UFC 69 saw the end of the brief reign of Georges St. Pierre as the UFC welterweight champion.  St. Pierre was stunned by challenger Matt Serra and dropped convincingly in the first round of their title fight.  With Serra's victory, there are a number of new questions we can now ask about the welterweight division.  1) Who will Serra fight in his first title defense? 2) Who will St. Pierre fight in his next fight? and 3) Where does Matt Hughes stand in all of this?

Josh Koscheck's victory over previously undefeated Diego Sanchez may not have been pretty but it was convincing.  It was clear from the outset that Koscheck controlled the fight and was dictating the pace of the action.  Koscheck punched when he wanted to and took Sanchez down when he wanted to.  Sanchez appeared to not have any real gameplan to beat Koscheck.  With this victory, it would appear that Koscheck is one step closer to challenging the three top fighters in the division -- Serra, St. Pierre, and Hughes.

In the middleweight division, Yushin Okami staked a claim to being one of the top fighters in the division with his fourth straight UFC victory -- this one over Mike Swick in UFC 69.  Okami dominated Swick for most of the match and appeared to be the bigger, stronger fighter.  Along with titleholder Anderson Silva, former champion Rich Franklin, and Nate Marquardt (widely reported to be the next challenger for the middleweight crown), I think fans have to look at Okami as being right up there with this group.  TUF 3 alum Kendall Grove also moved up in the middleweight rankings with his submission victory over Alan Belcher.

In the lightweight division, Roger Huerta's fight against Leonard Garcia was one of the most exciting fights I have ever seen in UFC.  This fight was non-stop back and forth action with both fighters leaving everything they had out there in the Octagon.  The mutual respect the two combatants showed each other at the end of the fight was well-deserved.  This bout only added to what is shaping up to be one of the very strongest divisions in the UFC.

The UFC heavyweight division looks quite strong all of a sudden.  With the announced signing of Antonio Nogueira -- former PRIDE heavyweight champion -- last night in addition to previous signings and the return of Randy Couture to the division, there is plenty of top-notch depth.  In addition, with Brandon Vera reportedly signing an extension with the UFC, there is good up-and-coming talent in the division to complement the cadre of proven fighters such as Nogueira, Couture, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, and Mirko Filipovic.  Heath Herring's victory in UFC 69 also keeps him in the picture as a solid contender in the division. 

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For those of you keeping score, my nickname picks for UFC 69 went 3-6 for the night.  In other words, maybe some of these fighters should be working harder in the gym and spending less time coming up with clever nicknames.