Lightweight 5-27-09

Rank

Fighter

Comments

1.

B.J. Penn

 

2.

Shinya Aoki

At the risk of sounding like nuthuggers (which we totally are), Aoki’s last two losses don’t count. Hayato Sakurai was much too big for him, and he was too exhausted at the end of DREAM’s lightweight GP to deal with Joachim Hansen. Now that we’re done making excuses, we’re psyched to see how the Tobikan Judan fares against fellow submission artist Vitor Ribeiro at DREAM.10. A rubber-match with Hansen and a fight against Tatsuya Kawajiri also need to happen at some point.

3.

Kenny Florian

He’s well-rested, completely focused, and by God, he finishes fights. You have to give the mental edge to Ken-Flo in his upcoming UFC title fight against BJ Penn — and it seems like most fans want to see the hard-working, dynamic Bostonian knock Penn down a peg. Will he be able to “kill that master” at UFC 101?

4.

Eddie Alvarez

 

5.

Tatsuya Kawajiri

Always dangerous and always entertaining, Crusher picked up one of the biggest wins of his career at DREAM.9 when he out-muscled Gesias Cavalcante to a unanimous decision. His strong wrestling and ground-and-pound set him apart from most Japanese fighters, and as we saw in his legendary 2008 fight against Eddie Alvarez, he can swing the hammers when he needs to.

6.

Joachim Hansen

 

7.

Gesias Cavalcante

 

8.

Satoru Kitaoka

 

9.

Sean Sherk

He’s almost completely given up on his wrestling, and his hands aren’t strong enough to finish fights. True, Sherk’s recent boxing matches may have been a little more exciting than his old lay-n-pray clinics, but that extra entertainment value is coming at the expense of his career. One more poor performance and he’s out of the top ten.

10.

Josh Thomson