Scan the nine names on the left-hand side of the infographic, and you see a lot of meat and not a lot of filler. There are a couple of the greatest fighters of all-time and several more who were at least among the greatest of their time. The right-hand side tells a story as well, with some incredibly skilled and accomplished fighters trying and failing to scale the throne. Not many weight classes have a second tier as historically impressive as Jon Fitch, Jake Shields and Demian Maia.
Of course, that’s owing to welterweight’s chief charm: It is a division historically ruled by dominant champions. Compared to the sad-sack early years of the UFC’s lightweight and heavyweight divisions, where nobody even seemed to want the belts, and in fact multiple sitting champions bailed for greener pastures, 170 was put in an immediate stranglehold by Pat Miletich, who defended the newly-minted strap four times.
Ever since, it’s been more of the same. While welterweight has its share of parity and weirdness, and boasts two of the greatest championship upsets ever, it’s a division where a man often gets the belt and spends a couple of years turning away all comers. Miletich. Matt Hughes, twice. Georges St. Pierre.
Reigning champ Tyron Woodley is going for his fourth title defense on Saturday. In spite of being a polarizing figure within the sport, and seemingly his own boss’ least-favorite fighter, a win over the hulking and undefeated Darren Till would move him into a tie with Miletich for the third-most consecutive title defenses. Perhaps it would induce some of his detractors to reevaluate him; after all, he is doing uncommonly impressive things in an uncommonly impressive division.
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