Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: The Gift Of The 2003 Tigers

Compiling the rankings of twenty top mixed martial arts web sites, the USA TODAY / MMA Nation Consensus MMA Rankings present the top 25 fighters in MMA for the seven major weight classes. These world MMA rankings are the most accurate reflection of how the top fighters in MMA across all promotions like UFC, Strikeforce and ProElite are viewed by the experts who cover the sport.

Lightweight MMA

Consensus Rankings posted November 20, 2009

Rank Fighter % Promotion Last Rank
1 B.J. Penn 100 UFC 1
2 Shinya Aoki 96 DREAM 2
3 Eddie Alvarez 86 Bellator/DREAM 3
4 Kenny Florian 81 UFC 4
5 Frank Edgar 80 UFC 5
6 Gray Maynard 77 UFC 6
7 Diego Sanchez 73 UFC 7
8 Sean Sherk 54 UFC 10
9 Tatsuya Kawajiri 53 DREAM 8
10 Joachim Hansen 51 DREAM 9
11 Joe Stevenson 39 UFC 14
12 Tyson Griffin 39 UFC 11
13 Gilbert Melendez 36 Strikeforce 13
14 Mizuto Hirota 35 WVR 12
15 Kazunori Yokota 25 WVR 33
16 Jorge Masvidal 24 WVR 38
17 Nate Diaz 22 UFC 21
18 Clay Guida 22 UFC 19
19 Kurt Pellegrino 20 UFC 19
20 Eiji Mitsuoka 19 WVR 18
21 Satoru Kitaoka 18 WVR 17
21 Takanori Gomi 18 WVR 23
23 Gesias Cavalcante 18 DREAM 15
24 Josh Thomson 17 Strikeforce 16
25 Jamie Varner 16 WEC 21
25 Toby Imada 16 Bellator 34
25

Analysis by Kid Nate

With every other UFC champ on the shelf for an indeterminate time due to injuries, Dana White better cross his fingers and hope that whoever wins the UFC 107 title fight between #1 B.J. Penn and #7 Diego Sanchez emerges from the fight injury-free and ready to fight soon. Sanchez is relatively under-accomplished at 155 lbs but his size and aggression present a legitimate threat to the fearsome Penn.

Disagree? Read more & discuss at Bloody Elbow »

About the Rankings

compiled by Kid Nate and Richard Wade of Bloody Elbow

Bloody ElbowBased 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 »

Sources

Jeremy Botter, Heavy MMA
Fight Matrix
Jordan Breen, Sherdog
Jim Genia, Full Contact Fighter
Jesse Holland, MMA Mania
Kevin Iole, Yahoo!
Eric Kamander, MMA Ratings
MMA Playground
MMA Weekly
Leland Roling, Bloody Elbow
Matthew Roth, Head Kick Legend
Wojslaw Rysiewski, MMA Rocks
Michael David Smith, MMA Fighting
Derek Suboticki, Fightlinker
Luke Thomas, SB Nation