UFC WW contenders?

Underground
1

I dont think Hughes and Trigg are going away anytime soon but with piece on Karo wanting his shot soon in mmaweekly.com, I'm wondering more about the right time for the rematches between Karo, St. Pierre and Diaz.

I believe the 3 of them are all in the early 20s still and so I think that the rematches should wait a bit (Karo/St.Pierre, Karo/Diaz).

If either fighter losses again at this point, it kinda fucks things up for the UFC WW picture for quite a while seeing that these 3 fighters will likely be the top guys in the years to come.

I think that if they dont fight each other again until at least a year or 2 down the road, the build ups to their rematches will be greater.

In the meantime, though I dont think Charuto is that young but he is still a newly emerged top contender and can be matched up with any of the 3. So can Lytle with St.P or Diaz.

And isnt Mayhem Miller signed to fight St.P actually next UFC? That should be good.

Its too bad about Sherk but if he's out of the scene for now, its no use to talkabout matchups with him, i guess.

And what about BJ? I mean, he's still the man for pulling off one of the biggest upsets againt Hughes but people are talking like his one quick (but convincing) win at WW (even though against the #1 guy) should catapult him to clean up the MW div when he is/was no where near cleaning up the WW div.

IMO, "cleaning out a class" is what Hughes, Nog, or Fedor have/are doing. BJ is great but he's still about 3-4 fights away from having "cleaned out" the (UFC) WW class. Its too bad the likeliness of him returning are low but I still think there are some major fights for im at WW before he thinks about the MW, LHW, etc...

What fights do you guys wanna see in the UFC WW div?

2

they need to form a deal like they did with that 1/2 show that had belfort vs. liddell.... they should do a few non ppv shows a year and let some of the up and comers fight and build up contenders that way...

3

charuto has beaten castillo and newton, both towards the end of their careers.

who has st pierre beaten? ok he decisioned karo.. nice.

diaz has beaten lylte, lawler, jackson, fickett and lost a close decision to karo. and hes a finisher. i think hed do very well against anyone at 170.

4

With Hughes/Trigg a given, as well as St. Pierre/Miller, I say the winners of those matches are in position for a title fight. Granted that could mean a Hughes/St. Pierre rematch, but I think it's justified.

I undertand your point about bringing young guys along, but I believe it's key to strike while the iron is hot. You just never know what the future holds, so if a good match like St. Pierre/Hughes is sitting there with momentum after 52, then I say make it. If a Trigg/Hughes rematch makes sense for UFC 52, then certainly a Hughes/St.Pierre match would make sense if they both win at 52.

Perhaps the only question would be, does Miller deserve a title shot after just beating St. Pierre? A lot of that may depend on in what fashion he beat St. Pierre, but on paper, Miller has the goods, so adding a win over St. Pierre puts him way up there.

As for matches beyond that...

I personally don't think Parisyan is as far along as he believes he is. He's going to need a least one more good win on the main card to build interest in a title fight. We saw what happened when Sean Sherk fought entirely in the prelims, then moved to the main event without being seen. He lost and had no pop from viewers, then was gone.

Parisyan vs. Verissimo on the main card is a good step toward a title fight IMO. I'm not 100% sold that it makes a title contender, but if it's not, it's close. Despite losing, Verissimo came close to beating both Hughes and Trigg.

I say the course of Karo/Verissimo depends on the ability of UFC to makes something happen at UFC 53 in Japan.

A top priority should be to get Ryo Chonan on that card at 170 pounds. I still believe that Nick Diaz has heat, even despite a split decision loss to Karo, where he looked good in the aired portion of the fight.
Chonan vs. Diaz could produce the next contender after St.Pierre/Miller.

Another sensible match for UFC 53 in Japan would be Jake Shields vs. Katsuya Inoue if they can make it happen. They are top WWs with plenty of familiarity in Japan. It could be considered a big fight in Japan, with a ranked Pancrase guy vs. a ranked Shooto guy. UFC is obligated to use 3 Pancrase guys in exchange for "borrowing" David Terrell at UFC 51, so Inoue fits that bill. If Shields loses, then at least part of the Pancrase comitment is filled. If Shields wins it's a good boost for an American they can use back home.

Beyond that, you have to do something with the losers from the UFC 52 fights. A loss for Trigg and/or Miller is going to give them less staying power that if Hughes and/or St. Pierre lose I think.

Trigg and Miller would next be fighting for their UFC careers if they lose at 52, whereas Hughes and Georges would have "back-to-the-drawing-board" typ matches.

Either way, the losers of those two matches should be looking at some new faces. Jutaro Nakao, Carlo Prater, Josh Neer, John Alessio... are some guys who can provide a test to see where Trigg/Miller/Hughes/St.Pierre are headed if they lose at 52.

Fortunately/unfortunately as long as Hughes is still present in the WW division, it's not ideal to have Jason Black, Spencer Fisher, or Joe Jordan in the mix, even though they probably deserve it.

5

How likely is it that Chonan will come to UFC fighting in Pride? I also believe that he is a MW.

I dont think Karo is ready for a Hughes or Trigg yet but he has won 3 times in the UFC over good guys but none top guys themselves.

I think Charuto/St.Pierre would be a good one also St.P vs. Lytle because of both's all around game.

I'm interested to see if Karo can take St.P now since he has beaten Shonie, Nick and Chris since. Both of them ripped thru Strasser.

I think Trigg will beat anyone but Hughes though right now. Trigg is just a bad man. Trigg vs. Sherk would have been real interesting but Trigg's list of opponents defeated far eclipses Sherk's.

But you have to give it to Hughes, look at all the guys' he's fought....

6

on Ryo Chonan:

Rumour has it, he says he wants in the UFC.

He fought Anderson Silva weighing 176 pounds when he could've weighed as much as 185, so 170 seems like a better choice.

7

Chonan as a UFC MW would be awesome

8

Masonjar, remember this: Diaz has beaten Jackson twice since that loss and beat Lytle before the Diaz J.J. trilogy..

9

Karo should have the next shot (Trigg and GSP already had their's!)! And Karo already choked out Mayhem at the UAGF a couple of years ago, so I do not think he (Jaysun) should be put at the top right now (Until he wins in the UFC)...