| 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 | Frankie 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 | Ben 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.