B.J. Penn's defeat of lightweight contender, Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 last weekend marked an interesting time for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Most divisions in the UFC now have a champion who stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Some have completely cleaned house in their division or are very close to it. If one thinks about it, there has never been a time in UFC history where so many divisions have had an ultra-dominant champion like today. Four out of the five UFC divisions currently have the distinction of having an alpha-fighter.
In the UFC lightweight division, Penn's annihilation of Sanchez encapsulates what the champion has done to other fighters in that weight class. Penn has not lost a UFC lightweight bout since 2002, which is an extraordinary testament of
this dominance.
More importantly, his dispatching of Sanchez leaves him with few challengers. One can argue Gray Maynard should be next in line, but he seems to be a notch below Penn in his abilities.
The best hope for the UFC to have an intriguing bout for Penn is to have him move up to welterweight. Most fans want to see him face off against welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre once again. However, after two defeats to St. Pierre, more compelling fights could be Penn against different world-class welterweights.
A fight against Josh Koscheck or even a rubber match with Matt Hughes would be quite appealing to UFC fans.
The second UFC division to have a dominant long-standing champion is the aforementioned welterweight division. St. Pierre reigns supreme here and has only lost once in the past four years. He avenged that lone loss to Matt Serra and has cleaned house by defeating every viable contender in the division: Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Matt Hughes, and Thiago Alves.
St. Pierre's next bout should be a cakewalk against English fighter, Dan Hardy. After that the UFC may need to setup some rematches for him. Josh Koscheck has been looking great lately so that could be a good one. If Fitch ever finished a fight or if Alves gets healthy they could pose realistic threats.
The third UFC division to have a commanding champion is middleweight. Its champion, Anderson "The Spider" Silva is the single most dominant UFC champion of all. He is 10-0 in the UFC, which includes two knockout victories over
larger light heavyweight opponents, James "The Sandman" Irvin and Forrest Griffin.
With the defection of top UFC middleweight contender Dan Henderson to rival, Strikeforce, it's slim pickings for capable middleweight opponents for Silva. One top contender, Vitor Belfort, needs a little more buildup since he returned to the UFC and the other, Nate Marquardt was completely obliterated by Silva already in 2007.
To keep fans interested, perhaps the UFC should have Silva continue to fight a few more light heavyweights.
The last of the divisions to note is the UFC heavyweight division. Brock Lesnar is cleaning house and quite easily doing it for that matter. Although he's only on a three fight winning streak, his victories have been quite convincing. It's to the point that it's difficult to find a UFC fighter to match-up with him, especially size-wise.
When Lesnar recoups from an intestinal tract condition and surgery, he'll be a tough opponent. He had been fighting at sub-optimal levels with his immune system being taxed; one can only imagine what he'll be at one hundred percent.
The only division to not have a completely dominant champion is, of course, the UFC glamour division, light heavyweight. In July 2008 I foresaw the state of this talent-laden UFC division and coined the coming years to be "The Light Heavyweight Wars."
As anticipated, the only thing that reigns supreme in this division is parity. Since July 2008 there have been four champions here - Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, and Lyoto Machida. Machida has only defended the title once so it's way too early to declare the beginning of a Machida era of dominance.
If one looks at the UFC holistically one can see it's got the deepest stable of fighters in MMA. That said, there will never be a lack of captivating fights. It's just that at this moment in time most UFC champions look invincible - until someone defeats them and starts the cycle all over again.
David Estrada Jr. is a Mixed Martial Arts columnist for the Port Arthur News. He can be e-mailed at
DavidEstrada@DavidEstrada.com
