USA TODAY/MMA Nation November 2011 Consensus Rankings: Lightweight

by Richard Wade on Dec 3, 2011 12:21 PM EST in MMA Rankings

Rank	Fighter	Points	Promotion	Last Rank
1	Frankie Edgar	400	UFC	1
2	Gilbert Melendez	377	Strikeforce	2
3	Gray Maynard	367	UFC	3
4	Ben Henderson	352	UFC	4
5	Shinya Aoki	321	DREAM	6
6	Clay Guida	289	UFC	7
7	Jim Miller	277	UFC	8
8	Donald Cerrone	241	UFC	13
9	Anthony Pettis	230	UFC	9
10	Michael Chandler	226	Bellator	42
11	Eddie Alvarez	185	Bellator	4
12	Joe Lauzon	113	UFC	15
13	Nate Diaz	112	UFC	12
14	Gleison Tibau	109	UFC	19
15	Melvin Guillard	105	UFC	11
16	Dennis Siver	95	UFC	10
17	B.J. Penn	93	UFC	14
18	Sean Sherk	87	UFC	16
19	Evan Dunham	80	UFC	17
20	Rafael dos Anjos	77	UFC	18
21	Matt Wiman	71	UFC	20
21	Sam Stout	71	UFC	22
23	Josh Thomson	69	Strikeforce	23
24	Jorge Masvidal	68	Strikeforce	21
25	Kenny Florian	67	UFC	25

By far December's biggest lightweight fight scheduled is #2 Gilbert Melendez vs. #24 Jorge Masvidal at Strikeforce's 12/17 event.

The next biggest event is debatable as #5 Shinya Aoki will face #37 Satoru Kitaoka at DREAM's New Year's Eve show while #8 Donald Cerrone is scheduled to to take on #13 Nate Diaz at UFC 141.

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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Wow this is all kinds of weird

Leland, how is Pettis #23 when he beat #4 Bendo a mere 3 fights ago?
Fight Matrix: fix your stupid program, Brian Cobb is not a top10 LW in anyone’s world.
Who is Wojslaw (coleslaw shall be his nickname to make up for the loss of Cabbage Roth) and someone should tell him that Kawajiri fights at Featherweight now.
I realize that Michael Chandler showed a lot of heart and all that other stuff in his win over Alvarez, but can we please see a little more than wins over Freire and Alvarez before anointing him as a top5 fighter?

The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com

by Cory Braiterman on Dec 1, 2011 6:37 PM EST reply actions

"Can we please see a little more than wins over Freire and Alvarez before anointing him as a top5 fighter?"

He’s actually at number 10, not a top 5

by Cestus84 on Dec 1, 2011 9:42 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

not according to some people

which is the beef

The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com

by Cory Braiterman on Dec 1, 2011 11:29 PM EST up reply actions

Pretty sure Leland has Kawajiri ranked

and not Wojslaw.

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by greco-roman airlines on Dec 2, 2011 5:50 AM EST up reply actions

oh right

sorry, coleslaw… My excuse: the graph is large and I’m old and senile?

The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com

by Cory Braiterman on Dec 2, 2011 9:32 AM EST up reply actions

bendo wasnt #4 when pettis beat him

you can’t retroactively do that.

My Blog on lifting, movies, fish, and some mma: www.themindofshadow.blogspot.com

by dbcb on Dec 3, 2011 1:08 PM EST up reply actions

yes, actually

you can

The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com

by Cory Braiterman on Dec 3, 2011 2:07 PM EST up reply actions

but should you considering their records since then?

by Phildo on Dec 3, 2011 4:06 PM EST up reply actions

you can’t retroactively do that.

Of course you can – he was the same fighter then.

Bad Left Hook

"All the time he's boxing, he's thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him." - Jack Dempsey

by Drunken cutman on Dec 3, 2011 2:42 PM EST up reply actions

Not even close.

Dude has stepped up his game like mad.

"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe

by pdl on Dec 3, 2011 2:58 PM EST up reply actions

I believe he's implying

that he is still Ben Henderson, and it should be taken into account.

The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com

by Cory Braiterman on Dec 3, 2011 4:32 PM EST up reply actions

I like Fight Matrix

But they need to do a better job explaining the Brian Cobb thing. In Cobb’s one and only UFC fight he got absolutely destroyed by Terry Etim, and Etim isn’t even in Fight Matrix’s Top 150 lightweights.

by MichaelDavidSmith on Dec 3, 2011 1:57 PM EST up reply actions

Leland, how is Pettis #23 when he beat #4 Bendo a mere 3 fights ago?

Because Pettis beat Bendo when they were all ranked very low. I’m not going to historically backtrack. that’s just stupid

Staff Writer, BloodyElbow.com
Follow @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein

by Leland Roling on Dec 7, 2011 12:00 PM EST up reply actions

Hang on.

