Is the current LW Top 10 the greatest Top in the history of the UFC?

[Armitage Shanks]

Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta

The only one that comes close in my eyes is 'Machida Era' LHW division in 2009:

Champion : Lyoto Machida 15-0-0
1 Quinton Jackson 30-7-0
2 Rashad Evans 15-1-1
3 Forrest Griffin 16-5-0
4 Shogun Rua 18-3-0
5 Rich Franklin 27-4-0
6 Dan Henderson 24-7-0
7 Wanderlei Silva 32-10-1
8 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 17-3-0
9 Chuck Liddell
10 Thiago Silva

 

[trident]

Current WW is strong too

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion : Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson

2 Rafael Dos Anjos

3 Colby Covington

4 Robbie Lawler

5 Demian Maia

6 Jorge Masvidal

7 Darren Till

8 Kamaru Usman

9 Neil Magny

10 Santiago Ponzinibbio

11 Donald Cerrone

12 Carlos Condit

13 Gunnar Nelson

 

[Gambit MMA]

machida era for sure

 

[Levi_]

Current WW is strong too

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion : Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson

2 Rafael Dos Anjos

3 Colby Covington

4 Robbie Lawler

5 Demian Maia

6 Jorge Masvidal

7 Darren Till

8 Kamaru Usman

9 Neil Magny

10 Santiago Ponzinibbio

11 Donald Cerrone

12 Carlos Condit

13 Gunnar Nelson

Yep, throw GSP in there, it's that much stronger.

 

[20falarVerdades]

The MW division before GSP and Bisping ruined it was very strong too

Luke
Weidman
Romero
Jacare
Whittaker
Mousasi
Silva
Tim Kennedy

etc

 

[21 Savage]

Conor being the reigning champion during the greatest top 10 in history should not be surprising to us after what he did to Mini Mendes.

 

[Sapphorous]

Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta

The only one that comes close in my eyes is 'Machida Era' LHW division in 2009:

Champion : Lyoto Machida 15-0-0
1 Quinton Jackson 30-7-0
2 Rashad Evans 15-1-1
3 Forrest Griffin 16-5-0
4 Shogun Rua 18-3-0
5 Rich Franklin 27-4-0
6 Dan Henderson 24-7-0
7 Wanderlei Silva 32-10-1
8 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 17-3-0
9 Chuck Liddell
10 Thiago Silva

LW currently is awesome... But that entire lhw top 10 is fucking legendary
















Except Thiago Silva

 

[Agent Mulder's Hair]

LOL no. NO!

 

[Yangpetrus]

Maybe when RDA and Michael Johnson were in the picture. But it's not so much that the division is incredibly strong but that the top 3 are insanely good.

 

[Stevanchez]

Not UFC ranking, but Sherdogs 2009 HW was pretty elite:

1. Fedor Emelianenko 30-1-0(1 NC)
2. Andrei Arlovski 15-6-0
3. Josh Barnett 24-5-0
4. Frank Mir 12-3-0
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 31-5-1(1 NC)
6. Brock Lesnar 3-1-0
7. Randy Couture 16-9-0
8. Tim Sylvia 24-5-0
9. Shane Carwin 11-0-0
10. Alistair Overeem 29-11-0(1 NC)
11. Junior Dos Santos 8-1-0
12. Aleksander Emelianenko 15-3-0
13. Jeff Monson 31-8-0
14. Ben Rothwell 30-6-0
15. Fabricio Werdum 11-4-1

GHWOAT, 8 UFC Champions, 2 Interim UFC Champions, 2 UFC Championship Challengers, and Aleks & Big Ben.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

The 155 division is looking good right now. Exciting and some interesting fights about to happen or make. But my favorite was the 2005 Pride MW/205 division. Just watch the Grand Prix.

 

[PeterGriffin]

The 155lb division has some good names... but the Champion doesn't fight or defend, Khabib's health and activity is always a question mark, Diaz won't fight anyone but the champion (who also won't fight), and the rest of them are lucky to fight more than once a year.

Better on paper than in real life, in my opinion.

 

[Squall10]

Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta

The only one that comes close in my eyes is 'Machida Era' LHW division in 2009:

Champion : Lyoto Machida 15-0-0
1 Quinton Jackson 30-7-0
2 Rashad Evans 15-1-1
3 Forrest Griffin 16-5-0
4 Shogun Rua 18-3-0
5 Rich Franklin 27-4-0
6 Dan Henderson 24-7-0
7 Wanderlei Silva 32-10-1
8 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 17-3-0
9 Chuck Liddell
10 Thiago Silva

What you have in the Machida era is a load of steroid cheats and nice storied names that rapidly deteriorated. I can count on one hand the number of truly great fights that the LHW group put on post -Machida era. Their best days were so obviously far behind them.

 

[theTKDguy]

Lw division is overrated, fw is where it's at right now.

The machida era lhw division was staaaacked

 

[executionermma]

Except Thiago Silva

Prime Thiago Silva was a beast, shut up

 

[Sapphorous]

Not UFC ranking, but Sherdogs 2009 HW was pretty elite:

1. Fedor Emelianenko 30-1-0(1 NC)
2. Andrei Arlovski 15-6-0
3. Josh Barnett 24-5-0
4. Frank Mir 12-3-0
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 31-5-1(1 NC)
6. Brock Lesnar 3-1-0
7. Randy Couture 16-9-0
8. Tim Sylvia 24-5-0
9. Shane Carwin 11-0-0
10. Alistair Overeem 29-11-0(1 NC)
11. Junior Dos Santos 8-1-0
12. Aleksander Emelianenko 15-3-0
13. Jeff Monson 31-8-0
14. Ben Rothwell 30-6-0
15. Fabricio Werdum 11-4-1

GHWOAT, 8 UFC Champions, 2 Interim UFC Champions, 2 UFC Championship Challengers, and Aleks & Big Ben.

This was before July that year right? I understand Fedor being at number one for sure, but surprised Brock was 6 and not 2 considering he was the current UFC champ at the time. Or they could have at least put him above Mir still as the highest ranked UFC hw.

 

[Sapphorous]

Prime Thiago Silva was a beast, shut up

Not saying he wasnt a beast in his time, just not a legend. You can make a case for legend of literally every other top 10 fighter ranked above him in that list

 

[Stevanchez]

This was before July that year right? I understand Fedor being at number one for sure, but surprised Brock was 6 and not 2 considering he was the current UFC champ at the time. Or they could have at least put him above Mir still as the highest ranked UFC hw.

It was May. Before the Mir fight.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

August 2005

205 lb division world rankings

1. Wanderlei Silva
2. Chuck Liddell
3. Randy Couture
4. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
6. Ricardo Arona
7. Alistair Overeem
8. Tito Ortiz
9. Renato "Babalu" Sobral
10. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

Honorable mentions: Vitor Belfort, Murilo "Ninja" Rua, Igor Vovchanchyn, Dan Henderson, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Lyoto Machida

 

[Dionysian]

This thread started off with a good premise but it ended up just making me re-realize how much LHW and HW have utterly degraded over the past 10 years.


But we are more "evolved" now right marketing drones?