Welterweight 9-24-09

Rank

Fighter

Comments

1.

Georges St. Pierre

 

2.

Jake Shields

Jake's first-round submission over top-ten middleweight Robbie Lawler made it 12 wins in a row for him, with his last eight by stoppage in the first two rounds. Due to the scarcity of welterweight challenges in Strikeforce, he'll be fighting for a middleweight title against Jason Miller in November — though we're still holding out hope that the UFC can lure him over to the Octagon to throw down against guys like GSP, Jon Fitch, and Thiago Alves. 

3.

Jon Fitch

 

4.

Thiago Alves

 

5.

Mike Swick

It took him a little while to settle into the new weight, but after scoring back-to-back stoppages over Jonathan Goulet and Ben Saunders, it seems like some of the old Quick-ness is back. Now 4-0 at 170 pounds, Swick looks tough enough to make a run at the title as soon as he's healthy again.

6.

Josh Koscheck

 

7.

Matt Hughes

 

8.

Nick Diaz

Look, you know how we feel about this guy. Maybe Strikeforce will give him another shot to clean up his act and fight for a title. Maybe his chance to be a champion has gone up in smoke for good. All we know is, he'd better fight again soon, or his reputation will permanently shift from "fighter who smokes weed a lot" to "weed smoker who fights sometimes."

9.

Carlos Condit

 

10.

Dan Hornbuckle

Between Hornbuckle and fellow rising star Marius Zaromskis, it was hard to decide who to slide into the #10 spot following Martin Kampmann's exit. But despite the fact that they're both on four-fight win streaks which include unforgettable head-kick knockouts in Japan, and despite their ridiculous finishing rates and consistently thrilling performances, we're giving the edge to the Handler for three reasons: 1) He has more overall wins. 2) He doesn't have two embarrassing losses to the same guy. 3) He has a black belt in intensity.