USAT/SBN April MMA Consensus Rankings: Lightweight

by Kid Nate on Apr 29, 2009 8:03 PM EDT in Rankings Comment 31 comments

Rank	Fighter	%	Promotion	Last Rank
1	B.J. Penn	98	UFC	1
2	Shinya Aoki	88	DREAM	2
3	Kenny Florian	86	UFC	3
4	Sean Sherk	83	UFC	4
5	Eddie Alvarez	81	Bellator	5
6	Joachim Hansen	76	DREAM	6
7	Gesias Cavalcante	75	DREAM	7
8	Josh Thomson	63	Strikeforce	8
9	Satoru Kitaoka	54	WVR	9
10	Diego Sanchez	48	UFC	11
11	Tatsuya Kawajiri	41	DREAM	10
12	Gray Maynard	40	UFC	12
13	Mitsuhiro Ishida	32	DREAM	13
14	Takanori Gomi	27	WVR	15
15	Tyson Griffin	24	UFC	14
16	Jamie Varner	24	WEC	16
17	Gilbert Melendez	23	Strikeforce	17
18	Frankie Edgar	23	UFC	21
19	Eiji Mitsuoka	22	WVR	18
20	Vitor Ribeiro	21	DREAM	30
21	Clay Guida	21	UFC	20
22	Caol Uno	20	UFC	19
23	Roger Huerta	17	UFC	22
24	Spencer Fisher	16	UFC	23
25	Joe Stevenson	15	UFC	24

Rankings compiled by Richard.

This is probably the division that the UFC has the weakest grip on. Only four of the top ten fighters are signed to Zuffa and only 11 of the top 25.

While we wait for #1 B.J. Penn to defend his UFC lightweight title against #3 Kenny Florian at UFC 101, #2 Shinya Aoki fought an exhibition sambo match against #1 heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. We'll have to wait until July for Aoki to get a rubber match against #6 Joachim Hansen at DREAM.10. At stake will be Hansen's DREAM title. To help the time pass, #7 Gesias "JZ" Calvalcante will face #11 Tatsuya Kawajiri at DREAM.9 in a bout to determine who will next challenge for the DREAM belt.

A man who made his name in the DREAM tourny that crowned Hansen, #5 Eddie Alvarez is currently working his way through the Bellator tournament on ESPN's spanish language channel. #28 Jorge Masvidal is competing in the same tourny and we may see the two meet. I hope those guys are getting paid well because they're effectively fighting on a parallel Earth.

Strikeforce champ #8 Josh Thomson injured his ankle badly and had to miss a rematch with #17 Gilbert Melendez on Strikeforce's April 11th card. Melendez wants to fight again before Thomson heals up. He would most like a revenge bout with #13 Mitsuhiro Ishida who has fought for Strikeforce before.

On the UFC side of the street, #4 Sean Sherk will meet #18 Frank Edgar at UFC 98 on May 23rd. Sherk is griping about the lengthy gaps between B.J. Penn's title defenses. Fightlinker points out the hypocrisy there.

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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Diego Sanchez over Kawajiri is a crime.

by AnonymousA on Apr 29, 2009 6:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Only if you ignore Sanchez’s accomplishments at welterweight, which most ranking sites do not.

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 Apr 29, 2009 7:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

All of those accomplishments that made him realize that he couldn’t quit it in the division and forced him to drop a weightclass? Sounds pretty impressive.

I’m a huge Diego fan, but honestly, he isn’t a Top 10 lightweight. That’s just the truth.

by AnonymousA on Apr 29, 2009 8:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Quit should be cut, obviously.

by AnonymousA on Apr 29, 2009 8:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He was a consensus top 10 welterweight before he dropped to lightweight.

by Richard Wade on Apr 29, 2009 11:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Kawajiri over Gray Maynard is a bigger crime.

(Hey, if you can crosspost, I can too)

by subo on Apr 30, 2009 7:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

More of a crime is....

