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COLUMN: The MMA Stock Exchange - A Look at the Rising and Falling in the UFC's Welterweight Division
Jan 13, 2012 - 12:45:38 PM COLUMN: The MMA Stock Exchange - A Look at the Rising and Falling in the UFC's Welterweight Division

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By: Brad Walker, MMATorch Contributor

Here is a brief summary of what I will be doing here; I'm going to look at the current champ from each division and label them "now." Then I will look at who I feel has the best chance to dethrone that champ and label them "next." Next I will select two each of the following: fighters with rising stock, fighters with stagnant (unchanging) stock, and fighters with dropping stocks. I will give explanations as to why I feel each one is placed where they are, and feel free to give me any feedback you believe would be a credible argument, after all analysis is partially opinion, now let's roll our sleeves up and dig in.

WELTERWEIGHTS

Now: Georges St-Pierre. The man who has remained on top of the division since the summer of 2007. He's got one of the best all-around skill sets in mixed martial arts, and he's by far and wide the most soft-spoken champion in the UFC. Definitely the second best pound for pound fighter in the world, GSP has run the gauntlet on opponents in the UFC, having lost twice, once to UFC hall of famer Matt Hughes, and the other a quickly avenged loss to Matt Serra. GSP has his game so well rounded he actually trains in gymnastics; what better way to improve balance? The man has been a force to be reckoned with since his entry into the UFC, but mostly in the last four years. Oh and did I mention, he is only 30 years old.

Next: Nick Diaz. The incredibly talkative and occasionally hard to find number one contender. Many people remained skeptical on Diaz's abilities until he hammered on B.J. Penn for three rounds in what is one of the most lopsided fights in recent memory. Most people were praising the name of B.J. prior to that fight, now most people have simply pushed him to "washed-up." Diaz had one of the more entertaining fights in the division against Paul Daley in Strikeforce prior to making the move to UFC.  At 26 wins with 7 losses, Diaz's record isn't as clean and tidy as GSP, but the man has evolved beyond belief.  As a matter of fact, Diaz has only lost once in his last 17 fights, and even that was simply a doctor's stoppage. He is an incredible striker, with a black belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu which makes him scary on the ground, or standing. He will blow past Condit and dethrone GSP in the year 2012.

Rising Stock: Carlos Condit. The Natural Born Killer, who has come into his own of late, is a name to be watched in the months to come, and will be competing for the interim title against Nick Diaz. Although Condit's record prior to UFC 115 didn't contain many household names, he surely threw things into overdrive and started knocking out his opponents. This guy has literally finished all of his wins save for one; 26 men have been knocked out or submitted by Condit, that's pretty damn impressive. On my top 10 he's not number one, or two, but he's a rock solid number three, and at just 27 years old, he has plenty of time to gain any skills he doesn't already have.

Rising Stock: Dong Hyun Kim. Yes, the Stun Gun from South Korea. This welterweight goliath is 15-1 with that one loss coming to the aforementioned Carlos Condit. Did I mention yet that Kim has some of the craziest offense in MMA? For anyone who watched his UFC 141 fight with Sean Pierson, we were treated to crazy Johnny Cage-esque jump kicks in the middle of the Octagon, it was an incredible display of striking. His resume looked a lot more impressive coming into the UFC then it does now due to a huge amount of decision wins, but he makes those three rounds count with his judo and kickboxing. He's very strong and very long for a welterweight; I'd love to see him face the winner of Condit and Diaz for the interim title.

Stagnant Stock: Josh Koscheck. Probably one of the least-liked individuals in the history of the UFC, this guy is currently the definition of stuck in place. If you look at the people he's beaten his record looks phenomenal, until you look at how far down their career they were when he faced them. For instance, after his long recovery period after his fight with GSP in 2010, Kos wound up in the Octagon against Matt Hughes, and he knocked him out with one second left in the first round. This is not an achievement, this is beating a far past his prime legend in a less than credible fight. Koscheck has the power and wrestling to be a gatekeeper, but at the age of 34, if he's going to make another run for the title he'd better do it quickly, and start picking better opponents.

Stagnant Stock: Paul Daley. Daley started off very strongly in his run with UFC, but in a moment of anger managed to remove himself from the company completely via a cheap shot to Josh Koscheck. Daley totes one of the heaviest sets of hands in the division, but unfortunately, that seems of late to be where his game begins and ends. He reeled off four consecutive wins after being released - including a back pedaling straight to Scott Smith that left him unconscious - and then Nick Diaz and Tyron Woodley quickly took away any steam he had going for him with back to back beatings. He's currently back on a two fight win streak, but against the lesser half of the talent pool. We need to see Daley get in the cage with someone that can stand and bang with him, who is also relevant to Dana White's peripheral vision, otherwise Daley, like so many other talented fighters, will never step foot back into the Octagon.

Falling Stock: B.J. Penn. The Prodigy himself, who for some reason has never been able to fully decide what weight division he truly belongs in. The rest of us can answer that for him, but sadly he's not listening. Welterweight has been the wrong place for B.J. since 2006, but he keeps coming back for more. In lightweight B.J. is great; he's fast, he's strong, and he's evenly matched, but as soon as he hits 170 he's in trouble. Nick Diaz absolutely took Penn to school in their fight, and now B.J. is trying to call him out again. You'd think he would have learned after he did the same thing to GSP, and lost – twice. B.J. is a great fighter, with incredible boxing and BJJ, but for whatever reason, he opts to fight at a division above where he should be. Unless B.J. can even out his size at welterweight or start working as a gatekeeper, his reputation is going to take some considerable damage. He will be thought of as a legend after he's done, but his legendary status is shrinking with each time he gets beaten on. Please, return to lightweight and prevent us from seeing any more brutal whoopings.

Falling Stock: Jon Fitch. Between UFC 94 and UFC 117 this guy was on a roll of epic proportions, and was beginning to be recognized as a future number one contender. What happened you might ask? The B.J. Penn effect; at UFC 127 they battled to a draw, which seems to have slowed down the Fitch-express. Now we all know a couple weeks ago at UFC 141, Johnny Hendricks didn't just slow down the Fitch-express, he knocked the whole train off of the tracks. I kid you not, I opened my beer, tossed the cap on the end table, looked up and the fight was over, with Fitch out-cold on his back, 12 seconds is all it took. Sure, Fitch is 33, so he has time to build up a head of steam again, but with his chin getting exposed like that, who do you match him up with? He's not the most exciting fighter on the planet either, with 13 decision wins, and at times he seems like a third rate GSP, lay and pray – fight another day. Fitch will need to go up against a welterweight of note, and manage to bring home a win, then follow it up with a couple more impressive wins to find himself anywhere near the title picture in the next year or so, but for now, his stock is on the slide.

Be sure to follow me on twitter, and let me know what you think at @BradMMATorch

[Georges St-Pierre art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]