Back in September, Jon Fitch and Diego Sanchez squared off in what was coined as a battle to determine Sanchez's fate. Undefeated before running into a tough Josh Koscheck, Sanchez was looking to bounce back after a stagnant performance. He was aiming to prove all of his doubters wrong that his loss was the beginning of a slowdown in his success. Unfortunately for Sanchez, Jon Fitch was on his way up the ladder and was already being coined as a "world beater" by some MMA fans.

Fitch defeated Sanchez narrowly by split decision, but didn't exactly prove that he was overly better than Sanchez. Fitch's takedown defense was inpenetrable, and Sanchez was unable to do significant damage throughout the fight except for a close submission choke in the third round. A very big win for Jon Fitch, and a disappointing loss for Diego Sanchez who had now lost two straight.

Now the question became whether Diego would move down to Lightweight due to the roadblock he had run into in his previous two fights at Welterweight. That question was answered on Tuesday with a MySpace bulletin and confirmation from his management team. Sanchez has decided to remain in the Welterweight division of the UFC. This begs the question, is this a good or bad choice for Diego Sanchez?

Lightweight prospects?

One of the main detractors for a fighter to move down to the Lightweight division is the influx of talent and the quality of talent in the upper-echelon of the division. Think about the large amount of talent in that group. Excluding BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson due to their #1 and #2 status respectively, there is also Sean Sherk likely at #3, Frankie Edgar, Kenny Florian, Roger Huerta, Clay Guida, Tyson Griffin, Thiago Tavares, and even brawlers like Spencer Fisher, up-and-comers like Joe Lauzon, and veteran grapplers like Marcus Aurelio. That is an unbelievable amount of talent to sift through in order to get a shot near the top spots, and it's also a very tough talent pool to be successful in. Could this be a reason why Sanchez stayed away? It's a very good possibility.

All that talent brings in some bad stylistic matchups for Sanchez as well. Sanchez seemed to move toward a jiu-jitsu ground game in his last fight instead of trying to spar with Fitch. It worked for at least one of those rounds. He managed to pull off multiple submission attempts against Fitch in the third round of their matchup, but was unable to finish one of them. In retrospect however, this did keep Fitch busy and ultimately won Sanchez the round on most scorecards. Is the jiu-jitsu game better at the Lightweight level in Sanchez's skillset?

Probably not. Sherk and Edgar are great wrestlers, and Fitch proved that good wrestling can counter Sanchez's jiu-jitsu. Huerta and Guida are cardio nightmares who have huge gas tanks and unbelievable submission defense. Florian is about as well-rounded as you can get and is decent in both striking and on the ground. Even the guys down the ladder show significant skills that we have yet to really guage against upper level competition. A fighter needs to be the complete package to be in the top 3 at the Lightweight level.

Welterweight is where Sanchez belongs

Why should Sanchez stick with the Welterweight Division? First and foremost, it isn't horribly crowded. Matt Hughes claims he has a good number of fights left in his career, but he does seem to be fading. Serra isn't exactly the greatest fighter in the Welterweight division, and should drop soon, and Georges St. Pierre should be the lone dominator toward the top of the division. Who else is there?

Thiago Alves, Ryo Chonan, Akihiro Gono, Jon Fitch, Dustin Hazelett, Marcus Davis, Josh Koscheck, and Karo Parisyan to name a few. The difference between this list and the list of Lightweights is that Sanchez has shown the skills to be able to beat Fitch or Koscheck, guys he's lost to in the past. Sanchez nearly submitted Fitch in the third round of their fight and was able to avoid being knocked out or submitted himself. Sanchez was stagnant against Koscheck, and he paid for it with a loss. He could definitely do much better and make a good run at Koscheck in the process.

The choice to stay at Welterweight seems to be a no-brainer. Diego has proven that he can hang with the upper echelon of fighters and some improvement will only make him more dangerous in the future. The Lightweight division is flooded with some unbelievable talent, and Diego probably doesn't want to risk cutting the weight, and most likely doesn't want sit in a flooded division, especially when the Welterweight division is beginning to show signs of degradation. With a couple of solid wins under his belt, Diego could make a run for contention.

Final thoughts

Interestingly enough, our staff writer Joe Schmitt brought an interesting point to my attention regarding the Lightweight division matchups. Sanchez moving down could have begun the process of matching Roger Huerta up against him for a South of the Border event in Mexico. Definitely an interesting prospect, although I believe Sanchez at Welterweight could also produce a fight for Spanish-speaking fans to get behind Diego on.

Unfortunately for that dream Lightweight matchup, Diego seems to be staying put. I think Sanchez is making the right decision, especially with the possibility of Hughes retiring and with the talent pool at around the same level as Sanchez's skill. There is no telling where Sanchez could end up in the Lightweight division, and the unknown position he will be placed in if he dropped could potentially leave him unprepared. Good move for Sanchez, and look for him to be back to his winning ways soon enough.