Climate
The word climate means
the prevailing attitudes, standards, or environmental conditions of a group, period, or place
essentially the state of things. So the climate of the various UFC divisions means who deserves a title shot, who are the top contenders, the routes some fighters may have to go through, and who deserves to fight who based on the most recent results.
Lightweight
The lightweight division is a little uncertain at the moment. BJ Penn has challenged George St Pierre to his welterweight crown and will fight on the Superbowl card at the end of January. If BJ Penn makes the move to Welterweight permanent who will fight for the interim title? It appears the UFC may have its own secret semi-final and final to decide who gets the interim title shot as Kenny Florian faces off against Joe Stevenson at UFC 91 and Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin set to square off at UFC 90, these could be two match ups to decide if Penn does move permanently to welterweight who will fight for the interim title. Another contender is Rich Clementi who puts his 4 fight winning streak on the line at UFC 90 against Gray Maynard.
Welterweight
For a while the welterweight division was unstable. Even though Serra had the title, many had GSP higher in the standings. Now that Georges has the belt back, and has successfully defended it against Jon Fitch, there is now order in the welterweight division. It was thought for a while that after his KO victory of Matt Hughes Thiago Alves was GSP’s next opponent, however his next opponent has now emerged as BJ Penn. The two are due to clash on the Superbowl weekend card at the end of January. The next in line for a Welterweight title shot may be between the winner of the Tiago Alves, Josh Koscheck fight at UFC 90
Middleweight
The top of the middleweight division is apparently impenetrable. With Anderson Silva unbeaten in the UFC and coming up on his 5th title defence, the 33 year old Brazilian seems absolutely unstoppable. His next title defence will be against Patrick Cote at UFC 90, a fight hastily put together after Yushin Okami had to pull out with injury. But after that what’s next for Anderson? The two top contenders in the middleweight divison Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson are set to square off at UFC 93 in Dublin in January at Light-Heavyweight which leaves the division a little bare of top contenders. Micheal Bisping has certainly moved into title contention with a great victory over Chris Leben at UFC 89, however given that he is to be the coach of the TUF 9 series it may be towards the back end of 2009 before Bisping squares off in a title fight
Light-heavyweight
The Light-Heavyweight division is headed up by title holder Forrest Griffin, but below him the division seems to have no order at all. Chuck Liddell lost big to Rashad Evans, which has moved Evans into a title shot in December. Rampage Jackson and Wanderali Silva are set to square off for the 3rd time on the December card which may see one of them getting a title shot with a victory. Lyota Machida’s title shot is likely to be sooner rather than later, however as his UFC 89 opponent Thiago Silva pulled out with injury, Machida had to withdraw, the fight has been rescheduled for the end of January card. Keith Jardine may be the dark horse in getting a title shot with victory over Brandon Vera at UFC 89. Jardine now has wins over the current and former Light-Heavyweight Champions and now once top Heavyweight contender Brandon Vera. Luiz Cane is another fighter to watch over the coming months with a great victory over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at UFC 89, Cane is a very dangerous striker and with this victory could see him fighting some top 205lb contenders soon
Heavyweight
Randy Couture is back!!! And what a fight he has come back to “The Natural” is due to fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 in November. This will thankfully at last be a UFC Heavyweight title fight. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is due to fight Frank Mir at UFC 92 for the interim title, with the winners of the 2 fights squaring off sometime in 2009 to determine the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Its great news for the UFC and even more so for the fans. And with the rumours of Fedor being signed by the UFC, the Heavyweight division has come alive again.
Tapout
