USAT/SBN March MMA Consensus Rankings: Lightweight
by Kid Nate on Mar 26, 2009 9:11 AM EDT
in MMA Rankings
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| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B.J. Penn | 97 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Shinya Aoki | 95 | DREAM | 2 |
| 3 | Kenny Florian | 84 | UFC | 3 |
| 4 | Sean Sherk | 82 | UFC | 6 |
| 5 | Eddie Alvarez | 81 | Bellator | 4 |
| 6 | Joachim Hansen | 79 | DREAM | 5 |
| 7 | Gesias Cavalcante | 78 | DREAM | 7 |
| 8 | Josh Thomson | 63 | Strikeforce | 8 |
| 9 | Satoru Kitaoka | 58 | WVR | 9 |
| 10 | Tatsuya Kawajiri | 47 | DREAM | 10 |
| 11 | Diego Sanchez | 41 | UFC | NR |
| 12 | Gray Maynard | 32 | UFC | 15 |
| 13 | Mitsuhiro Ishida | 29 | DREAM | 12 |
| 14 | Tyson Griffin | 26 | UFC | 14 |
| 15 | Takanori Gomi | 26 | WVR | 11 |
| 16 | Jamie Varner | 23 | WEC | 13 |
| 17 | Gilbert Melendez | 21 | Strike Force | 22 |
| 18 | Eiji Mitsuoka | 20 | WVR | 16 |
| 19 | Caol Uno | 18 | UFC | 17 |
| 20 | Clay Guida | 17 | UFC | 20 |
| 21 | Frankie Edgar | 17 | UFC | 21 |
| 22 | Roger Huerta | 17 | UFC | 19 |
| 23 | Spencer Fisher | 15 | UFC | 22 |
| 24 | Joe Stevenson | 14 | UFC | 24 |
| 25 | Joe Lauzon | 14 | UFC | 27 |
| 25 | Jim Miller | 14 | UFC | 18 |
Rankings compiled by Richard.
Well #1 B.J. Penn's attempt to rule two weight divisions at the same time has succeeded in breaking his 100% hold on the #1 position of the lightweight division. It really has more to do with WAMMA deciding to name #2 Shinya Aoki their champion than any blowback against B.J.
B.J. will defend his UFC title against #3 Kenny Florian at some point during the summer, probably August. Aoki on the other hand will be moving up to welterweight to participate in DREAM's grand prix. He'll face Hayato "Mach" Sakurai at DREAM.8 on April 5th.
#4 Sean Sherk will face #21 Frankie Edgar at UFC 98. The winner will be deep in the hunt for a shot at the champ. Sherk has been calling out #11 Diego Sanchez and #12 Gray Maynard has too.
#5 Eddie Alvarez will be featured in the Bellator lightweight tournament. That's a risky move for Alvarez as the promotion is unproven, there is no telling how small or large the audience will be on ESPN Desportivo and a loss in the tournament will likely send his stock plummeting.
I'm waiting to see what DREAM does with their other lightweights. I've heard nothing about what's next for tournament champ #6 Joachim Hansen since a late concussion canceled his NYE match with #7 Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante. #10 Tatsuya Kawajiri called out JZ after his win at DREAM.7.
#8 Josh Thomson will defend his Strike Force belt against #17 Gilbert Melendez at the first Strike Force event on Showtime in April. I had hoped that #13 Mitsuhiro Ishida might be getting first crack at Thomson but I suspect that Strikeforce has had to move to an exclusive contract model. That will bring a sad end to their trans-Pacific import business which had top Japanese stars like Ishida and middleweight Kazuo Misaki adding to their talent pool.
The top WVR/Sengoku lightweights #9 Satoru Kitaoka and #15 Takanori Gomi will both be returning to their roots for their next fight. Kitaoka will be looking to avenge his losses to Katsuya Inoue in Pancrase. Meanwhile Gomi will be returning to Shooto to face current Shooto 154lb champ Takashi Nakakura. Keep an eye on those fights, an upset in either match will launch a new star in the division.
Based on the premise that all MMA rankings are subjective but that it’s still useful and informative to know who the online MMA community as a whole ranks as the best fighters in MMA, we collect and average the rankings of the top MMA websites to produce our consensus rankings.
We compile the top MMA rankings from each of our sources and award 25 points for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to "normalize" the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. This formula ensures that each ranking site awards the same number of total points regardless of how many fighters they choose to rank. Each fighter’s total is divided by the number of possible points to determine their standing in the Consensus Rankings.
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he's in the top 40
barely.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
He moved up from 40 to a tie for 39. Thanks to his loss to Clay Guida I suppose.
Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
by Richard Wade on Mar 26, 2009 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions
As is Kenny Florian
being ranked above the guy who he never avenged his loss to. Not mention Alvarez, Kawajiri, J.Z., Hansen, Thomson… I think he does belong above Kitaoka of course though.
I mean is beating greaser Huerta, (who doesn’t have a single top 25 win), that impressive?
Joe Stevenson #23… Of course that is in part because of the beating Florian gave him but he’s no higher than 17 or 18 without that whuppin.
Also BJ being rated as high as he is… is only because everybody realizes what awesome competition Jens Pulver and Stevenson are…. At least he BEAT Sherk to be rated above him though.
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 26, 2009 12:52 AM EDT up reply actions
excuse me
I missed Guida at 20. Huerta did beat him after getting pretty well handled by him for most of the fight.
