USAT/SBN January MMA Consensus Rankings: Lightweight

by Kid Nate on Jan 28, 2010 2:34 PM EST in MMA Rankings

Rank	Fighter	%	Promotion	Last Rank
1	B.J. Penn	100	UFC	1
2	Shinya Aoki	96	DREAM	2
3	Kenny Florian	90	UFC	4
4	Eddie Alvarez	86	DREAM	3
5	Gray Maynard	77	UFC	5
6	Frank Edgar	76	UFC	6
7	Tatsuya Kawajiri	68	DREAM	8
8	Gilbert Melendez	62	Strikeforce	13
9	Diego Sanchez	57	UFC	7
10	Joachim Hansen	54	DREAM	10
11	Sean Sherk	37	UFC	9
12	Mizuto Hirota	34	WVR	11
13	Tyson Griffin	33	UFC	12
14	Joe Stevenson	32	UFC	14
15	Benson Henderson	27	WEC	29
16	Gesias Cavalcante	26	DREAM	22
17	Jorge Masvidal	23	WVR	16
18	Takanori Gomi	22	UFC	20
18	Kazunori Yokota	22	WVR	15
20	Kurt Pellegrino	21	UFC	18
21	Josh Thomson	21	Strikeforce	24
22	Jim Miller	21	UFC	31
22	Terry Etim	21	UFC	25
24	Nate Diaz	21	UFC	17
24	Evan Dunham	21	UFC	NR
24	Sam Stout	21	UFC	NR

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

#1 B. J. Penn is the one champion who didn't fall injured during Dana White's miserable winter of discontent. He put a righteous beat down on #9 Diego Sanchez at UFC 107. Even better, he'll be back against #6 Frank Edgar at UFC 112.

Edgar owes his title shot to #5 Gray Maynard's underwhelming win over #24 Nate Diaz at UFN 20. But honestly, neither Maynard nor Edgar presents a very compelling challenge to the pre-eminent Penn.

#3 Kenny Florian will welcome #18 Takanori Gomi to the UFC at UFN 21. For all of Gomi's travails in the last two years, if he can regain his old Fireball Kid form and KO Florian in impressive fashion, he'll instantly be the most intriguing challenger on the UFC roster.

And frankly, that's because so many of the top fighters in the division are outside the UFC's promotional clutches. I personally think Penn is just as far beyond the DREAM and Strikeforce lightweights as he is beyond the UFC's division. Furthermore, I think that the Florian/Maynard/Edgar troika in the UFC could very well beat the best fighters not in the division.

But we'll never know about that it seems.

What we will get to see this year, hopefully, is #2 Shinya Aoki against Strikeforce champ #8 Gilbert Melendez, maybe as soon as April.

#4 Eddie Alvarez is set to defend his Bellator title on their second season.

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. Show more "

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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Jorge Masvidal

extremely undervalued going by this list.

by scrambledeggs on Jan 28, 2010 2:59 PM EST reply actions

that loss to Toby Imada

hurt Jorge pretty bad.

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by Kid Nate on Jan 28, 2010 3:06 PM EST up reply actions

Jim Miller @ 22 is a shame

Maybe its my man crush on their family for breeding fighters who are game regardless of who they fight against, but I would have a tough time deciding on who would win if you matched him up against Sherk, Henderson, Griffin, or even Melendez

by Fedorable on Jan 28, 2010 3:15 PM EST reply actions

Aoki, Alverez and Kawajiri are no threat to BJ either. Melendez, while entertaining is over rated. I think Sanchez, Florian and even Gray are capable of beating everyone in the world not named BJ. 2-10 seems like a round robin where they could all trade wins and losses but none are on BJs level.

by Riney on Jan 28, 2010 3:39 PM EST reply actions

hard to argue with that

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by Kid Nate on Jan 28, 2010 4:17 PM EST up reply actions

I'm looking forward to Aoki/Melendez the most..

I want to see if Aoki can hang over in the US.

by HappyLittleTreez on Jan 28, 2010 4:28 PM EST reply actions

Melendez

is sloppy and will get sub’d in the early rounds. I would like to see Florian fight Aoki.

by Riney on Jan 28, 2010 4:50 PM EST up reply actions

am i the only one who thinks joe daddy is a more capable threat than people perceive him? i think if he focused specifically on grappling and ground and pound, he could beat mostly anyone not named bj.

by Austin Martin on Jan 28, 2010 4:55 PM EST reply actions

adding to that, if daddy beats soti, who is very game at jj himself, i think he’ll be back in contention thoughts. i’d love to see him vs. aoki

by Austin Martin on Jan 28, 2010 4:57 PM EST up reply actions

I kind of agree in that he is fairly underrrated, but looking at the names above him, his lack of striking really hurts him. Tyson Griffin would be an awesome fight for him in my mind, to see how each fighter has improved. Griffin’s striking has come on very well, and Joe Daddy has looked good since he decided to focus on his ground game. However I still think other fighters could shuit down his wrestling and give him huge problems on his feet. I also expect him to beat Sotiropolous comfortably

by StevenGiles on Jan 28, 2010 6:44 PM EST up reply actions

I think Sotiropolous will win a decision.

by HappyLittleTreez on Jan 28, 2010 9:50 PM EST up reply actions

how is sotiropolous on the list at 170 but not here?

by drano on Jan 28, 2010 8:10 PM EST reply actions

Fight Magazine has him at the wrong weight class.

Bolts from the Blue // "He looks like a catfish" - Nick Hardwick on Brandon Siler
Bloody Elbow // " looks like your comment violated rule #4. and it’s a heck of a rule, rule #4" - Kid Nate

by Richard Wade on Jan 28, 2010 9:25 PM EST up reply actions