USAT/SBN February MMA Consensus Rankings: Lightweight
by Kid Nate on Feb 25, 2010 7:02 PM EST
in MMA Rankings
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| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B.J. Penn | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Shinya Aoki | 96 | DREAM | 2 |
| 3 | Kenny Florian | 88 | UFC | 3 |
| 4 | Eddie Alvarez | 88 | DREAM | 4 |
| 5 | Gray Maynard | 79 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Frank Edgar | 78 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Tatsuya Kawajiri | 75 | DREAM | 7 |
| 8 | Gilbert Melendez | 62 | Strikeforce | 8 |
| 9 | Diego Sanchez | 59 | UFC | 9 |
| 10 | Sean Sherk | 48 | UFC | 11 |
| 11 | Tyson Griffin | 43 | UFC | 13 |
| 12 | Joachim Hansen | 43 | DREAM | 10 |
| 13 | Mizuto Hirota | 36 | WVR | 12 |
| 14 | Jim Miller | 34 | UFC | 22 |
| 15 | Joe Stevenson | 33 | UFC | 14 |
| 16 | Gesias Cavalcante | 32 | DREAM | 16 |
| 17 | Takanori Gomi | 30 | UFC | 18 |
| 18 | Benson Henderson | 29 | WEC | 15 |
| 19 | Luis Palomino | 29 | G-Force Fights | NR |
| 20 | Jorge Masvidal | 28 | WVR | 17 |
| 21 | Josh Thomson | 28 | Strikeforce | 21 |
| 22 | Kazunori Yokota | 28 | WVR | 18 |
| 23 | Eiji Mitsuoka | 28 | WVR | 27 |
| 24 | Satoru Kitaoka | 27 | WVR | 29 |
| 25 | Nate Diaz | 26 | UFC | 24 |
Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.
#1 B.J. Penn will be back in action against #6 Frank Edgar at UFC 112 in May. Even Edgar doesn't seem to much like his chances in that one.
I have no idea who the UFC will next throw into the Lion's Den that is facing B.J. in the Octagon, but I am 100% confident it won't be #2 Shinya Aoki or #4 Eddie Alvarez.
If #17 Takanori Gomi can somehow regain his old form and beat #3 Kenny Florian at UFN 21, I expect Gomi to be rushed into a rematch with Penn. But that seems pretty unlikely to me.
The thing about this division is that other than B.J. Penn being clearly in his own league nothing is really clear. And sadly Penn can't even definitely prove that he's the capo di tutti capi of lightweights unless he can somehow face the best of the DREAM/Strikeforce alliance.
Aoki will likely face #8 Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce lightweight title for his next fight.
Alvarez will fight UFC veteran Josh Neer in a non-title fight for Bellator in May.
No word on what's next for #5 Gray Maynard or #7 Tatsuya Kawajiri although each of them has a strong case for a title shot, with the UFC and DREAM respectively.
#9 Diego Sanchez is moving back up to welterweight after learning first hand that he's not going to be taking B.J. Penn's title in this lifetime at UFC 107.
No word on what's next for the oft-injured #10 Sean Sherk although some are saying George Sotiropoulos (who will be ranked next month after dominating #15 Joe Stevenson at UFC 110.)
#11 Tyson Griffin will face Evan Dunham at UFC 115 and #12 Joachim Hansen will be moving down to featherweight to face Bibiano Fernandes at DREAM.13.
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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these rankings were compiled before UFC 110
so Sotiropoulos will be ranked next month.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
I understand that Sotiropoulos will be ranked next month, but where is Evan Dunham? The guy is 10-0, 3-0 in UFC, he is one of the top 25 LWs in the world.
No. Florian has 287 out of a possible 325 and Alvarez has 286 out of a possible 325. They both show up at 88 because of rounding.
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 Feb 25, 2010 3:29 PM EST up reply actions
And sadly Penn can’t even definitely prove that he’s the capo di tutti capi of lightweights unless he can somehow face the best of the DREAM/Strikeforce alliance.
Say what?, Penn is clearly the best LW in the world there is no debate about that and beating guys who are overated ain’t going to prove anything.
I feel pretty confident declaring him the... uh... capital tootycap
because Shinya and the Japan-based LWs periodically lose to one another, and BJ just annihilates everybody at 155 outside the Pulver (and possibly Serra) of his early, early career. And because last time he left the UFC he had to fight Lyoto to lose to somebody.
Granted, I see what Kid Nate is saying, Shinya hasn’t had his turn and thanks to fight promotion policies probably won’t. But I pretty much feel more comfortable calling this div a lock than any other, except maybe WW.
