Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

Wow. What a month for the lightweight division. First #1 Frankie Edgar upset #2 B.J. Penn at UFC 112. Throwing the division into disarray and rocketing Edgar up six places in the rankings. Then #3 Gilbert Melendez beat up and beat down #7 Shinya Aoki (formerly #2) at Strikeforce: Nashville. #5 Eddie Alvarez was collateral damage as he slid two slots due to a general bear market in fighters who made their reps on the Japanese circuit.

But those pundits and commenters who believe that Melendez' dismantling of Aoki somehow amounts to a discrediting of DREAM and PRIDE fighters really need to look more closely at Melendez' record. Other than fights with #25 Josh Thomson and #33 Clay Guida, Melendez' most notable wins and losses have all been in Japan -- he decisioned #8 Tatsuya Kawajiri in late 2006 and split a pair of fights with Mitsuhiro Ishida.

The UFC has wasted no time booking a rematch for Penn and Edgar at UFC 118 in Boston. That event will also see #4 Kenny Florian and #6 Gray Maynard fight for a title shot.

Those two fights will determine the future course of the UFC 155lb class for the foreseeable future.

As for the Japanese circuit, Kawajiri has been promised a crack at Aoki this summer in DREAM. This will be Kawajiri's chance to show that Melendez isn't the only boxer/wrestler to present a bad match up for Aoki.

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.