MMA Top 10 Welterweights: Jon Fitch Stuck at No. 2

By Michael David Smith - Lead Blogger

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If there was any doubt that Jon Fitch is the second-best welterweight in the world, he erased that doubt on Saturday night. By thoroughly dominating Thiago Alves at UFC 117, Fitch firmly established himself as MMA's best welterweight not named Georges St. Pierre.

Unfortunately for Fitch, he was beaten so badly by St. Pierre in their previous fight that there aren't a lot of fans clamoring for a rematch. And if St. Pierre loses to Josh Koscheck in December, it's an open question whether Fitch will even accept a title fight if it's offered to him, since he and Koscheck are friends and training partners.

And so while UFC President Dana White has said Fitch earned the No. 1 contender position with his victory, I'm not so sure that Fitch's next fight will be for the title. I think it's more likely that we're going to see Fitch put into the Octagon with someone else (maybe the Jake Shields-Martin Kampmann winner) as he continues his role as the welterweight division's permanent gatekeeper. Fitch is a great fighter, but I view him less as a No. 1 contender than as a guy who's stuck at No. 2.

Find out how I rank the rest of the welterweight division below.

(Editor's note: The individual fighter's ranking the last time we did welterweights are in parentheses)

Top 10 Welterweights in MMA

1. Georges St. Pierre (1): The champion is so much better than the rest of the pack that it's going to be hard for the UFC to keep finding credible opponents for him. Then again, that's what we used to all say about Anderson Silva, and Chael Sonnen did a good job of selling that fight. Maybe Josh Koscheck can do that on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter.

2. Jon Fitch (2): Fitch is now 13-1 inside the Octagon, giving him the second-best winning percentage inside the Octagon among all fighters who have at least 10 UFC fights on their records. And if Sonnen had beaten Silva on Saturday night, Fitch's record would be the best in UFC history.

3. Jake Shields (NR): If he can beat Kampmann, and do it in impressive fashion, I think the UFC will reconsider its plan to give Fitch the next shot at the welterweight title. Shields is the one welterweight who could leapfrog Fitch in the rankings.

4. Nick Diaz (4): The Strikeforce welterweight champion is on the bench at the moment, with no word on when he'll get back in the cage. Strikeforce's middleweight division is lacking in challengers for Diaz, and there's talk that Diaz may move up in class and participate in a Strikeforce middleweight tournament.

5. Thiago Alves (3): Most people will rank Alves at No. 3, but I actually think I'm being a little generous putting him at No. 5. Alves hasn't won a single round since he beat Koscheck October of 2008, and in two of his last four fights he's failed to make weight. He's still a dynamic striker -- arguably the best striker in the division -- but St. Pierre and Fitch have shown what a good wrestler can do to him, and the scale has shown that welterweight might not be the right division for him.

6. Josh Koscheck (6): He'll coach against GSP on The Ultimate Fighter and fight him in December. It's hard to see that fight turning out much differently than their fight at UFC 74 three years ago, when St. Pierre won by unanimous decision.

7. Dan Hardy (7): GSP snapped Hardy's seven-fight win streak, but I like Hardy to bounce back in a big way and beat Carlos Condit at UFC 120 in England.

8. Matt Hughes (8): I don't know if Hughes at age 36 is quite as committed to his sport as he was during his reign as the welterweight champion -- Hughes says he'll sit out the rest of the year to spend time with his family and do lots of hunting -- but Hughes showed against Ricardo Almeida at UFC 117 that he's still among the sport's top welterweights. I don't see Hughes ever fighting for a title again, but I do see several more big fights in the future of the man who already owns the record for most wins in UFC history.

9. Martin Kampmann (NR): Kampmann has bounced back nicely from his ugly loss to Paul Daley last year, and if he can upset Shields he'll be on a three-fight winning streak and probably one win away from a title shot.

10. John Hathaway (NR): Hathaway improved to 14-0 with his unanimous decision win over Diego Sanchez at UFC 114, and he'll head home to fight in England when he takes on Mike Pyle at UFC 120. At the age of 22, Hathaway looks like a future welterweight champion.

Read More: Dan Hardy (MMA), Georges St. Pierre (MMA), Jake Shields (MMA), John Hathaway (MMA), Jon Fitch (MMA), Josh Koscheck (MMA), Martin Kampmann (MMA), Matt Hughes (MMA), Nick Diaz (MMA), Thiago Alves (MMA)

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