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Welterweights in MMA can and will provide exciting fights on any given fight night. There are many tough guys at 170 lbs throughout the world. No matter where a welterweight fighter calls home on this earth, there’s no denying that there are some pretty tough guys to weigh in at 170 in the United States of America.
So far in 2025 alone, there have been some pretty noteworthy guys at welterweight from the 50 states to make the walk to the fabled Octagon and/or the SmartCage to do battle. There’s another certainty regarding welterweights in the United States of America: These fighters are guys you want to bet on, whether you’re into binance coin gambling or not.
Today, we’ll be presenting a countdown of five prime welterweights based out of the United States of America. There’s no time to waste, so why don’t we get started.
Top Five Tough American Welterweights: No. 5: Sean Brady
At No. 5 on this countdown, we travel to The City of Brotherly Love. While the Phillies and the Eagles call Philadelphia, PA home, the Keystone State city is also where UFC No. 2 welterweight contender Sean Brady (18-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) is based.
Back in March, Sean Brady made a trek across the pond to London, United Kingdom for UFC London. The March 15 card was headlined by a fight matching Brady with Leon Edwards (22-5, 1 NC MMA, 14-4, 1 NC UFC) in a battle of two of the world’s top welterweights.
Brady took Edwards to the fourth round of a scheduled five in the ESPN+ main event. During the penultimate round of the headlining tilt, Brady locked in a vicious guillotine choke in a minute and 34 seconds’ time to score the finish.
At press time, there’s no specific day and date on which the next fight will take place for one of the toughest welterweights in America. You can surmise that it’ll be must-see TV when it does happen.
Top Five Tough American Welterweights: No. 4: Stephen Thompson
We move onto the No. 4 entrant in our top five welterweights countdown and pay a visit to Simpsonville, SC, where a seasoned veteran of the world of competitive violence was born and raised. No. 12 contender Stephen Thompson (17-8-1 MMA, 12-8-1 UFC) has logged in 25 career MMA fights as a professional competitor, 21 of which have occurred under the UFC banner.
Thompson has hit a rough patch of late, having gone 1-4 in his last five fights, the only win in that stretch occurring in December of 2022 by way of fourth-round TKO after his opponent, Kevin Holland (28-13, 1 NC MMA, 15-10, 1 NC UFC) did not answer the bell for the fifth round of the UFC Orlando main event.
Fight fans don’t need to wait too much longer to see one of America’s toughest welterweights in action again. On Saturday, July 12, he’ll be headed to Nashville, TN and Bridgestone Arena for a contest in the main card of UFC Nashville vs. 18-fight veteran Gabriel Bonfim (17-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC.)
Top Five Tough American Welterweights: No. 3: Chris Curtis
We’ll keep discussing the upcoming UFC Nashville card for the man who’s being slotted at No. 3 in our welterweights countdown, 43-fight veteran Chris Curtis (31-12, 1 NC MMA, 5-4, 1 NC UFC), an alumnus of the PFL. Curtis, nicknamed “The Action Man”, has finished 18 of his 31 career victories as a professional in MMA.
The Ohioan will be making his second walk to the Octagon this year on July 12, but it’ll be his first walk as a welterweight since before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. He spent several years as a welterweight, including his entire stint in the PFL and won the CES MMA Welterweight Championship before switching to middleweight in 2021.
He’s had luck at welterweight before, so will his return to the division be a success on July 12?
Top Five Tough American Welterweights: No. 2: Neil Magny
For the No. 2 entry in the top-5 countdown of American welterweights, we take a flight to Denver, CO, hometown of Neil Magny (29-13 MMA, 22-12 UFC). On July 19, Magny will travel to New Orleans, LA for UFC 318.
Before Dustin Poirier takes his last walk to the Octagon in that night’s main event of the evening, Magny will be heading into Smoothie King Center for a fight against Gunnar Nelson (19-6-1 MMA, 10-6 UFC.)
It’ll be a contest between two seasoned veterans of MMA, with Magny holding the UFC welterweight division record for most victories at 22 and Nelson making his 26th career walk to the cage. Neil Magny has recorded 12 wins inside the distance in his MMA life as a professional fighter.
July 19 will be a night belonging to some of MMA’s legacy fighters. Can Neil Magny add to his?
Top Five Tough American Welterweights: No. 1: Thad Jean
For our top dog as far as tough American welterweights are concerned, we go to the Sunshine State of Florida to talk about an exciting fighter in the 2025 PFL World Tournament. Heading into this year’s welterweight bracket, Thad Jean (10-0 MMA) had an undefeated record of 8-0 with half of those wins coming by way of stoppage.
In Jean’s quarterfinal fight of the tournament, he drew the assignment of Mukhamed Berkhamov (17-4, 1 NC MMA) after getting rebooked. Jean finished Berkhamov inside the opening round of the contest.
He then advanced to fight Jason Jackson (19-6 MMA) in the latter’s 25th career MMA appearance on June 12. PFL Nashville provided a tough test for Thad Jean, but he bested Jackson by split decision after 15 minutes.
Now, on Aug. 1, the 2025 PFL Welterweight Championship awaits, but Jean’s got one last test to pass, fellow American welterweight Logan Storley (18-3 MMA,) former Bellator MMA Welterweight Champion. If he scores the victory once the calendar turns over to the year’s eighth month, it’ll be a mammoth one for Jean over the former champion in Bellator.
