USAT/SBN July MMA Consensus Rankings: Lightweight

by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 10:53 PM EDT in MMA Rankings

Rank	Fighter	%	Promotion	Last Rank
1	B.J. Penn	97	UFC	1
2	Kenny Florian	91	UFC	2
3	Shinya Aoki	90	DREAM	4
4	Eddie Alvarez	86	Bellator	3
5	Joachim Hansen	75	DREAM	5
6	Frank Edgar	69	UFC	7
7	Tatsuya Kawajiri	69	DREAM	6
8	Diego Sanchez	63	UFC	12
9	Gray Maynard	53	UFC	10
10	Satoru Kitaoka	50	WVR	9
11	Sean Sherk	48	UFC	8
12	Josh Thomson	39	Strikeforce	11
13	Gesias Cavalcante	33	DREAM	13
14	Tyson Griffin	21	UFC	14
15	Eiji Mitsuoka	21	WVR	18
16	Takanori Gomi	20	WVR	15
17	Joe Stevenson	20	UFC	26
18	Gilbert Melendez	20	Strikeforce	20
19	Clay Guida	19	UFC	19
20	Spencer Fisher	19	UFC	17
21	Jamie Varner	18	WEC	15
22	Vitor Ribeiro	15	DREAM	21
23	Roger Huerta	15	UFC	22
24	Mitsuhiro Ishida	14	DREAM	24
25	Joe Lauzon	13	UFC	25
25	Nate Diaz	13	UFC	23

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

August promises to be a big month for fans of lightweight MMA. #1 B.J. Penn will defend his lightweight belt for the first time this year against #2 Kenny Florian at UFC 101. Penn's reputation has suffered a bit from his loss to #1 welterweight Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94. More damage was inflicted by his post-fight conduct and litany of complaints over GSP's greasing.

Florian's marked improvement since he lost his first title shot against #11 Sean Sherk in 2006 has many believing that he will be able to deal B.J. his first loss at lightweight in six years. We'll find out on August 8th.

The winner will get to defend his belt against #8 Diego Sanchez who is looking very formidable at lightweight. Either way the UFC will win as a Penn vs Sanchez match will be a pre-fight smack talk epic between two of the most unique personalities in the game and a Florian vs Sanchez re-match will have its own narrative arc.

#3 Shinya Aoki got back on the winning track by decisioning #22 Vitor Ribeiro at DREAM.10. Like Penn, his move up to welterweight was ill-fated but he redeemed himself with a dominating decision against a tough opponent. Up next for Aoki, a title shot rubber match against #5 Joachim Hansen.

#4 Eddie Alvarez will presumably defend his Bellator lightweight belt against the winner of next season's tournament. No word on the timing of his next fight.

#9 Gray Maynard will face #23 Roger Huerta at UFC Fight Night 19 in September. This is the last fight on Huerta's UFC contract, so the Zuffa brass must be pretty confident that Maynard can send him out with a loss. A commanding win by Maynard in a headlining fight on Spike TV could put him in great position for a title shot in 2010 if he wins a couple more big fights.

The implications of a Huerta win are less clear since he is apparently focusing on his career as a model/actor more than on MMA these days. Call me a cynic, but I expect once he's free from his UFC contract that he'll be fighting for Bellator in no time.

~~#12 Josh Thomson will defend his Strikeforce title~~ #24 Mitsuhirio Ishida will go up against #18 Gilbert Melendez at Strikeforce's August 15 event on Showtime. This is a rematch of their 2007 bout that saw Ishida hand Melendez his first loss.

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Comments

Kawajiri should be 6.

by Meshuggeth on Jul 30, 2009 9:25 PM EDT reply actions

Edgar got more points

we round off for the charts.

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 9:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Frank Edgar
Gray Maynard

does not compute

by George Lucas on Jul 30, 2009 9:27 PM EDT reply actions

especially since I typed in the number 6 and the number 9 but the comment system decided to change those numbers

by George Lucas on Jul 30, 2009 9:28 PM EDT up reply actions

I mean it would be one thing if there was a loop or if Maynard/Edgar was super recent, but that fight was a year ago and Maynard has zero losses.

