The UFC’s welterweight division looked to be weakening a year ago, but as of right now, after the lightweight division, the welterweight division is stacked with talent. While it’s always good to have talent from top to bottom in the division, it sometimes causes a problem when it comes to the guys at the top.
This is the case in this division and with the Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre still injured and interim Champion Carlos Condit choosing to sit on the sidelines and wait for him to heal causes the top to become a little cluttered.
Johny Hendricks is coming off back-to-back wins over former No.1 contenders Jon Fitch and most recently Josh Koscheck. Dana White has said that Hendricks looks to be the No.1 (or I guess two in this case) in the Welterweight division, but what about Jake Ellenberger?
In my opinion, Ellenberger is the most underrated fighter currently in the UFC. He’s undefeated since 2009, which was a very close split decision loss to current interim champion Carlos Condit, and is coming off an impressive victory over Diego Sanchez as well as knocking out former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion and UFC welterweight No.1 contender Jake Shields.
On June 1, at the Ultimate Fighter Live Finale, Ellenberger will be in action once again against Martin Kampmann where Ellenberger will attempt to move his winning streak to an outstanding seven wins in a row.
If Ellenberger defeats Kampmann, does he deserve a title shot more than Hendricks?
It’s hard to say due to the fact both men have beaten such similar competition and seem so evenly matched. Hendricks is only on a four-fight winning streak, but he is only the second man ever to defeat both Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck; the other being Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre.
Ellenberger, on the other hand, has looked dominate on his winning streak with the only minor bump in the road being his close matchup with Carlos Eduardo Rocha at UFC 126 in February 2011. Ellenberger is one of those fighters who looks almost completely like a new fighter each fight, and that is a main reason I believe he holds the greatest threat to champion St-Pierre.
If Ellenberger comes out and finishes Kampmann, I believe it is safe to say that he deserves a title shot more than Hendricks does with the mess that is the top of the Welterweight division and it looking like it won’t be October or November until St-Pierre and Condit can fight.
That being said, this leaves more than enough time to possibly have an official No.1 contender fight between Ellenberger and Hendricks if Ellenberger wins this Friday night, but, as we all know, the UFC seems to never be in favor of doing things the simple way.
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