Roundtables
THURSDAY ROUNDTABLE: Q: Which fighter would you most like to see change weight divisions? (pt. 3 of 3)
Feb 4, 2010 - 11:26:15 PM THURSDAY ROUNDTABLE: Q: Which fighter would you most like to see change weight divisions? (pt. 3 of 3)

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TODAY'S NEW QUESTION:

Who is the one fighter you'd most like to see change weight divisions for at least one fight to test himself or improve his career?

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SAM MATTHEW, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

George St. Pierre needs to move up a weight class in order to really test himself. Being such a big welterweight and phenomenal wrestler, he has the strength and size to dominate 185'ers while both he and Anderson Silva need some legitimate competition. Sure, everyone wants B.J. Penn to step back up, but do we really need to see GSP outwrestle the smaller Penn for a third time?

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AIDEN LEAHY, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

For me this comes down to two UFC champions, George St Pierre and Anderson Silva, who both have virtually cleared out their respective divisions. As Anderson has already moved up, GSP is my choice. The lack of fresh challenger in the welterweight division for GSP to face make me believe that a move to middleweight would provide GSP with bigger challenges and a possible super fight with Anderson Silva.


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ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

The obvious answer, in my opinion, would be Georges St. Pierre. He has ridiculous strength at the welterweight level and seems to just bully and dominate everyone who steps in with him. If he could move up to middleweight to see what he can do against the heavier opponents, that would be a solid step towards cementing his growing legacy. I don't think he should fight Anderson Silva, but he should fight someone that is top three in the division - someone like a Vitor Belfort, Michael Bisping, or possibly his teammate and friend in Nate Marquardt. For other fighters, Urijah Faber or Mike Brown could do well in the lightweight division and solidify their standings among the elite.

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CHRIS PARK, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Rich Franklin. Sorry, couldn't resist that one. Most definatley GSP at 185.

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SAM COGINGS, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Aside from the likes of GSP and Anderson SIlva moving up in weight for bigger challenges, I think it would be really interesting to see Rashad Evans move down to middleweight. If he did it, now he'd only be one fight or so away from a title shot, and if he can keep his power, then he would be a really scary middleweight. His wrestling would be some of the best in the division, giving Anderson Silva a very hard time. He'd be able to keep his speed, too, which would make for some really exciting fights against the top group of the middleweight division. Alan Belcher, Nate Marquardt, and Goran Reljic would all make for a great fight against Rashad.

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ALVIN CARTER III, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

In a dream world, I would like to see Dan Henderson get big and fight Fedor, but sticking to reality, I will have to say George St. Pierre. I would love to see him fight Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort, Nate Marquardt, Damian Maia, and Dan Henderson if he did not jump ship. If only one of those fights could happen, of course I would want it to be against Silva.

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JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Fedor. Now this may be going against the question a bit, as it's really not to see him improve his career or to even really test himself outside of the weight cut, but there are some major super fights that could take place at light-heavyweight between Fedor and a number of fighters. Now, outside of meeting up with fellow M-1 Global and Strikeforce fighter Gegard Mousasi, all of the fights I'd have in mind are in the UFC; so along with the fight with Brock Lesnar that everyone wants to see, if Fedor were to make the drop to light heavyweight we could very well match up two of the best pound-for-pound fighters with him and Anderson Silva. Outside of that would be fights with Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. It would make for some extremely compelling fights, and put him against a (perhaps) tougher level of competition than Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, and Brett Rogers presented.

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WADE KELLER, MMATORCH SUPERVISING EDITOR

Interesting choice of Fedor by Jamie. I'm tempted to vote for that now. But I was otherwise going to vote for GSP. Heck, it's only fair to B.J. Penn that GSP move up and perhaps fail at 185 just so B.J. can restake his claim at P4P being the best without the black mark of moving up and failing. Rashad going down in weight to face Anderson Silva is intriguing, but I just think Silva might destroy him about as easily as he did Forrest (either on their feet or on the ground) and UFC would find themselves with another damaged star who might never get (or want) a rematch to redeem himself. If cornered to make a single choice right now, I'd vote GSP moving up if only to see if he's human. But Jamie's Fedor idea is compelling.

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UP NEXT

Our next batch of Roundtable Topics to be addressed over the next week or two are as follows (so keep coming back to MMATorch every day for this and more exclusive features):

-Predict the winner of the Randy Couture-Mark Coleman fight on Saturday night.

-If Randy Couture beats Mark Coleman convincingly, what's your pick for Couture's next opponents? And Coleman?

-If Mark Coleman beats Randy Couture convincing, what's your pick for Coleman's next fight? And Couture?

-Who are the two or three current Strikeforce fighters (other than Fedor) you'd be most intrigued to see acquired by UFC. What match-ups would you make from those acquisitions?

-Who are the two or three current UFC fighters you'd be most intrigued to see leave UFC for whatever reason (perhaps not being given a fair shake, already fought everyone, hit a ceiling, etc.) and be acquired by Strikeforce. What match-ups would you make from those acquisitions?

-Would you prefer Strikeforce in two years was out of business, close to UFC's equal (in revenue, ratings, buyrates, talent roster), or had surpassed UFC (assuming UFC stays static in the mean time)? Why?

-Should UFC add a women's fighting division?

-What would you do to try to make WEC successful on PPV, even if in general you disagree with WEC going on PPV? In other words, what advice would you give to Zuffa assuming they were open to some outside-the-box or aggressive marketing ideas?

[Fedor photo provided to MMATorch by Strikeforce]