You know what? It is really hard to tell. WW is historically weak right now.
This is how I see Leon :
WW rankings and how I see them :
C - Leon - I will overview Leon later down below.
1 Kamaru Usman - hard to tell where he is but he is MW right now. I thought that he is past prime because he was soooo gunshy against Leon in third fight. This KO really changed him and Leon has his number now. But he showed that he is capable of fighting elite Khamzat in new weight class so we can assume that during third Edwards fight he had off night or something.
2 Belal Muhammad - very hard to tell his standing. He has nice winning streak but it isn't that hard if you are looking at this division. Context matter so here we are : he beat bunch of C level players, lost to nice Geoff Neal then gathered 4 wins over another C level guys then NC to Leon which he was outclassed until eyepoke - had nothing on him. But fight is a fight eyepoke was early and everything could happen there. Then win over ancient Demian Maia by dec, then decisioned then past prime Wonderboy who was lay n prayed because Thompson was good match up for him. Vincente Luque is strange fighter - he is kill or be killed and looked quite bad during Belal fight but it is okay win. Then we got Sean Brady who looked like fish out of water but is good talent - maybe training with Khabib elevated Belal skillset that match or Sean had off night - hard to tell. Gilbert is inconsistent and was injured during fight so it is not that legit imo.
I always thought Belal as B level but looking at his achievements I will generously say he is A level talent so very good but not elite.
TL
R what counts is
beating past prime Wonderboy who can't take on wrestlers via lay n pray
beating Vincente Luque who is in weird position now
beating Sean Brady who looked off
beating Gilbert Burns who was injured
3 Shavkat Rakhmonov - only fighter that I can surely say is elite. None known weaknesses, all finishes, straight to the point fighter.
4 Gilbert Burns - Giblert I thought is elite but is very inconsistent. He can be once elite like first round against Usman or struggle against B-level Masvidal. He peaked fighting nice fight against bigger Khamzat imo. I would say Gilbert can still perform elite but sometimes he crumbles. I would say he is S/A level
5 Colby Covington - very tough fighter to evaluate. His best showing is... losing to then elite Usman... twice. Rest isn't impressive - beating Masvidal isn't that good of showing for elite, washed Woodley was losing every round to every fighter he was pitted against just like washed Tony is doing right now. I thought he is elite but Leon fight... that Leon fight.. either injury is real or ring rust was a thing or he lost a step. Can't tell til next fight.
6 Stephen Thompson - I would say in his prime Wonderboy was A level. Now past prime when they are putting him against wrestlers who are bad match ups for him I say he is B maybe B+
7 Sean Brady - I must say that Brady disappointed me. Once he is beating Craig Jones in grappling which was everyones surprise but then is losing to Belal when everyone was sure that he will beat. Maybe it wasn't his day or maybe his ceiling is lower than I thought. Who knows? WW is weird place. I would say Sean is A level with benefit of a doubt.
8 Geoff Neal - Geoff is better than I am giving him credit but worse than we all think. I would say he is A or B+
9 Vicente Luque - I thought that he is very good but he lost a step I think. B or B+
10 Ian Machado Garry - great striker with unknown ceiling but I think he is no more than B player. He is/will be overarchiever WW version of Paddy Pimblett.
11 Jack Della Maddalena - great striker with unknown ceiling. I am fan but Hafez fight showed that he has some flaws.
12 Kevin Holland - short notice fights really will hurt his legacy. Good fighter but no more than B/B+ level
13 Neil Magny - gatekeeper who is testing new talents. B
14 Michael Chiesa - best times are behind him. Now he is B at best.
15 Rinat Fakhretdinov - new prospect with uknown ceiling.
So we are going back to Leon again. Lets focus on his last 5 :
- NC against Belal where he was winning side until eye poke but fight lasted only 1 round.
- Dominant performance against paaaaaast prime Nate Diaz who somehow wobbled him last round and it is the only thing people remember,
- Fight against Usman. First fight he was dominated by Kamaru. This time Leon won 1st round, then he slowed and lost 3 next rounds comfortably. Disheartened Leon is going to his corner before last round and everyone is saying what he is doing - then he drops hail mary high kick to Usmans head to win WW belt.
- Third fight with Usman - I really don't like Nigerian Nightmare but he was clearly out of this fight. Gun shy terrified of another KO.
- Colby fight - Covington seemed reaaaaly off. Either injury was real, ring rust or Chaos lost step/ came closer to next step of evolution of fighter - became past prime. Hard to tell until next fight.
Other than that Leon notable wins were against RDA and Luque.
Where I am placing Leon in WW Goats? It is difficult to answer because WW is now really in bad shape.
MW is in similar shape but at least they have some good unranked MWs who can add something to division.
Everyone is shitting on LHW but it is at least top-heavy. WW is bunch of B level players today.
