What a Difference a Year Makes

If you were to look back at the last year, a lot has changed in the UFC. A year ago, the UFC champions consisted of:

• HW Andre Arlovski was set to face Tim Sylvia—a rematch he would end up losing. Sylvia would hold the HW belt in a third rematch with Arlovski, followed by a win over Jeff Monson, before losing to current champ Randy Couture. A year ago, the HWs were considered the weakest weight class. But today, thanks in large part to the December signing of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, the return of Couture, and Saturday’s announced signing of Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira (aka “Big Nog”), this division is now looking pretty stacked.
• LHW Chuck Liddell had recently knocked Randy Couture into retirement a year ago. He then made short work of Renato “Babalu” Sobral before squaring off with Tito Ortiz, who, at the time, seemed to be fighting better than he ever had in the past. Out of all the divisions, the last year has been kindest to the LHW division, at least in terms of fewest unforeseen upsets. A year ago there were few contenders capable of facing Liddell. Today, there are probably just as few, but they are at least different contenders than they were a year ago. Last year’s Rashad Evans was just 2-0 in the UFC. Since then, however, he’s faced—and beaten—Stephan Bonnar, Jason Lambert and Sean Salmon and now faces Tito Ortiz in July. In December, the UFC announced they had signed Quinton “Rampage” Jackson—Liddell’s only unavenged loss—who faces the “Iceman” in May. There is also a slew of up-and-coming talent, who might not be odds-on contenders against Liddell today, but a lot can change several months down the road.
• MW Rich Franklin had just defended his title for the second time against David “The Crow” Loiseau a year ago. It would be his last successful title defense. In June, Anderson “The Spider” Silva was introduced to the UFC with a 49-second knockout of Chris “The Crippler” Leben. Silva then went on to take Franklin’s title in under three minutes, before defending the title against TUF4 Winner Travis Lutter. Now Silva is set to face the only 7-time King of Pancrase Champion in history, Nate Marquardt, who’s 4-0 in the UFC by his own right. Plus, Franklin’s back on top of the contender’s list with a solid victory over Jason MacDonald. If that weren’t enough, Yushin Okami (20-3, 4-0 in the UFC) just proved he deserves consideration with a decisive victory over a fighter who many considered to be the #1 Contender, Mike “Quick” Swick (11-2, 5-1 in the UFC).
• WW Matt Hughes had beaten a “who’s who” of UFC veterans a year ago today, and was set to face UFC legend Royce Gracie, probably because there were so few fighters capable of facing the champ. After TKOing Gracie in the first round, Hughes went on to avenge a loss to B.J. Penn. He looked unbeatable, as always. Then he faced Georges St. Pierre in November, who made Hughes look very beatable. The new champion, GSP, was considered a new breed of fighter—one with virtually no holes in his game. But GSP couldn’t defend his title and lost to 10-0 underdog Matt “The Terror” Serra on Saturday night—on a card that also saw two Top 5 contenders square off, with Josh Koscheck upsetting the unbeaten Diego Sanchez. What has long been the thickest talent pool, the new Welterweights are even more exciting than they were just one year ago, with the entire contender bracket blown wide open, thanks to the upsets on Saturday night.
• One year ago, there was no LW Champion. The division had been retired in years previous, but had been brought back about a year ago. With a win over Nick Diaz on April 15, 2006, Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk earned his shot at the title. His competitor would be Kenny Florian, who earned his shot with a June 24^th victory over Sam Stout. Sherk, the hands-on favorite, was too much for Florian, who lost a 5-round unanimous decision, but who has since gone on to beat top talent Dokonjonosuke Mishima. But the talent in this new division doesn’t stop there. In June, Sherk will face #1 Contender Hermes Franca, while B.J. Penn squares off against former LW Champ, Jens Pulver. There’s also Spencer “The King” Fisher, Joe “Daddy” Stevenson (who just stopped Melvin Guillard in 27 seconds last week), and watch out for up-and-comer Roger Huerta, who is now 18-1-1 thanks to a throw-down brawl with the talented Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia.

What a difference a year makes.