Oh, How The Story Changes. As Ellenberger, Hendricks Close In On GSP, Rick Story Left To Wonder What Could Have Been.

Let's get something straight:

The interim welterweight championship that Carlos Condit won by beating Nick Diaz at UFC 143 is fairly meaningless, at least as far as the word "championship" goes. For years the division has been so thoroughly dominated by one man, Georges St. Pierre, that it is silly to think that someone else could hold the designation of champion without first defeating the Canadian superstar.

What Condit won was more a golden ticket than a golden belt, as attaining the opportunity to face St. Pierre has become increasingly difficult in recent years. By the time St. Pierre returns from the serious knee injury he suffered last winter, he will have fought just three times in three calender years. In contrast, Jon Jones is getting set to defend his light heavyweight championship for the third time in just under 8 months. Indeed, you can add a light workload to the list of reasons people have soured on St. Pierre, who was at one time the most beloved fighter in MMA but has become a beacon for critical fans as of late.

There has been a lot of debate about who should be waiting for St. Pierre when he returns to the cage. As the current "champ", Condit holds most of the cards. Should he decide to wait until GSP is ready to fight, no one could really blame him, especially when you take into consideration the lack of action GSP has given the division lately. Carlos probably won't ever get another chance to fight St. Pierre if he takes a fight in the meantime and loses, so it does make some sense for Condit to wait.

Yet we know that Dana White is not a fan of fighters waiting for injured opponents. Rashad Evans famously waited for Shogun Rua to recover from an injury while Rua was the champion in late 2010. Evans ended up hurting himself, which opened the door for Jon Jones to take his place and the belt from Shogun. Since he lost his title shot, Evans has fought just twice in two years. He'll finally get his chance at the belt against Jones in April but Dana often uses Evans as an example of what not to do in this type of situation. That isn't the only thing working against Condit, as Michael David Smith of MMA Fighting points out that there is a great case to be made for putting Carlos in with Jake Ellenberger, who on Wednesday defeated Diego Sanchez in the main event of UFC on FUEL 1, this summer:

It's not so much that Ellenberger is the clear No. 1 contender as that it's just the right fight to make right now. It makes sense based on timing -- Ellenberger and Condit should both be ready to take the fight by the summer -- and it also makes sense because Condit and Ellenberger have already fought once, in 2009, and it was a split decision. Condit and Ellenberger had a close 15-minute fight last time. Let's see if one of them can finish it within 25 minutes this time.

Further complicating matters is a scheduled fight between two more top welterweights, Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks at UFC on FOX 3 in May. Koscheck has already had two chances against GSP and lost both, so he probably won't be getting a third crack if he wins. Hendricks, on the other hand, is in a similar spot to Ellenberger. Both have just one loss in the UFC, with Hendricks sporting one more win than the six that Ellenberger has put up. A victory over Koscheck would certainly leave him more than deserving of a title shot.

So while there are a few different scenarios that could play out over for the welterweight division over the next six months, almost all of them include Hendricks and Ellenberger as major players. But that isn't the only thing that the two top welterweights have in common: They both share a loss to forgotten man Rick Story.

Story faced Ellenberger before either man was in the UFC, at SportFight 23 in Portland, during the summer of 2008. Ellenberger had already put together a 17-3 record over 20 pro fights and was well on his way to the big-time. Story was a quite green 4-2, less than a year into his professional career. After taking a three round decision victory over Ellenberger, Story announced himself as a blue chip prospect and was signed to the UFC just two fights later. He would lose his UFC debut to John Hathaway before ripping off six straight wins, including a decision victory over Hendricks at the Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale.

After defeating Thiago Alves at UFC 130 for his sixth straight win, Story took a short notice fight against Nate Marquardt, scheduled for less than a month later at UFC on Versus 4, in the hopes that a seventh straight victory would earn him a chance at St. Pierre. Unfortunately for Story, things went horribly wrong. Marquardt failed a pre-fight drug screening for having elevated levels of testosterone on the eve of the fight and journeyman Charlie Brenneman would step in for him. It's hard to say how much of an effect the change of opponents had on Story, but whether it was that, or the fact that he was fighting less than 30 days after a three round slug fest with Alves, or something else entirely, he lost the fight via unanimous decision, immediately falling out of title contention.

To make matters worse, Story would drop a decision in his next fight to Martin Kampmann, leaving him with two straight losses and far far away from the title discussion that Ellenberger and Hendricks are a large part of. I can only imagine how frustrating life has been recently for Story, as he watches two men that he knows he can beat close in on a title shot.

This is not to say that Ellenberger or Hendricks are somehow undeserving of the position they are in. On the contrary, I feel that Rick Story is just the latest shining example of how quickly things can change in MMA. Last year at this time, Story was an upstart making a grand run at fighting for the title. Today he sits on the sidelines, and the only thing he'll be fighting for in his next fight is his UFC career.