Aaron Simpson Considering Move to Welterweight

Aaron Simpson

Aaron Simpson suffered his third career loss at UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger on Wednesday.  The split decision loss to the much bigger Ronny Markes has the “A-Train” contemplating a move to the welterweight division.

Simpson had Markes in trouble in the first round after landing an uppercut that sent Markes off balance and backpedaling.  It looked as if he was on the verge of finishing, but Markes was able to recover and win the next two rounds on two of the judges’ scorecards.

“I thought I could have finished him in that first round, but he’s tough,” said Simpson during the post-show on Fuel TV.  “I had him out there for a little bit I think.  You can’t count on the ref jumping in, you’ve got to take him out all the way and I didn’t do that.”

The size and strength difference was noticeable throughout the fight.  Simpson, who doesn’t cut much weight to make the middleweight limit of 185 pounds, is considering dropping a weight class to not give up that amount of size to an opponent again.

“He’s a big dude.  I probably weighed 192, 191 in that fight and he probably weighed 215 or 220, he’s big,” said Simpson.  “I just don’t cut for this weight class. I look at a guy like Frankie Edgar, thinking I can do the same thing, but I’m dealing with a lot of size.

“Maybe it means a move down to 170, I don’t know.  Right now it hurts to lose.”

It may have been the disappointment talking, but Simpson’s either going to have to add some mass to better compete against the bigger end of the 185-pound division or cut down to 170, where he’ll be an average sized welterweight.

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