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Penick's Take
PENICK: UFC on Versus 4's Joe Stevenson and Tyson Griffin have opportunities for career renaissance at featherweight
Jun 22, 2011 - 11:30:58 PM
PENICK: UFC on Versus 4's Joe Stevenson and Tyson Griffin have opportunities for career renaissance at featherweight
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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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The UFC's adoption of the featherweight and bantamweight divisions at the end of last year opened the door for a new beginning for a number of fighters stuck in the middle of the lightweight division.

By far the most packed division in the sport, the lightweight division has been home to many fighters in the UFC that would have been better suited at 145 lbs., and perhaps even lower than that. But with it being the lowest weight class in the UFC for a long time, the money was better and the opportunity was there.

Now that the opportunities are there at featherweight, we've already seen the beginnings of an exodus of lightweight fighters to the lower classes. Sundays UFC on Versus 4 card features two more looking to successfully make the drop to featherweight, as former lightweight contenders Tyson Griffin and Joe Stevenson take on Manvel Gamburyan and Javier Vasquez, respectively.

Griffin and Stevenson have each had extremely similar paths in the UFC that have led them to this point, and with each riding a three fight losing streak into their featherweight bouts this weekend, those paths will come to an end if they fail to pick up a win.

Stevenson made his organizational debut first, winning the title of The Ultimate Fighter in the second season's welterweight tournament, and made the drop to lightweight after a loss to Josh Neer in 2006. The UFC had just brought back the division after dropping it for several years, and Stevenson made himself a contender by posting four straight victories at 155 lbs.

Posting three stoppages over Yves Edwards, Dokonjonosuke Mishima and Melvin Guillard, and then a decision win over Kurt Pellegrino, Stevenson was given a chance to fight for the UFC Lightweight Championship. Sean Sherk had been stripped of the title following a failed steroid test, so Stevenson met B.J. Penn for the belt at UFC 80.

The biggest opportunity of his life ended up marking the beginning of Stevenson's downfall in the division, which would continue over the next three years. He lost in brutal fashion to Penn, who made him bleed profusely before choking him out in the second round.

He bounced back six months later with a submission win over Gleison Tibau, but then dropped consecutive fights to Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez. Though he closed out 2009 strong, posting consecutive wins over Nate Diaz and Spencer Fisher, the last 16 months haven't been kind to him.

His move to the featherweight division was prompted by losses to George Sotiropoulos, Mac Danzig and Danny Castillo. The losses have simply piled up on Stevenson against fighters of a lower and lower profile, and he's hoping that by dropping a weight class his abilities will suit him better.

Griffin finds himself in the same boat. After a successful UFC debut in 2006, he suffered his first career loss in his next outing, against future UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar. He found some solace with a "Fight of the Night" bonus in that loss, and with his next two wins over Clay Guida and Thiago Tavares he'd take the "Fight of the Night" as well.

He added two more wins in 2008 before getting a shot at former Champion Sean Sherk, who at the time was looking to bounce back from a loss to B.J. Penn in their title fight at UFC 84 earlier that year. Griffin gave Sherk a tough fight, but ultimately lost for the second time.

Griffin got back on track with a win over Rafael Dos Anjos and his first knockout win in the UFC over Hermes Franca, but much like Stevenson, Griffin had a rough 2010.

Split decision losses to Evan Dunham and Nik Lentz sandwiched a vicious knockout loss to Takanori Gomi, and had Griffin nearing the end of his tenure with the UFC. Now he's returning to the division in which he started his career back in 2004, and in Manny Gamburyan he meets a fighter who has been where he is now.

Gamburyan dropped to featherweight after consecutive losses in the UFC, and made a run to a title shot in the division in the WEC. Stevenson's opponent Javier Vasquez as well is a former lightweight who has found a new home at 145 lbs., but he's been there for a while as well.

Sunday marks an opportunity for Griffin and Stevenson - who are both still in their twenties - to reinvent themselves as contenders in a new weight class. Both are still very young, and both have the experience of fighting against some of the best fighters in the world in the weight class they have left. If they can effectively make the weight cut to 145 lbs. and can translate their experience and skills to their new weight class, each can make their way up the ranks quickly.

Their time in the UFC doesn't have to come to an end this weekend, and their time as elite fighters doesn't need to be behind them. A new journey for each begins on Sunday night in Pittsburgh, Penn., and if they do what they are capable of doing, these longtime UFC veterans will keep themselves around for years to come.


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