Lightweight 11-5-08

Rank

Fighter

Comments

1.

B.J. Penn

This son-of-a-bitch and his goddamned ambition. Penn is preparing to steal GSP's welterweight belt in January, and if he's successful, you may never see the Prodigy in another 155-pound fight again. And that's a shame, because it's clearly his most effective weight class. With Takanori Gomi's reign of dominance officially over, Penn curently sits far above the rest of the lightweight pack.

2.

Shinya Aoki

I don’t believe that a fresh Shinya Aoki would have lost to Joachim Hansen. Yes, I’m a nuthugger. Deal with it.

3.

Gesias Cavalcante

4.

Eddie Alvarez

With back-to-back wins over top-ten fighters (Hansen and Kawajiri), the young Philadelphian is on quite a hot streak, and would give anybody on this list serious problems. The UFC needs to sign this dude, like, yesterday.

5.

Takanori Gomi

Simply put, The Fireball Kid hasn't been the same since Nick Diaz gogoplata'd him while baked. Though his run in PRIDE was legendary, the last two years have seen Gomi lose to Diaz, fail to finish the under-experienced Seung Hwan Bang, then lose a decision to an absolute random named Sergey Golyaev in a Sengoku tune-up fight. We're not writing him off yet, but like the also-struggling Mirko Cro Cop, the old passion seems to be missing.

6.

Sean Sherk

Well how do you like that -- The Muscle Shark learned to kickbox. If Sherk can add some finishing ability to his game, we can definitely see him reclaiming the UFC's lightweight belt if B.J. Penn decides to move to 170 for good.

7.

Kenny Florian

8.

Tatsuya Kawajiri

9.

Joachim Hansen

Hellboy’s back, baby. Though his performance over the last two years has been a little spotty, he now holds career wins over the #2, #3, and #5 fighters on this list. Win or lose, he’s never been in a boring fight in his life.

10.

Josh Thomson