Josh Burkman Drops Down To UFC’s Lightweight Division

After a less than successful second stint in the UFC at welterweight, Josh Burkman has announced that he’s now going to try his luck in the lightweight division.

“Everybody trying to guess my opponent at welterweight is wrong… I’m a lightweight now,” Burkman revealed on Twitter. “This fight is at 155.”

The 35 year-old Burkman, who originally made his way to the UFC via The Ultimate Fighter season 2, producing a 5-5 record before being released in 2008, returned to the promotion at the start of the year.

Despite having enjoyed a resurgence in his career prior to that fighting for the WSOF promotion, which included a 41 second submission victory over Jon Fitch, Burkman has found the going tough in the Octagon, starting with a convincing decision loss to Hector Lombard, though that result was later amended to a no-contest after his opponent tested positive for steroids.

Burkman then lost by submission to Dong Hyun Kim and most recently was TKO’d by Patrick Cote back in August which has left him in search of a much needed win to remain in the sport’s leading promotion. That appears to be what’s prompted the decision to move down to 155lbs for the first time in his almost 13 year, 27-12 (+1nc) career.

So far there’s no word on who his first opponent will be in his new weight class.

Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.