They may continue to enter bouts as underdogs, but few can dispute that
Chael Sonnen and
Paulo Thiago deserve their places in the top 10.
Despite one-sided wins over
Paulo Filho,
Dan Miller and
Yushin Okami, Sonnen entered his UFC 109 matchup with
Nate Marquardt simply as an opponent, as Marquardt sought to earn another crack at the UFC middleweight crown. Instead, Sonnen’s wrestling and ground-and-pound dominated Marquardt for the majority of the fight, earning the Oregonian a unanimous decision, the biggest win of his career and a shot at the UFC middleweight title.
Likewise, Thiago was written off as a flash-in-the-pan immediately following his upset knockout of
Josh Koscheck in February 2009. Despite no favors from UFC matchmakers, Thiago has continued to thrive. At UFC 109, the once-beaten Brazilian lit up another American Kickboxing Academy welterweight in
Mike Swick, knocking him down and choking him unconscious in the second round, as he proved himself as a legitimate top 10 welterweight.
The last two weeks have also seen some minor title turnover. The flyweight class saw two new champions crowned, as pioneering divisional star
Mamoru Yamaguchi became King of the Cage’s 125-pound world titleholder and one of his former victims, upstart
Kiyotaka Shimizu, upset
Mitsuhisa Sunabe to claim the flyweight King of Pancrase title. Meanwhile,
Nick Diaz lamped Dream king
Marius Zaromskis to claim not only Strikeforce’s welterweight strap but a place among the 170-pound elite.
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