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MMA Top 10 Welterweights: Rick Story Earns His Place

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, WelterweightsThere’s an exciting new entrant in the list of the Top 10 welterweights in mixed martial arts, as Rick Story earned his spot with an upset of Thiago Alves at UFC 130.

Alves has been considered a To…

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Welterweights

There’s an exciting new entrant in the list of the Top 10 welterweights in mixed martial arts, as Rick Story earned his spot with an upset of Thiago Alves at UFC 130.

Alves has been considered a Top 5 welterweight for years, but Story took the fight to him in the first and second rounds, and although Alves showed in the third round that there are still some holes in Story’s stand-up game, Story demonstrated that he has a strong chin, weathered the storm and came out on top. That kind of victory — Story’s sixth in a row inside the Octagon — warrants a place in the Top 10.

Find out below where, exactly, I rank Story, and who the other new entrants in the welterweight Top 10 are.

(Editor’s note: The individual fighter’s ranking the last time we did welterweights is in parentheses.)

1. Georges St. Pierre (1): Still the champ, the big question is whether he’s going to defend his welterweight title against Nick Diaz, or move up to middleweight to challenge for Anderson Silva’s belt. A Diaz fight seems to be the one that MMA fans want, and that the UFC is working hard to arrange. UPDATE: Hours after we posted this, the UFC announced that GSP-Diaz will happen in October.

2. Jon Fitch (3): The longtime No. 2 welterweight in the world is on the mend from a shoulder injury, and there’s no word on when he might return. Prior to his injury, the UFC announced that he’d have a rematch with B.J. Penn next, but Jake Shields might make more sense as an opponent for him.

3. Jake Shields (2): A fight between Shields and Fitch would be the best way to determine who’s the top welterweight aside from St. Pierre, and it would also be a fascinating stylistic matchup between two guys whose ground games are among the best in all of MMA.

4. Nick Diaz (5): It appears that Diaz’s silly flirtation with going into professional boxing is now behind him, and the lone remaining question is whether the UFC can figure out a way to get him in the Octagon with St. Pierre. Diaz is Strikeforce’s welterweight champion and one of its most popular fighters, so Showtime doesn’t want to lose Diaz. But the fight that makes the most sense is a UFC pay-per-view to determine the real welterweight champion of mixed martial arts.

5. Josh Koscheck (6): There’s still no word on when Koscheck will return from the ugly beating that St. Pierre put on him. Koscheck has always prided himself on being active and ready to fight at a moment’s notice, so it says something about how badly he was hurt against St. Pierre that he still can’t even commit to a return date, six months after the GSP fight.

6. B.J. Penn (7): Like Fitch, the man he fought to a draw early this year, Penn is injured and out of action. If his recovery and Koscheck’s recovery line up and they’re both ready to return at around the same time, that would make a great fight.

7. Carlos Condit (8): If the UFC can’t make St. Pierre-Diaz work, Condit would probably be next in line. Other than Diaz, he’s the highest-ranked welterweight who hasn’t already fought St. Pierre, and he’s also a likable, marketable guy who’s on a three-fight winning streak and coming off wins that earned him Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses. Condit has a tough fight with Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 132, so thinking about him as a No. 1 contender might be getting a little too far ahead of things, but in a division without many available challengers, Condit would make sense.

8. Rick Story (NR): One of the exciting things about Story is his age. At 26, he’s younger than everyone ahead of him in the welterweight rankings, and he’s got a lot of good years ahead of him and time to keep getting better. It might seem like the 30-year-old St. Pierre will be champion forever, but the truth is, athletes start to slow down in their 30s. Story is in his athletic prime, and I see a welterweight title shot in his future.

9. Rory MacDonald (NR): Speaking of young and promising fighters, MacDonald is only 21 years old but looked like a seasoned pro while manhandling Nate Diaz for 15 minutes at UFC 129. MacDonald is 11-1, with his only loss coming in a great fight against Condit. Next MacDonald will get another tough test against Mike Pyle at UFC 132

10. John Hathaway (NR): Hathaway is a tough guy to assess because he has great potential at the age of 23, but he’s looked like he’s taking a step back in his last couple of fights, a loss to Mike Pyle and a split decision win over Kris McCray. His 15-1 record includes wins over Story and Diego Sanchez, but it may be time for Hathaway to shake up his training.

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UFC 130 Results: Power Ranking the Top 15 Welterweights

UFC 130 may not have been the greatest card of all time, but a few fights helped to establish the contenders from the pretenders in their respective divisions. One example of this is Rick Story, a fighter who was not ranked in most folks top 20 welterw…

UFC 130 may not have been the greatest card of all time, but a few fights helped to establish the contenders from the pretenders in their respective divisions.

One example of this is Rick Story, a fighter who was not ranked in most folks top 20 welterweights coming in, pulling off a huge upset over Thiago Alves.

