A Fire Reignited at Welterweight

Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC

After we saw the loss of the great Kamaru Usman, the welterweight division has been lackluster to say the least. Over the past couple of years we’ve seen the champion only fight 3 times compared to a Kamaru Usman who fought nearly every 4-5 months as a champion. Kamaru Usman was such an exciting champion and when you watched a Kamaru Usman PPV, everybody knew that it was going to be a dominating win. Now with the likes of a Belal Muhamamad who has only 3 finishes in the UFC many fans have wondered if we would ever find that excitement come back to this division. Well in 2024 it definitely has reignited. Here are 5 fighters in the UFC’s Welterweight division to look out for.

1. Shavkat Rakhmonov (19-0): One of the best fighters in the entire UFC, Rakhmonov has finished 18/19 opponents he has faced. Rakhmonov has an “it” factor to him. From the walkout, to his style, to even the way he carries himself, you get the sense that he doesn’t mess around and he is all about business.Rakhmonov will look to dethrone Belal Muhammad when he returns after a nasty toe infection.

2. Ian Machado Garry (15-1): After his fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov earlier this month a lot of questions were answered on Garry’s end. A lot of people including myself didn’t think he would be able to deal with the grappling of a Rakhmonov. After nearly submitting him and defending most of his takedowns I think his performance in this fight was phenomenal, he proved he belongs at the top of the division.

3. Joaquin Buckley (21-6): After dropping down to welterweight Buckley is riding ridiculous momentum right now. He is now 7-0 in the division and has beat worthy opponents such as Colby Covington, Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque all by KO/TKO. When he dropped down to this weight class it came to no surprise to me that he would be as successful as he is right now. At Middleweight he was too small and often fought against a reach advantage that he wouldn’t be able to overcome. Now at 170 he is fighting guys who he is much stronger and powerful than, meanwhile improving his cardio as we saw in the Covington fight.

4. Sean Brady (17-1): Sean Brady is one of the best grapplers in the entire division and has drastically improved since his loss against the current champion Belal Muhammad in his striking and cardio department. We saw this improvement in the Gilbert Burns fight where it looked like he finally learned to manage his gas tank for championship rounds. I believe Sean Brady is one great performance away from getting that next title shot and depending on who is holding that belt, I don’t doubt that one day we can see him win gold.

5. Carlos Prates (21-6): After making his UFC debut this year in February Carlos Prates has done nothing but impress all the fans. He has finished every opponent he has faced in the UFC and is looking for more in the next couple of years. Prates is a highly skilled striker who resembles a lot of the striking ability that Israel Adesanya holds.