B.J. Penn vs. Diego Sanchez 2: Is This Inevitable?
I received an interesting email from a reader wondering about the future of the welterweight division. The essential question was this: if B.J. Penn defeats Jon Fitch tonight at UFC 127 and Diego Sanchez defeats Martin Kampmann at UFC on Versus 3 next week, will they rematch? And if they do, will it look different than anything in this video (a clip from their first meeting at lightweight)?
It’s not an idle query. Outside of Carlos Condit, there really aren’t any other immediate contenders for a vacant welterweight title right now. Take a look at the USA TODAY/SB Nation Consensus MMA Rankings for welterweight:
| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georges St. Pierre | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Jon Fitch | 96 | UFC | 2 |
| 3 | Jake Shields | 89 | UFC | 3 |
| 4 | Thiago Alves | 86 | UFC | 5 |
| 5 | Josh Koscheck | 85 | UFC | 4 |
| 6 | Carlos Condit | 73 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Martin Kampmann | 72 | UFC | 7 |
| 8 | Nick Diaz | 71 | Strikeforce | 7 |
| 9 | B.J. Penn | 65 | UFC | 9 |
| 10 | Paul Daley | 50 | Strikeforce | 10 |
| 11 | Matt Hughes | 43 | UFC | 12 |
| 12 | Dan Hardy | 42 | UFC | 11 |
| 13 | Diego Sanchez | 38 | UFC | 13 |
| 14 | Chris Lytle | 37 | UFC | 14 |
| 15 | Paulo Thiago | 30 | UFC | 15 |
| 16 | Mike Pyle | 30 | UFC | 16 |
| 17 | Jay Hieron | 27 | Bellator | 17 |
| 18 | Ben Askren | 26 | Bellator | 18 |
| 19 | Dong Hyun Kim | 23 | UFC | 21 |
| 20 | Mike Swick | 21 | UFC | 19 |
| 21 | John Hathaway | 20 | UFC | 20 |
| 22 | Jake Ellenberger | 19 | UFC | 23 |
| 23 | Rick Story | 18 | UFC | 24 |
| 24 | Matt Serra | 17 | UFC | 22 |
| 25 | Anthony Johnson | 14 | UFC | 25 |
| 25 | Ricardo Almeida | 14 | UFC | 26 |
GSP will be gone, Fitch is out, Shields will have just been defeated, Alves is locked up, Koscheck is at the bottom of the list, Condit is a contender but injured, Kampmann will have just lost, Hughes just lost and Dan Hardy just lost. Who else is there?
At welterweight would the fight really look different? Perhaps Diego might be able to muscle B.J. around a little more and have a better game plan, but ultimately he doesn't have the skills to match up with Penn. I guess the lesson is this: the first welterweight title fight in GSP's absence may neither be new nor particularly compelling.
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