Yeah, BJ is the least contested at his weight class.
So many guys are clamoring to say Anderson Silva is number two to Santiago and Jacare…
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
Jacare who lost to Mousasi?
I wanna party with these “guys” you speak of, they obviously have the “good shit.”
by Tap or Snap Radio on Feb 25, 2010 9:03 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Sarcasm bro.
I hear it’s this sweet new thing where you say one thing but like you mean THE EXACT OPPOSITE. Mindblowing, really.
Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
by lowellthehammer on Feb 25, 2010 9:06 PM EST up reply actions
I'm not saying Anderson's not a dominant #1 at 185
But I consider Mousasi and Belfort both to be more compelling matchups for him than Aoki vs. Penn or Shields vs. GSP. Don’t get me wrong, Anderson would be the strong favorite for either in my eyes, but by a much closer margin.
I mean, instead of saying what you don’t mean, say what you do — who’s the matchup that contests his dominance? Is it Shinya Aoki?
Shinya / Eddie
Pardone my ignorance. Why can’t Shinya / Eddie ever face BJ? Is it because they have said something about never working with the UFC? Or is it because they can make way more money in other promotions?
Aoki has much more value to DREAM than the UFC and so he’ll probably continue to fight lesser oposition for more money in Japan and make noise about Penn every once in awhile to keep his name relevant. Not sure about Alvarez, but I know he’s locked up in Bellator now and I’m almost certain he’s just happy fighting outside the UFC for now. If he beat some big names though I could see the UFC offering him enough to make him come over.
Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
by lowellthehammer on Feb 25, 2010 10:09 PM EST up reply actions
Lesser competition? In the last couple years he’s faced Mizuto Hirota (#13), Joachin Hansen (#12), Vitor Ribeiro, Hayato Sakurai, Eddie Alvarez (#4), and JZ Calvancante (#16) and will probably end up facing Kawaijiri (#7) and Gil Melendez (#8) before the year is up. Outside of Mr. Penn, who is the man, the competition he’s seeing is as good as anything he would see in the UFC.
Meh, don’t make too much of that comment. My point was that he’s just about cleared out the worthwhile non-UFC LWs, and thus if he continues to fight outside of the UFC the competition will see a decline.
Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
by lowellthehammer on Feb 26, 2010 12:41 AM EST up reply actions
Diego beats everyone on this list not named BJ. Aoki lost less than a year ago to Sakurai, Eddies last 4 wins are against Kilkuno, Luoghran, Imada and Reynolds. Not exactly the same level the UFC fighters face.
Alvarez beat Kawajiri and Hellboy before that and looked like a destroyer before getting sub'd by Aoki.
And Diego is hardly proven at LW, near all of his speed was gone and his cardio was questionable at best.
Aoki has beaten most of the talent in the LW division outside of the UFC, usually within the distance. He’s ranked fairly.
Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
by lowellthehammer on Feb 26, 2010 11:15 AM EST up reply actions
Aoki is NOT the number 2.
Never has been, the UFC 155ers would eat him up and he knows it. That’s why he called out Joe Stevenson.
Baseless speculation.
Aoki has faced the best talent outside of BJ Penn at LW and beat them impressively. If that’s not cause for being ranked #2 then I don’t know what is.
Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
by lowellthehammer on Feb 26, 2010 2:10 PM EST up reply actions
The best talent outside of the UFC, but not the best talent outside of BJ Penn.
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 Feb 26, 2010 2:37 PM EST up reply actions
He hasn't faced Kenny Florian.
That’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
by lowellthehammer on Feb 26, 2010 2:53 PM EST up reply actions
Maynard, Edgar, Sherk, Griffin, etc.
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 Feb 26, 2010 5:27 PM EST up reply actions
Maynard > Alvarez?
I don’t even consider Sherk very relevant in the division any more because he can’t/won’t go for takedowns. Edgar and Griffin are good, but I’d take Hellboy, JZ and Ribeiro (and Kawajiri, but that’s another matter) over them.
Point is, Aoki has faced stiff competition outside the UFC and come out on top more times than not. Ranking him low because of his one-dimensional fighting style or the fact that people don’t think he would do well in hypothetical matchups isn’t entirely fair.
Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
by lowellthehammer on Feb 26, 2010 9:05 PM EST up reply actions
I’m not arguing that Aoki is overrated only that he has not, in fact, beaten the best talent outside of Penn.
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 Feb 26, 2010 10:49 PM EST up reply actions
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