| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B.J. Penn | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Shinya Aoki | 93 | DREAM | 3 |
| 3 | Eddie Alvarez | 87 | Bellator/DREAM/Strikeforce | 4 |
| 4 | Kenny Florian | 82 | UFC | 2 |
| 5 | Frank Edgar | 73 | UFC | 6 |
| 6 | Tatsuya Kawajiri | 69 | DREAM | 7 |
| 7 | Gray Maynard | 64 | UFC | 9 |
| 8 | Diego Sanchez | 63 | UFC | 8 |
| 9 | Joachim Hansen | 59 | DREAM | 5 |
| 10 | Sean Sherk | 49 | UFC | 11 |
| 11 | Josh Thomson | 43 | Strikeforce | 12 |
| 12 | Gesias Cavalcante | 35 | DREAM | 13 |
| 13 | Mizuto Hirota | 27 | WVR | 27 |
| 14 | Gilbert Melendez | 26 | Strikeforce | 18 |
| 15 | Satoru Kitaoka | 25 | WVR | 10 |
| 16 | Tyson Griffin | 23 | UFC | 14 |
| 17 | Jamie Varner | 21 | WEC | 21 |
| 18 | Eiji Mitsuoka | 20 | WVR | 15 |
| 19 | Joe Stevenson | 20 | UFC | 17 |
| 20 | Spencer Fisher | 19 | UFC | 20 |
| 20 | Clay Guida | 19 | UFC | 19 |
| 22 | Kurt Pellegrino | 18 | UFC | 30 |
| 23 | Takanori Gomi | 18 | WVR | 16 |
| 24 | Roger Huerta | 15 | UFC | 23 |
| 25 | Nate Diaz | 14 | UFC | 25 |
Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.
With his sound defeat of #4 (former #2) Kenny Florian at UFC 101, #1 B.J. Penn has once again attained a 100% ranking as the unanimous #1 lightweight of all the top sites in MMA.
Ironically, the drop he caused in KenFlo's ranking has allowed DREAM's Shinya Aoki to rise to #2 and Bellator's Eddie Alvarez to get back to #3.Bellator/'s Eddie Alvarez to get back to #3. Aoki is coming off a rather lackluster decision win over Vitor Ribeiro at DREAM.10. He'll next face #9 Joachim Hansen in a title bout at DREAM.11 in October. This will be a rubber-match for the pair, having split their first two bouts.
B.J. is expected to defend his belt against #8 Diego Sanchez at UFC 105 in October.
#7 Gray Maynard will next fight against #24 Roger Huerta at UFN 19 in September.
UPDATE (from the comments): In response to a couple of good questions I wrote the following to explain why this division is a bit of a mess:
The thing with the lightweights is that a lot of the top guys fought each other and created some ugly loops. I’m thinking of Melendez losing to Ishida and Thomson, Kawajiri losing to Melendez and Alvarez, Calvancante losing to Kawajiri and Aoki, Aoki losing to Hansen, Hansen losing to Alvarez and Mitsuoka, Ishida losing to Melendez and Uno, Gomi losing to Kitaoka (and that other guy), Kitaoka losing to Hirota, Mitsuoka losing to Kitaoka….etc etc
I think if the DREAM/Strikeforce and WVR pools could settle on one top fighter the way the UFC has there would be huge demand to see that fighter against B.J. Penn.
But as long as the Japanese lightweight pools are gripped by parity, there is no pressure on the UFC to make the big acquisitions and as long as B.J. Penn keeps cleaning up on the UFC lightweight division, the Japanese guys will be dominating the #2 – 5 spots.
About the consensus rankings:
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.