Shinya Aoki at number 2, i don’t see him bein a top 10 in general.
if he was in the UFC he wouldn’t be on this ranking at all

by ThaSandman on Apr 29, 2009 8:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

BUNG!

by AnonymousA on Apr 29, 2009 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Seeing reasonable rankings

Makes me hate Wamma even more. And yeah, Aoki at 2 is loco.

by poundnground on Apr 29, 2009 9:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Any one of those ufc guys would smash Aoki in less than a round. Especially Florian and Sherk. I know this is going to come off like a ufc nuthugger, but there’s not one guy on this list that doesn’t fight in the ufc that belongs in the top 10. These dudes always get smashed when they come to the ufc. Maynard, Guida, Nate Diaz,Griffin and Edgar could beat any non- ufc guy on this list. And yes I know these aren’t your rankings.

by Josh H. on Apr 29, 2009 9:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I think you should reconsider

Some of these guys — I’m thinking in particular of JZ Calvan, Alvarez, Josh Thomson and Ishida would do very very well in the UFC right now.

"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"

by Kid Nate on Apr 29, 2009 10:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't trust Alvarez...

dude is kind of sloppy (hence his getting rocked in his first round fight at Bellator) but he is exciting and a good fighter deserving of his current placement.

Calvan would be really good in the UFC

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

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by Brent Brookhouse on Apr 29, 2009 11:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Question to those who think Aoki/Kitaoka/JZ/Hellboy aren't Top 10:

Do you watch any Japanese MMA?

by Chris Nelson on Apr 29, 2009 9:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

yea i watch japanese mma

and i havent been impressed by aoki, can you tell me how u think he’s a top 10 and the level of opponents he’s faced

by ThaSandman on Apr 29, 2009 10:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yea i watch japanese mma
and i havent been impressed by aoki

I don’t get this. I honestly don’t care much about rankings, but I can’t understand not being impressed by Aoki or thinking he belongs among the top LWs in the world. The guy stays more active than any other ranked fighter, in any weight class – he’s fought seven times at LW in the past year, gone 5-1 (1 NC) and the only loss was to a guy he’s beaten in the past and is rematching in a few months. (The guy ranked #1 has fought once at LW in that time.) Aoki’s faced a couple less than stellar opponents in that stretch (Nagata, Moore), but he absolutely demolished them, and because of his garbage chin, virtually anyone with power in their hands has a shot at beating him on a given night. Plus he took out legit threats in JZ (#7), Uno (#22) and Alvarez (#5).

Like I say, rankings aren’t my thing. But in my humble opinion there’s no denying Aoki is the top non-UFC lightweight in the world.

by Chris Nelson on Apr 29, 2009 11:39 PM EDT up reply actions 5 recs

Rec’d.

"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 Apr 29, 2009 11:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I dont think Moore, Gardner (got choked out for cuz he was waving to the audience or something), or Nagata are any good. His fight with alvarez was impressive, but you see him over kenflo and sean sherk? they would each demolish him ( i dont think he could tap out sherk or kenflo) and he only fought that many times because dream is really trying to push him to be their poster boy. While in the UFC they actually have tough fights in each of their fights. And ur making a big deal cuz bj fought TWICE, yea he hasnt fought at lightweight very much but he also fought the #1 welterweight in the world and went to the 4th round while Aoki didnt last 1 minute against a former lightweight in Sakurai. But since their were in different weight classes i am sure your gonna discredit that. I also have no idea why u mentioned that i didnt give Satoru Kitaoka any credit when i am simply talkin about Aoki. U consider Uno a real threat, i havent thought he looked good since UFC days and even then i wouldn’t consider him a big threat. Kenflo also cleaned out the LW division with the exception of Sherk whose only loss since dropping to LW was BJ Penn. Hellboy is also a very inconsistant fighter and don’t use these rankings to hype up Aoki when talking about the fighters he beat, i mean Joe Stevenson at number 25????He’s only lost to top 5 LW’s with exception of Josh Neer and Diego Sanchez who was also a good fighter at WW. Since Roger Huerta hasnt fought in a while, a guy he beat in Clay guida gets to jump ahead of him. Sorry it wasnt written perfectly, i’m in college and its exam week so i just wrote sum quick points but if you want i can go into more detail

by ThaSandman on Apr 30, 2009 12:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs