Here are the matches I'd like to see if these welterweight fighters win their next matches at UFC 69.
If Georges St. Pierre defeats Matt Serra
The easy one is St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes Part III -- Return of the Hughes. It would be a classic match, no doubt about it, but I'd like to see someone else vs. St. Pierre. All depending on if he wins his match against Josh Koscheck, but I'd like to see St. Pierre fight Diego Sanchez. They are both very well-rounded fighters, who can succeed on the ground as well as their feet. Sanchez, who has been working out with Oscar de la Hoya in Puerto Rico for the Koscheck fight, knocked out Joe Riggs in his last fight and St. Pierre scored that impressive TKO win against Hughes in his last fight. They both have excellent cardio, it would be a classic 25 minutes.
If Matt Serra defeats Georges St. Pierre
If Serra is able to stop St. Pierre then a Serra/Hughes fight would be outstanding. Some people would say that Hughes would take Serra down and that would be that. But what about Serra's Brazilian jiu-jitsu ability? The guy IS a black belt, and if you remember Hughes' last match against a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt (BJ Penn), he had a very tough first two rounds and Penn almost caught him with a couple of submissions. Since both fighters are better on the ground, it would be interesting to see if both of them felt comfortable enough to keep the fight standing. Plus, the two looked like they weren't the best of friends on the fourth season of "The Ultimate Fighter." Even though Matt Hughes is Matt Hughes, don't count out the tough guy from East Meadow.
If Josh Koscheck defeats Diego Sanchez
With presently four consecutive UFC wins and then a victory against the 19-0 Diego Sanchez, it's difficult to not put Josh Koscheck in the mix of top contenders in the welterweight division. If Koscheck does defeat Sanchez, I would like to see him fight Karo Parisyan. In my opinion, Parisyan is always in that mix of top welterweight contenders. The guy fights as calm as I've seen any UFC figher fight. His judo background provides us with at least three memorable takedowns a fight, and his only two UFC defeats were decision losses against Sanchez and St. Pierre -- Nothing to be upset about. Would Parisyan be able to take down the former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion?
What other UFC matches would be classics?
Once again, thanks for reading.
Comments (1)
Joe, I was surprised not to see an article on the UFC / PRIDE announcement.....That's a big deal, no?