UFC/Pride Lightweight Champions with least-to-most Top 10 ranked wins at Lightweight.

[acannxr]

McGregor easily beat Alvarez who beat all of those guys. The only guy McGregor couldn't beat was Khabib
who is one of the GOAT.

Hey look, a troll account <45>.

 

[theleerygoose]

Funny how Alverez gets shit on but hes near the top of the list.

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

Ferguson?
Nate Diaz??

 

[TheChosenKing]

Thomas wasn't even listed when he fought Penn, and after their fight he only got up to #11.


McGregor and Diaz' fights were contested at Welterweight though, which doesn't fit the parameters that I had set.

Listed where?

 

[acannxr]

Listed where?

I literally linked the source...

 

[acannxr]

Ferguson?
Nate Diaz??

Interim Champion =/= Champion; and Diaz was never a UFC champion.

 

[TheChosenKing]

I literally linked the source...

Oh, so fight matrix? Well Fightmatrix didn't even exist back then. Their rankings are retrospective. However, according to the rankings at the time Din Thomas was in the top 10. Top 5 actually. Here ya go:

Spoiler

Please update the OP. The LW GOAT is tied for first place.

 

[acannxr]

Please update the OP.

Except this thread isn't based on Sherdog rankings; I explained this already here:

But the thing is, how Sherdog picks their rankings is never going to be consistent, at least with FightMatrix is always done the same way.

Just for the sake of it, I pulled up the Lightweight rankings from April 2008 and compared Sherdog with FightMatrix; yellow text means a fighter isn't on both lists.

FightMatrix
1. Takanori Gomi
2. BJ Penn
3. Gesias Cavalcante
4. Sean Sherk
5. Mitsuhiro Ishida
6. Shinya Aoki
7. Kenny Florian
8. Roger Huerta
9. Frankie Edgar
10. Tatsuya Kawajiri

https://www.fightmatrix.com/histori...ated-historical-rankings/?Issue=74&Division=5

Sherdog
1. Takanori Gomi
2. Gesias Cavalcante
3. Mitsuhiro Ishida
4. BJ Penn
5. Gilbert Melendez
6. Tatsuya Kawajiri
7. Vitor Ribeiro
8. Sean Sherk
9. Joe Stevenson
10. Kenny Florian

https://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/6/Sherdog-Official-Mixed-Martial-Arts-Rankings-12435

FightMatrix is 80% similar to Sherdog's list, but being determined the same way every single time makes FightMatrix superior.

 

[KID Yamamoto]

This is a good way to weed out posters who don't know shit about MMA before 2015.

 

[TheChosenKing]

Except this thread isn't based on Sherdog rankings; I explained this already here:

Then you should note in the title that these are FightMatrix rankings only and retrospective at that. Newbies will take this list as actually real and comprehensive instead of cherry picked.

Fightmatrix has updated their formula several times over the years so no...fightmatrix isnt always done the same way. They actually change/update their rankings from time to time. They move guys around. Do this thread in two years and the rankings might be different.

Traditionally speaking ranked wins only count when they are ranked at the time of the fight by the fans and media of that time. We dont go back in time amd re-rank divisions in hindsight.

 

[kingghidrah]

Here's how you make an all-time ranking if you're on Sherdog. Works for any weight class.

#1 The guy who is champ right now. He is the obvious GOAT
#2: The guy the champ beat to become champ. He used to be the GOAT but now we know better.
#3: The guy the #2 guy beat to become champ. Can't believe we ever thought he was GOAT.
#4: The guy the #3 guy beat to become champ. Can't believe we ever thought he was any good.
#5+: These ex-champs are all bums who were never any good at all, the game has evolved since then, if they were champ for a long time that was a different era so their wins don't count.

 

[KID Yamamoto]

Funny how Alverez gets shit on but hes near the top of the list.

Yeah most fans are pretty dumb. Eddie wasn't too exciting in the UFC until he chinned RDA. Then got murked in his most viewed fight ever. Had a NC fight with Dustin due to the dumb knee rule. Saving grace was that his Justin fight is a all time great.

 

[mxer31]

Gomis wins are weak

in the eyes of a casual... sure

 

[ThePatriot]

Bendo the goat!!!, I dont value gomis resume, japan is irrelevant

Hes too underrated

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Bendo the goat!!!, I dont value gomis resume, japan is irrelevant

Hes too underrated

That's a really stupid thing to say, Pride had the vast majority of the best LWs in the world.

 

[ThePatriot]

That's a really stupid thing to say, Pride had the vast majority of the best LWs in the world.

Its not that stupid, anyone who puts khabib above him is assumed to agree with what im saying

 

[capnlarge]

Respect to Eddie Alvarez. One of the least skilled guys there on paper but grinded out quite a resumé through hard work. Like the opposite of BJ Penn.

 

[jeff7b9]

Gomi would tie Khabib up like a pretzel confirmed

Who needs 'Dagestani Handcuffs' when you have the 'Unit 731 Experimental Corkscrew Tentacle Device'

If you really believe “Goni would tie Khabib up like a pretzel” please hook me up with whatever you are smoking...

unless it’s meth.


Wait. Shit... it is definitely meth, isn’t it?


Forget it.

 

[jeff7b9]

There were a bunch of LWs in the world, they were just split up between Pride, WEC, Strikeforce, Elite XC and K-1 Heroes. Pride had the vast majority of the best LWs though. I wouldn't say the 2000s was the infancy of the sport at all, that was more like the beginning of the modern era of MMA.

depending on which specific point in time you are talking about I would say that you could argue that WEC or Strikeforce had better LWs than Pride.

I suppose it would also come down to how you label certain fighters as there were a lot more free agent/ cross promotion situations where guys fought in one org then another in that era.


Anyway, I think pride having the “Vast majority” is at the very least, debatable.

 

[SaigeVanZant]

in the eyes of a casual... sure

None of the guys Gomi beat would be able to compete today