GSP and Anderson Silva over their divisions leaves the UFC with so many options. Despite having already rotated between the middleweight and the light heavyweight division, Anderson Silva has yet to scratch the surface when it comes to potential money fights in the 205 lbs weight class. On the other hand, Georges St. Pierre Vs Anderson Silva remains for my money, the biggest fight that could happen in MMA right now, as it would oppose the two top pound for pound fighters in the UFC. And whether Penn could perform at welterweight as well as he does at lightweight remains to be seen, but moving up and taking on the likes of Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch is more interesting than any of his proposed lightweight bouts at the moment.

Quick, random thoughts to close out

Every champion in the UFC seems to be a stylistic matchup nightmare for the contenders right now:
- The lightweight division is filled with wrestlers who are trying to improve their boxing. BJ Penn happens to be impossible to takedown, has phenomenal boxing and is a ground wizard to top it off.
- In a grappling-centric welterweight division, GSP is the best all around grappler with the best wrestling in the division.
- Anderson Silva is Anderson Silva.
- Lyoto Machida is a tremendous counter striker with incredible timing and accuracy who's very hard to hit, in a division dominated by strikers.
- And while the heavyweight division is getting more and more crowded with big strong guys with wrestling backgrounds, Brock Lesnar happens to be the biggest and best wrestler of the bunch.

While I really like that the UFC rewards its fighters with post fight bonuses, I must say their decisions have been rather puzzling lately. Alan Belcher and Wilson Gouveia got the FOTN award for a three-minute sloppy slugfest while Palhares and Linhares' grappling masterclass was ignored. Hell Buentello and Struve were more worthy of the award.

Let's get easy on the "BJ will beat anyone in the welterweight division not named GSP" talk. It might happen and on paper he's more skilled than most of them, but we know his body doesn't perform at welterweight as well as it does at lightweight. Yes he's motivated and everything, but weight classes exist for a reason. I would love to see it, and I think he will do well, but nothing should be taken for granted. Thiago Alves in particular is a bad match up for him in my opinion.

And finally, and I say this with the utmost respect to my fellow 411 writers Jonathan Salomon and Scott Kuczkowski but how could anyone say BJ Penn is the most dominant champion in the UFC right now when Anderson Silva has been dominating since 2006? People will quickly point out to the Coté and Leites fights. But why did he even fight them in the first place? Because he'd beaten everyone of note in the middleweight division so they had to throw people who didn't belong as there was nobody else left. That's how freaking dominant that guy is. Let's look at his Middleweight run until the Coté fight: Leben, KO, Round 1. Franklin, KO, Round 1. Lutter, Submission, Round 2. Marquardt, KO, Round 1. Franklin, KO, Round 2. Henderson, Submission, Round 2. The fact that Patrick Coté celebrated making it out of the 2nd round says it all.

I apologize for the somewhat uncoordinated column this week but I'm having to deal with many family issues. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated, and I'll see you next week.