January 2009 Welterweight Rankings

1. Georges St. Pierre

Georges St. Pierre will be fighting one of the biggest fights of his career with his rematch of B.J. Penn. With four straight wins including the destruction of Jon Fitch, GSP remains one of the UFC's most dominant champions.

2. Thiago Alves

With the outstanding performance against Josh Koscheck, there is no question as to who will be get the next shot at the title as the Brazilian Alves had more than earned it. 

3. Jon Fitch 
Fitch will be fighting the veteran Akihiro Gono on Jan. 31 ,originally scheduled for the previous March 2008. However, Jon Fitch has been regulated to the preliminary card in the UFC 94 bout. 

4. Josh Koscheck 
After a tremendous knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida in December, Koscheck returns at UFC 95 on Feb. 21 where he will meet undefeated Paulo Thiago.

5. Jake Shields (22-4-1) 
EliteXC’s welterweight champion has a resume which is no less than stellar, however, Proelite is stalling his entrance to the octagon in a contract dispute.

6. Diego Sanchez (19-2) 
Sanchez, previously announced as a welterweight, will be plunging back into the 155 pound division against a skilled Joe Stevenson. 

7. Carlos Condit (23-4) 
Condit may debut on the April 1 UFC Fight Night card in Nashville, Tenn., where he could meet Martin Kampmann in the octagon. 

8. Karo Parisyan (18-5) 
After a  last-minute injury cut short his fight with Yoshida, Parisyan will take on Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 94. 

9. Matt Hughes (42-7) 
The former welterweight ruler continues to recover from a knee injury. His long-delayed grudge match with fellow former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra will come into fruition at UFC 98. 

10. Matt Serra (9-5)
Last April's rematch with St. Pierre was a brutal beating to former champion Matt Serra. However, Serra will get another chance to prove he is more than a what he showed in April when he meets Matt Hughes at UFC 98 on May 23.