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 26, 2009 12:53 AM EDT up reply actions
Should nobody be able to be ranked ahead of someone they’ve lost to? That seems wrong to me.
Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
by Richard Wade on Mar 26, 2009 6:03 PM EDT up reply actions
#8 Josh Thomson will defend his Strike Force belt against #17 Gilbert Melendez at the first Strike Force event on Showtime in April. I had hoped that #13 Mitsuhiro Ishida might be getting first crack at Thomson but I suspect that Strikeforce has had to move to an exclusive contract model. That will bring a sad end to their trans-Pacific import business which had top Japanese stars like Ishida and middleweight Kazuo Misaki adding to their talent pool.
I don’t buy this. Why would Scott Coker cut himself off from such a well-cultivated relationship with another top promotion, especially when they have stars to offer which can be plugged into main events directly? Ishida had a fight booked with DREAM, he just wasn’t available.
I think Showtime is insisting
on exclusive contracts. That’s speculation on my part, but we sure haven’t heard anything about any of the Japanese fighters who dabbled in Strikeforce returning. Same for Overreem and Santiago.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
Coker said they would be fighting towards the end of the year, most likely in the Fall.
by MMASuPreMaCy on Mar 26, 2009 1:58 PM EDT up reply actions
If you don’t have any inside information suggestive to your theory, I’m gonna go ahead and say you’re jumping the gun. Overeem, Santiago and Ishida are all very much in demand, but right now it probably makes more sense for Strikeforce to focus on using a few shows to build up their own fighters, they can import the killers from DREAM and Sengoku at a later date
It’s something that makes sense to do.
Maybe one or 2 co-promoted fights every once in a while will be good, but when you have stuff like Beebee ditching UWC to fight in Japan, or fighter X having to pull out of a main event fight for this org because he’s medically suspended from a fight in another org, it’s hard for a company to put a bunch of money and effort into promoting fighters when they can screw things up fighting for someone else.
It’s one thing if a fighter has to pull out of a fight because he gets hurt training for the fight, but it’s something entirely different if he gets hurt fighting for someone else.
Maynard over Griffen and Ishida
is in error. Hell poor performances or not i’d put Gomi, Melendez and Mitsouka all over him. That is one I can say is badly overrated.
Gimme 1 round!
Maynard sure is undefeated with recent wins over Jim Miller, Rich Clementi and Frank Edgar.
Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
by Richard Wade on Mar 26, 2009 6:04 PM EDT up reply actions
That being said
These are probably the worst of the meta rankings IMO… And they still aren’t HORRIBLE. Good job on putting out a whole host of rankings today guys and getting it largely very on target. Congrats on the USA Today deal
Gimme 1 round!
The other divisions are mostly congregated in the UFC, while this is neatly divided between Japan and the US. They are also tremendous style differences that make winners hard to predict – Sherk, Maynard, Griffen, etc are large bullish wrestlers, while many Japanese fighters are slender submission artists. I would love to see an East vs West event with the LWs.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Mar 26, 2009 1:37 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Word
I would also like to see Hansen cut down to 145 and fight some stars there when there is nothing free at 155 for him. He has said in interviews he can still make it so why not?
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 26, 2009 1:46 AM EDT up reply actions
BJ hasn't fought at LW in a year.
Eventually that has to get important.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
That has nothing to do with his ranking there.
Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
by Richard Wade on Mar 26, 2009 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I'm not saying it does.
I’m just saying, it should shortly.
If you see Mark Coleman in person, drop $5 on the floor and watch the fun as he tries in vain to bend down and pick it up.
It’s based on ELO.
Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
by Richard Wade on Mar 26, 2009 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Aoki
I dont think he should be in the top five he is the most over rated fighter I have ever seen.
by WhiteyBarrington on Mar 26, 2009 9:33 AM EDT reply actions
MMA Weekly
How exactly does MMA Weekly justify not ranking Sherk at all? It’s pretty obvious from their rankings that they don’t have much respect for the UFC LW division, but that’s pretty ridiculous.
Holy shit
Just saw that. That’s pretty ridiculous…
"I hit [Evensen], and you could just see it in his head. He went, 'Oh, man. We don't have to do this anymore. I'm good. Thanks for having me. I'm going to go home now." -Pat "The Real Techno Viking" Berry
by Blackout612 on Mar 26, 2009 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions
They have a lot of things to answer for during the reckoning.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
by Rundownloser on Mar 26, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions
I’m pretty confident they can’t justify it.
Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
by Richard Wade on Mar 26, 2009 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah...
there is no justification beyond arrogance
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Mar 26, 2009 7:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Certainly it is the same mindset that puts Shogun at 5 and Mirko above Lesnar. A group still dedicated to Pride.
by Michael Rome on Mar 26, 2009 8:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Maynard is too low
Like to see both Diazes higher. Why is Stevenson still in the top 25? Too much respect to DREAMers. Griffin is a poor man’s Sean Sherk. He’s not good enough at anything to dominate or end a fight – at least Sherk has dominant GnP. I like him but his losses especially to Frankie Edgar and Sherk showed why he’ll never be better than them.
Draft Balls Be Kind, The Kings Need Blake! The Padres need Strausberg and the Chargers need Mauluaga!
by bringbackbuddytrees on Apr 23, 2009 3:25 PM EDT reply actions
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