Who's the number 1 Lightweight in the world?

http://www.mmamania.com/2012/8/14/3241801/nate-diaz-ben-henderson-ufc-lightweight-title

Quote :

"I train with guys just like that. Athletic guys, strong guys. It's definitely gonna be a good, hard fight. It's time to fight for a title. I'm gonna do what I could to win that belt because that belt gives me ... I'm tryin' to do it for my team and f--k the belt, I'm tryin' to beat the number one guy in the world and that's him right now."

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freakzilla wrote:

cheekynffc wrote:

jewzilla wrote:

I think they can all kick eachothers asses. I dont see a definitive best right now. Too much talent in the divison.

If I am forced to pick right now, I have to say Henderson because he is the champ in the best MMA promotion there is.

And yeah I am with freak about Aldo. I think he will come in and wreck faces and legs.

i agree with that bit, nobody has put their hand up and set themself apart.

if this were boxing i reckon the ring title would be vacant.

No it wouldn't. Penn would've had it and lost it to Edgar. Bendo would be holding it right now.

pedant, i was just using that analogy to paint a picture, as i'm sure you knew fine well.

however, ring magazine might have left the title vacant if it's top two ranked guys never fought because they were in different promotions

Had the judges not given Frankie a gift decision the first time he and BJ fought would we have seen a rematch? Would Frankie have even stayed in the division? In all likelihood he would have been put at the back of the line behind Maynard and possibly Jim Miller

Ludo wrote:

Had the judges not given Frankie a gift decision the first time he and BJ fought would we have seen a rematch? Would Frankie have even stayed in the division? In all likelihood he would have been put at the back of the line behind Maynard and possibly Jim Miller

Yeah that's a very interesting question. Who knows? That was April 2010, Maynard had just "won" an unimpressive SD vs Nate at the time and Dana passed on him for a title shot. Instead Maynard had to battle Kenny to get his shot. I don't think Jim Miller was quite there just yet at that time. Would have changed the entire landscape of 155. Here is a quick little ranking I found from the end of 2010.
http://www.profighting-fans.com/rankings/mma-lightweight-rankings.html

Here is a ranking from 2 months before Penn-Frankie 1
http://www.mmaontap.com/mma/entry/mma-on-tap-february-2010-rankings/

Now that I look at it Miller doesn't look like he was quite there, but the division had been cleared out except for a few up and coming fighters(IE Frankie and Maynard) so it's possible Jim may have been in line just for a fresh face with a streak.

Ludo wrote:

Now that I look at it Miller doesn't look like he was quite there, but the division had been cleared out except for a few up and coming fighters(IE Frankie and Maynard) so it's possible Jim may have been in line just for a fresh face with a streak.

Possible. Who knows. Maybe BJ Penn retires on top? He could have possibly went up and fought Hughes again and rode off into the sunset? Who knows.

We should also consider that Frankie gave BJ a far more competitive fight then anyone else at LW at that time. So that could have kept him at the top of the contender list. He did much better then Kenny or Diego. They could have gave Frankie either Maynard or Kenny and got him another shot at the title soon after. They could have went ahead and gave Maynard that title shot and then had Kenny vs Frankie. Or maybe we would have saw Nate vs Frankie since Nate just "lost" a razor close split decision to Maynard.

OU wrote:

We should also consider that Frankie gave BJ a far more competitive fight then anyone else at LW at that time. So that could have kept him at the top of the contender list. He did much better then Kenny or Diego. They could have gave Frankie either Maynard or Kenny and got him another shot at the title soon after. They could have went ahead and gave Maynard that title shot and then had Kenny vs Frankie. Or maybe we would have saw Nate vs Frankie since Nate just "lost" a razor close split decision to Maynard.

It was a more competitive fight in the sense that Frankie was doing his hummingbird thing and not getting smashed like Diego or Kenny did when BJ decided he'd had enough of them. But I wouldn't call that first fight "competitive" persay. Frankie's gameplan was confusing but while watching it live I saw one round for Frankie because he wasn't really landing anything of value.

Ludo wrote:

OU wrote:

We should also consider that Frankie gave BJ a far more competitive fight then anyone else at LW at that time. So that could have kept him at the top of the contender list. He did much better then Kenny or Diego. They could have gave Frankie either Maynard or Kenny and got him another shot at the title soon after. They could have went ahead and gave Maynard that title shot and then had Kenny vs Frankie. Or maybe we would have saw Nate vs Frankie since Nate just "lost" a razor close split decision to Maynard.

It was a more competitive fight in the sense that Frankie was doing his hummingbird thing and not getting smashed like Diego or Kenny did when BJ decided he'd had enough of them. But I wouldn't call that first fight "competitive" persay. Frankie's gameplan was confusing but while watching it live I saw one round for Frankie because he wasn't really landing anything of value.

Competitive by comparison would be accurate IMO. If it wasn't for a BS decision I would have came away impressed with Frankie for looking better then anyone else has in recent LW title fights. But like mentioned, he(BJ) had cleared out the division pretty good. So Frankie wouldn't have dropped down too far.

I don't know what the deal is, but no fighter is more all over the board on audience perception then Frankie Edgar. Depending on who you ask he is 6-0 or 2-4 in title fights.

GDPofDRC wrote:

I don't know what the deal is, but no fighter is more all over the board on audience perception then Frankie Edgar. Depending on who you ask he is 6-0 or 2-4 in title fights.

yeah it's very strange. I personally have him at 3-3 with the 3 wins being BJ 2, Mayard 3 and Bendo 2. I know I'm a homer but Nick Diaz had a run of subjective fights, but not quite like this. He had the Karo, Deigo and Riggs fights that were tough calls. But still, nothing on the level on what Frankie has done.