At one point not too long ago many considered the welterweight division boring since Georges St-Pierre was so dominant and seemingly lacking in high enough quality competition that could legitimately challenge him.
Think of it this way, prior to St-Pierre injuring his knee and sitting out for over 18 months, his three previous opponents were Jake Shields, Josh Koscheck and Dan Hardy.
Shields was coming off an unimpressive split-decision win over Martin Kampmann, a fight many people thought Kampmann won; Koscheck was coming off three solid wins, but GSP already had a dominant win over him; Hardy was a popular and marketable fighter with KO power, but his most notable wins were a split decision over Marcus Davis and a forgettable nod over Mike Swick.
Following his UFC 129 win over Shields, when people were talking about a potential super-fight with Anderson Silva, it was warranted because at the time it did seem like GSP virtually cleaned out the division of all viable contenders.
However, in recent months, highlighted by a stellar UFC 158 card this past Saturday in Montreal, the landscape of the 170-pound division has certainly changed.
After losing his title to Matt Serra in 2008, GSP had looked virtually unbeatable, but St-Pierre — despite winning one-sided decisions over Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit in his last two bouts — has looked human in those outings.
Condit dropped GSP and came close to finishing their bout at UFC 154 in November, and at UFC 158 the champ simply didn’t look as impressive as he usually does — he even admitted at the post-fight press conference that he got tired sometime in the third round, which is very uncharacteristic of him.
Combine his last two outings with the fact that a new crop of 170-pound contenders is on the rise and there’s no need for talks of a super-fight to continue.
While GSP looked alright, Johny Hendricks looked incredible against Condit in the co-main event at the Bell Centre.
UFC president Dana White said post-fight that Hendricks will be GSP’s next opponent and that matchup has many GSP fans concerned since stylistically Hendricks can pose major problems for the champ.
Even if you ignore the main and co-main events, Saturday was still a showcase of the type of talent the welterweight division possesses.
Jake Ellenberger knocked Nate Marquardt out in blistering fashion. Marquardt literally didn’t know what hit him — he looked bewildered as he watched himself get put to sleep on the jumbotron afterwards.
In preliminary action, Canadian Jordan Mein looked fantastic in his UFC debut. The 23-year-old Albertan TKO’d durable veteran Dan Miller after he showed brilliant submission defence when Miller caught him in a tight armbar. It’s young fighters like Mein that keep veterans like GSP in the gym every day training to improve.
Also, Rick Story, who actually has wins over Hendricks and Ellenberger, looked in fine form as he blitzed Strikeforce veteran Quinn Mulhern en route to a TKO three minutes into round one.
Beside all the talent that appeared at UFC 158, GSP should also have the likes of the following fighters on his radar…
Demian Maia has new life at welterweight and next to Hendricks could be the biggest threat to the title.
Tarec Saffedine is the Strikeforce champ who enters the UFC riding a wave of momentum. White told reporters following UFC 158 that a big win for Saffedine in his yet-to-be-announced UFC debut would put him in the mix.
Tyron Woodley, who bounced back from his first career loss with a 36-second KO of Jay Hieron at UFC 156, has the type of athleticism and skill set you’d think it would take to beat GSP.
Robbie Lawler returned to the Octagon after several years with a first-round KO of Koscheck and is now ranked in the top 10 at welterweight.
And don’t forget about someone like Mike Pierce, whose only losses in the UFC have been close and often controversial decisions to Hendricks, Koscheck and former No. 1 contender Jon Fitch.
Then there are rising stars like Gunnar Nelson, Erick Silva and of course Rory MacDonald, who despite saying he will never fight GSP, is still a title contender and potentially a future champion.
You’ve also got veterans like Condit, Thiago Alves, Dong Hyun Kim, Kampmann, Shields, Koscheck and Marquardt who on any given day can challenge the best at 170.
The welterweight division is far from lacking.
So, at least for the next little while, there’s no need for any super-fight talk revolving around the welterweight champ because right now GSP has a lot of work to do and dangerous opponents to contend with at 170 pounds.