There’s not really any excuse for putting someone above an undefeated top 10 fighter who beat him so recently.

by George Lucas on Jul 30, 2009 9:35 PM EDT up reply actions

I went through this on the main rankings thread

1) forgive me if you know this, but we have to say it every time — the USAT/SBN Consensus rankings compile more than 20 online sources to produce an accurate reflection of online opinion — they do not represent the opinions of Bloody Elbow or USA TODAY.
2) Edgar scored huge for beating Sean Sherk when Sherk was in the top 5. When Maynard beat Edgar, Edgar was only in the top 10 and Maynard didn’t get as big a bump.
3) Maynard’s relatively low number of fights is also likely hurting him with rankers. Unless you’re Brock Lesnar, it helps to have a big body of work. But the UFC and Maynard both agree he’s not ready for a title shot. His ranking reflects this slow approach that the UFC is taking to promoting his career. The longer we do this the more convinced I am that promotional pushes impact the rankings more than any other factor.

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 10:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Will Diego have another fight before fighting for the title? If not, his ranking will be a good test to examine how much MMA rankings are a “wag the dog” situation. Will he shoot up the rankings, like other fighters have done, simply because he’s getting a title shot?

by Jahbulon on Jul 30, 2009 9:34 PM EDT reply actions

here are my best guesses

1) No. A Diego Sanchez title shot is a fight the UFC has wanted to put on for years now, they’re not going to risk him losing now that he’s positioned for a big money fight.
2) Yes.

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 10:06 PM EDT up reply actions

I still don’t know why Gray Maynard is lower than Edgar. Or why Sanchez is higher than him.

by Captain7 on Jul 30, 2009 9:48 PM EDT reply actions

Sanchez carries over at least some of his success at higher weight classes.

by George Lucas on Jul 30, 2009 9:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes

Several sites — FightMatrix for one — award fighters points that are portable from division to division.

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 10:07 PM EDT up reply actions

That’s stupid.

by FRANKIE on Jul 30, 2009 11:41 PM EDT up reply actions

pithy

but not convincing.

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 11:42 PM EDT up reply actions

oh ehhh

I disagree with these rankings A LOT.

oh well it happens

he was injured. injured bad.

by troy145 on Jul 30, 2009 9:53 PM EDT reply actions

hey

I disagree with these rankings every month.
And lightweight is one of the most messed up divisions of all since the top 10 is split between promotions.

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Can you guys just start posting “THESE RANKINGS ARE NOT SUBJECTIVE, THEY ARE NOT OUR OPINION, WE JUST COMPILE THE DATA” at the beginning of every one of these?

I don’t think they’re actually going to let him kill me... And if he does kills me, book sales will really go up. Boom…win-win, bitch.- Forrest Griffin on Anderson Silva

by ufc4 on Jul 30, 2009 10:41 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

we used to

and no one paid attention.
Its on the rankings page.
I could start adding to the full entry but no one would read that either….

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by Kid Nate on Jul 30, 2009 11:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Fair enough but why did you put Edgar above Maynard?

I dislike Matt Hughes and Twidder.

by MonkeyCHops on Jul 31, 2009 1:28 AM EDT up reply actions

/s

I dislike Matt Hughes and Twidder.

by MonkeyCHops on Jul 31, 2009 1:28 AM EDT up reply actions

Some people need to get on the Kitaoka train. I cant believe hes that low.

by Rabbit915 on Jul 31, 2009 12:25 AM EDT reply actions

Question about Penn's ranking

Since we have dropped WAMMA from the consensus equation, what source(s) don’t have BJ ranked #1?

"The wise have something to say, the foolish have to say something."

by PistonHyundai on Jul 31, 2009 2:01 AM EDT reply actions

MMA Elo has him at #8.

I dislike Matt Hughes and Twidder.

by MonkeyCHops on Jul 31, 2009 3:38 AM EDT up reply actions

Ugh, the rankings are ridiculous. Clay Guida is 19th? Should be way higher. Nate Diaz 25th? Should be higher. Gomi is 16th? Should be lower, definitely lower than Guida and Diaz.

by iTap on Jul 31, 2009 2:33 AM EDT reply actions

It just continues to show what a joke rankings are in general, the fact that non-UFC guys continue to get overranked while more talented UFC fighters like Guida are ranked so low really boggles the mind sometimes.

by Raker on Jul 31, 2009 3:42 AM EDT reply actions

The point of rankings is so that people will show up and say things like, I can’t believe so and so is rated #3 and so and so is only #9 and then someone points out that the staff doesn’t do the rankings they just compile them from other sites.

I dislike Matt Hughes and Twidder.

by MonkeyCHops on Jul 31, 2009 3:49 AM EDT up reply actions