Neither Pettis nor Cerrone defeated a top 10 fighter and they higher than Chandler who defeated a top 5 fighter? I understand Chandler wasn’t ranked but this seems a bit UFC fanboyish to me.

by Cestus84 on Dec 1, 2011 9:37 PM EST via mobile reply actions

body of work

also MANY people think Alvarez did not deserve a top5 ranking

The artful muppet formerly known as KrmtDfrog.
Please read my sardonic wit and over-blown sense of self over at headkicklegend.com

by Cory Braiterman on Dec 1, 2011 11:30 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Pettis has a win over #4 Ben Henderson, and Cerrone is 4-0 in the UFC this year (with Nate Diaz left to go before the calendar flips) coming off dominating wins over Dennis Siver and Charles Oliveira. I’d think even Michael Chandler himself would have to be happy with this ranking.

Reporting from inside a padded cage at MMAmadman.com.

by MMAmadman on Dec 2, 2011 4:20 PM EST up reply actions

and letting one fight overshadow entire years worth or resume is a perfectly rational approach to things.

by Phildo on Dec 3, 2011 1:21 PM EST up reply actions

Not really any complaints here

If Chandler jumped up from being a ‘nobody’ to the top 5 for a win over Alvarez…I’d be ticked.

I mean, Alvarez losing to a uncelebrated fighter(ranking wise) makes me more likely to believe that Alvarez wasn’t QUITE as good as some thought he was rather then believing that the guy who beat him was THAT good.

I was hoping to see them both around the 10 spot…bravo consensus rankers, bravo.

Not a fan of Aoki going to 5 from 6 with a current win streak full of ‘scrubs’ for lack of a better word.

Glad to finally see Kawajiri out of the top 25…and although it doesn’t sound right…BJ Penn shouldn’t be here…he left the division on two straight losses and has had 3 fights at welterweight .

As of December 2011, he shouldn’t be on a list of the 25 best lightweights in the world right now.

"You got Floyd Mayweather making 25 million dollars...he can't stop the double leg." - Nick Diaz

by Chris Groves on Dec 3, 2011 12:35 PM EST reply actions

oh wow

Alvarez really dropped and Aoki is way too up there

I am willing to test myself against the toughest fighters in the world, in front of hundreds of thousands or even millions of fans, over and over again. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but I always come to fight. I've been doing this for the past fourteen years, and I have at least a few more strong years left in me. What have you done in the past fourteen years other than act like a moron on this forum and hang on Anderson's nuts? - Dan Henderson.

by elmojo on Dec 3, 2011 12:40 PM EST reply actions

Dunno is this has been discussed before..

But you should stop ranking fighters who aren’t currently fighting in the weight class. BJ Penn and Florian’s presence way below their actual level at LW just because some guys keep ranking them and others don’t isn’t helpful at all.

"Honour is like virginity, it can only be used once." - G. Clemenceau

by Firm1 on Dec 3, 2011 12:55 PM EST reply actions

if this*

"Honour is like virginity, it can only be used once." - G. Clemenceau

by Firm1 on Dec 3, 2011 12:55 PM EST up reply actions

Florian is going back to LW

Always Remember, Don't Be A Sucker

by Our Bovine Public on Dec 3, 2011 1:36 PM EST up reply actions

Then everybody should rank him. He isn’t a #25 LW.

"Honour is like virginity, it can only be used once." - G. Clemenceau

by Firm1 on Dec 3, 2011 1:55 PM EST up reply actions

true

theres still loads of interesting fights for him at lw

Always Remember, Don't Be A Sucker

by Our Bovine Public on Dec 3, 2011 4:37 PM EST up reply actions

i agree

however Florian will probably return to LW contention and BJ is always a question mark

by elmojo on Dec 3, 2011 12:58 PM EST reply actions

bendo beating miller and guida back to back

is better than anything melendez has ever done

My Blog on lifting, movies, fish, and some mma: www.themindofshadow.blogspot.com

by dbcb on Dec 3, 2011 1:06 PM EST reply actions

lol at alvarez being 11 after getting beat by a nobody

and lol at that nobody jumping to #10

My Blog on lifting, movies, fish, and some mma: www.themindofshadow.blogspot.com

by dbcb on Dec 3, 2011 1:08 PM EST reply actions

Nate Diaz

being so highly rated doesn’t seem to be based on anything.

Head conductor of the Charles Oliveira hype train.

by Stiff Jab on Dec 3, 2011 3:00 PM EST reply actions

Really? Shinya Aoki at number 5?..

Did he practice his stand up while I wasn’t looking? He should be ranked around 20. Bendo should be three Maynard should be four, Guida 5. I’d also put Guillard at 14 and Tibau at 15.

Other than that rankings look really good.

My opinion>Your onion.

by Tairy Hesticles on Dec 3, 2011 3:18 PM EST reply actions

people rarely drop unless they lose

and when you are fighting a bunch of scrubs, it is hard to lose

My Blog on lifting, movies, fish, and some mma: www.themindofshadow.blogspot.com

by dbcb on Dec 3, 2011 5:30 PM EST up reply actions

Hard to advance as well

"Release man from the shackles of flesh and flesh misery and then he's no longer a poor, petty little man afraid to dream because he knows his frail body stands between him and the fulfillment of dreams, then he's ready to wage war, the only war worth waging-- the conflict of man reborn and the whole confounded universe!"

by Dallas Winston on Dec 6, 2011 11:40 AM EST up reply actions