UFC Gatekeepers: Division-by-Division

Celtic Fan · Sep 26, 2008

interesting article... who else should be on this list?

The MMA gatekeeper plays an important role and the fighters who fill this position offer an important service to our community by letting us know who is legit and who isn’t.

So, just for fun, let’s try to pick out the leading gatekeeper in each UFC weight class.

* Lightweight: Spencer Fisher
“The King” was once on the verge of a lightweight title shot until he suffered a loss to Hermes Franca. Soon after, the 155-pound division exploded with talent and Fisher got lost in the mix.

Fisher is one of the most dangerous strikers at 155, but his wrestling is weak. This is a problem when you are mixing it up with the likes of Sean Sherk, Tyson Griffin, Gray Maynard and Clay Guida. His lack of wrestling was exposed in his UFC 78 bout against Frankie Edgar where he was taken down repeatedly en route to a decision loss.

Luckily, Fisher is an exciting fighter with some notable wins, which means he will have a home in the UFC for the foreseeable future.

* Welterweight: Chris Lytle
There is nothing MMA fans enjoy more than ripping a fighter to shreds on message boards. However, I don’t think I have ever read a bad word about Chris Lytle.

How could you dislike the guy? He is humble, well-rounded and has been giving his all in the UFC since UFC 28. If nothing else good came out of the fourth season of TUF, at least it brought back the man known as “Lights Out” to the big dance.

Lytle is never going to get a title shot, but his never-say-die style will keep him employed for a while. He is a great test for up-and-coming talent.

* Middleweight: Jason MacDonald
“The Athlete” is probably the best example of a gatekeeper in the UFC.

During his run in the promotion, he has cruised to wins against lesser competition, but has been soundly defeated when fighting upper echelon talent.

MacDonald’s main problem is he is solid at everything, but isn’t great at anything. Rich Franklin beat him standing up, Yushin Okami beat him with wrestling and Demian Maia beat him with BJJ. In all three fights, MacDonald was unable to use the other aspects of his game to negate his opponent’s strength.

This lack of a competitive advantage will keep the Alberta-native from ever making a serious title push, but his willingness to fight anyone at anytime will keep him in the UFC.

*Light Heavyweight: James Irvin
This was the toughest division to choose a gatekeeper from since it seems like everyone near the top has legitimate title aspirations.

With no obvious choices to pick, I’ll go with the currently suspended “Sandman” who is a solid striker but doesn’t have the tools to get past any of the players at the top of the food chain.

Irvin has actually been stuck in the gatekeeper role for a while now. He was Stephan Bonnar’s first real test back at UFN 3, Thiago Silva’s first UFC opponent at UFC 71, Houston Alexander’s rebound fight at Fight Night 13 (which he won) and most recently he welcomed Anderson Silva with a glass chin to the 205-pound weight class.

* Heavyweight: Heath Herring
When Herring was first brought into the UFC, the heavyweight division was very thin and many believed “The Texas Crazy Horse” would shoot straight to the top. Well, so much for that.

Herring’s main problem is he posseses one of the worst takedown defenses in the UFC. Simply put, there is no way he can beat any of the wrestlers in that division with those skills.

His loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 87 sent Herring tumbling back down the rankings and it will be a long time before he receives another heavily-promoted fight.

The UFC has many more gatekeepers besides the ones mentioned above, so let me know who you think should be on this list.
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source http://mmarated.com/blogs/blog/20080926/ufc_gatekeepers__division_by_division-788.html

speeds · Sep 26, 2008

Gotta say that my audio feature from months back (link but the audio link is dead) identified Fisher, Lytle, and MacDonald as gatekeepers. I got the jump on you MMA Rated!

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UFC Gatekeepers: Division-by-Division

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