Alves fought for the UFC welterweight belt back in July of 2009, and despite only being 1-2 since then, he was still generally considered a top three welterweight fighter coming into the match up with “The Horror” Story.

This is a major shake up for the UFC’s welterweight division, so an updated power ranking for the top 10 most credentialed fighters in the division seems in order.

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UFC 130: 10 Thoughts Following Jackson vs. Hamill

When a much-anticipated main event like Edgar vs. Maynard 3 falls by the wayside, it’s tough for an event to ever really live up to the expectations.Still, UFC 130 featured big knockouts, rising contenders, and generally some very interesting perform…

When a much-anticipated main event like Edgar vs. Maynard 3 falls by the wayside, it’s tough for an event to ever really live up to the expectations.

Still, UFC 130 featured big knockouts, rising contenders, and generally some very interesting performances.

Quinton Jackon didn’t exactly set the cage on fire, but making up for his efforts were Brian Stann, Travis Browne, Gleison Tibau and others.

Aside from the performances themselves, UFC 130 will also provide a fairly large shakeup in the divisional rankings with top 10 ranked fighters like Jorge Santiago, Miguel Torres, and Thiago Alves all coming up short.

Here are the top thoughts and repercussions following UFC 130.

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UFC 130 Results: Thiago Alves and 5 Fighters Who Should Avoid Fighting Wrestlers

Thiago “Pitbull” Alves is 10-5 inside the Octagon, and while the 27 year-old does has wins over formidable opponents like Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck, he has come up short in each of his losses, which were all to wrestlers. H…

He dropped a three-round decision to Rick Story (14-3) at UFC 130 and fell out of the top five in his weight class after he got out-wrestled and pressured by his tough opponent.

The fighters who were placed in front of him in the rankings include former opposition like current UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch.

It’s the wrestlers that usually dominate MMA, and there are many fighters who don’t acknowledge it while not taking the necessary lessons to learning how to sprawl or counter.

The only thing they can do is avoid them, and these are five fighters who should.

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Rick Story Still Breathing Unassisted, Speaking in Complete Sentences

“…and I saw his knee looked like it was getting bigger and bigger … and then it hit me.” (VidProps: Karyn Bryant)

Karyn Bryant caught up with Ricky Story after UFC 130, and he wasn’t getting his jaw wired up. After determining that he wasn’t suffering from a concussion, Bryant asks him about the fight, and reminds him that he absorbed some damaging shots in the process. Story allows that, yes, he was hit with some fearsome blows, and he even wound up taking a bite out of his mouthguard (!!!). Sounds like maybe you don’t want to order from that mouthguard manufacturer any more?

Story seems a little sheepish, saying his performance “was definitely good enough for the win,” except he doesn’t seem so definite. Awww, cheer up, big guy. MMA crowds boo, it’s their thing. It’s like Red Wings fans throwing octopi on the rink, or Philidelphia Eagles fans being turbo douches and needing a jail in the stadium.

“…and I saw his knee looked like it was getting bigger and bigger … and then it hit me.” (VidProps: Karyn Bryant)

The decision win over Alves is Story’s sixth straight since his loss to John Hathaway two years ago, and those haven’t been creampuffs. Story now finds himself in the company of elite welterweights like Shields, Koscheck, Hardy, Fitch… pretty much everyone who’s challenged Georges St Pierre and come away empty-handed.

Unfortunately, there’s lots of other dudes being talked about for top 10 in the 170: Carlos Condit, Jake Ellenberger, Mike Pyle, Anthony Johnson, Nate Marquardt…who does a guy need to physically dominate to get ahead around here? With this much talent clustered at the top and still no one seeming like a decent match for GSP, how does a fighter make himself stand out?

Don’t worry, I’m sure BG will do some armchair matchmaking. Go ahead and discuss amongst yourselves who should be moving up the welterweight rankings. And somebody send this man a decent mouthguard.

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UFC 130 After Parties

UFC 130 delivered a few special moments, including a tremendous knock out (Superman Punch) of Stefan Struve by Travis Browne and a great Memorial Day Weekend Win for Brian Stann who KO’d Jorge Santiago in.

UFC 130 delivered a few special moments, including a tremendous knock out (Superman Punch) of Stefan Struve by Travis Browne and a great Memorial Day Weekend Win for Brian Stann who KO’d Jorge Santiago in the 2nd round. The fights also offered some interesting news bits… like that we should all take better notice of Rick Story as he earned a 6th win to his fight streak in the Welterweight division. And even though Frank Mir clearly dominated Roy Nelson in their 3 rounds, it was still Mir who suffered a broken jaw and was off to the hospital while Nelson joyfully blamed Dan Hardy for his poor “british wrestling” that may have lost him the fight. Lastly, we heard pending the outcome of his hand injury that Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will receive the title-shot against Jon Jones.

And with the fight card’s culmination we also see that despite any injuries and losses suffered, all the fighters still managed to get out to their after parties and have a good time.