LW Isn't The Killer Division It Once Was ( Khabib And Conor are Both Over - Rated )

You need some tissue ?



Those are some darn good fighters. Diego Sanchez was regarded highly for a few years. He and Nick Diaz had one heck of a battle in which Sanchez won. Fighters get old. Sean Sherk is another LW beast that many over look. Kenny Florian was a multi division title challenger.



I have plenty clue .... It has allot of tough fighters but is weaker now then it has been in quite some time.
I don't think any of those guys touch khabib, Lee, conor or Tony.

Sherk in his prime could but the rest, I don't think so. I am of course not including BJ in my post. I think a prime Penn certainly could hang with all these guys but I am not convinced he could beat them.
 
On the contrary fighters with more than a 90% win record and smashing everybody while being on multiple fight win streaks like Taisumov, Makhachev, Khabilov, Gillespie, Teymur, etc are unranked. If they were Flyweights/HWs/LHWs they'd all easily be top 5. That's how deep LW is.
 
Fighters like to have a size advantage. There are fighters killing themselves to make weight in every division but besides that the 145 lb top fighters are aging. Aldo and Edgar are amazing fighters that are on the tail end of their careers and the champion of the division is sick. The division is wide open for any top fighter to capture. Moving down to 145 lbs if you can is a smart move.



Nope ....



I disagree ....

There was a time when the LW division had ..

Frankie Edgar / Maynard / Gilbert Melendaz / B.J. Penn / Eddie Alvarez / Ben Henderson / Micheal Chandler / Anthony Pettis and others in their prime or near it.
The lw division that included Thomson, Penn, and Melendez all priming at the same time will likely never be eclipsed.
 
You read the title right.

Conor got special treatment in his fights and seems to have allot of favorable circumstances surrounding some of his biggest fights. He fought a wide array of fighters that he was much bigger then and once facing someone slightly bigger he lost / had a tough fight that could of went either way.

Khabib is undefeated and I would put his best win down as RDA, which was a solid win but he won the belt from facing someone outside the top ten or barely top ten ( depending on your rankings ).

The LW division is so weak that :
- Anthony Pettis who is 3 - 5 in his last eight fights is still ranked 8th in the division.
- Tony Ferguson who has fought about twice in three years is ranked 2nd.
- Conor Mcgregor is ranked 1st after being stripped of the belt and hasn't fought in 2 years and has fought only once in the LW division.
- Al laquinta who has fought twice in three years and went 1 -1 in those two fights is ranked in the top 10

Both are tough fighters and so are some of the others I mention but the LW division doesn't exactly have all the killers it once had.

Folks .... the UFC LW division isn't what it once was.

I agree about the Conor being overrated bit.
 
Killers like Maynard? Maynard had like 8 decisions in a row, a draw with Edgar and then his career fell apart. His best wins are a decision over Edgar and Florian (respectable) and a decision over Nate, who you seem to dismiss as a top fighter, and who also later TKOd Maynard.

During the era your describing (circa early 2011) the top LW in the UFC would have been BJ, Edgar, Maynard, Jim Miller, Clay Guida, Kenny Florian, Sean Sherk with Benson and Pettis joining the UFC later that year.
If you are really going to say that division is significantly more talented and full of killers compared to : Conor, Khabib, Ferguson, Poirier, Alvarez, Lee, Gathje, Barboza, Pettis then I don't know what else to say, I think you're way off the mark.

Maynard was a killer when he peaked and a top fighter in the LW division for a couple years. When he started to decline he declined fast, which happens to some fighters. His trilogy with Edgar are some of the most entertaining fights you can watch in the UFC.

Some of those killers in your second list were around in the division when the killers in the first list were still in their prime or near it.
B.J. Penn / Sean Sherk / Edgar / Maynard / Benson / Pettis and that's not to mention other tough fighters like Nate Diaz that are still in the division. The current LW division isn't the shark tank it once was. Don't get me wrong there are some very good fighters in today's division but it pales in comparison to what it use to be.



Michael Chandler was never in the UFC.

“In their prime or near it” this phrase takes so much context out of that list if names I’m too lazy to think of it all.

But since u liked throwing his name in their randomly to strengthen ur point, Will Brooks(a more recent name) destroyed him twice in a row and couldnt even break in the top 15 in the UFC.

Anyway rankings are random votes by media reporters who mever trained, but there are lots of killers unranked in the UFC’s LW roster like that Gregor Gillespie. And as much as his style purely aims to please crowd rather than try to win at all cost, Justin Gaethje would still have a chance to KO anyone. Kevin Lee being only 25 yet 10-3 in the UFC is crazy, he even finished the version of barboza that khabib couldnt.
Oh and I’d still pit money Pettis beats bendo a 100/100 times again.


My mistake .. I was naming top LW fighters and mistakenly typed Michael Chandler and since he hasn't fought in the UFC he doesn't belong on my list.

Yeah the division is so full of killers a fighter who is 3 - 5 in his last 8 is ranked 8th in the division. Another guy who has fought once in the division and 0 times in the last two years is ranked 1st. If it was so staked and full of killers these inactive fighters would be dropping spots on the top 10 left and right but they aren't.



Um, ok....short of BJ Penn. When was the LW division any better than it is now?

I hear your criticism, but I don't see you explain what era was better any why....

I have multiple post naming those who I thought made up a deeper LW division.
 
@MRDOG, you've been here longer than me, and have a Plat account. Why are you making white belt level threads?

LW is strong asf. There are no gimmie fights in the top 15. Tony has been out for a while and could use a fight before he fights for title, tell me, who would you match him up against in the top 15?

Tony-Conor-Khabib are all championship level fighters.

Dustin-Eddie-Lee are the gate keepers to the very top of the division.

Barboza-Gaethje-Diaz-Pettis are all beatable top contenders, who will give anyone a very hard fight. None of these guys is getting walked through. Even 8f you beat one of these guys, you're probably facing a lengthy medical suspension.

Vick-Iaquinta-Hernandez-Hooker-Trinaldo are all skilled and are not an easy fight for anyone, yet losing to them will set you back really far in the division. Now why is that?

The division is strong asf. If anything WW has been dying down. Needs some new blood in the rankings. Gunnar doesn't fight. Dhk doesn't fight. Ponzi hasn't fought since Dec. Cowboy is losing to everyone at the top. Masvidal is on a game show. Magny cheery picks. Maia is getting matched up with all the wrestlers. Robbie Lawler is on a decline. Wonderboy has had one good fight sandwiched between stinkers, since 2016. Colby ruined his title shot. And the Champion just recently stopped being a cry baby (at least according to him). The talent is all there, but I feel the division is a bit mismanaged.
 
Maynard was a killer when he peaked and a top fighter in the LW division for a couple years. When he started to decline he declined fast, which happens to some fighters. His trilogy with Edgar are some of the most entertaining fights you can watch in the UFC.

Some of those killers in your second list were around in the division when the killers in the first list were still in their prime or near it.
B.J. Penn / Sean Sherk / Edgar / Maynard / Benson / Pettis and that's not to mention other tough fighters like Nate Diaz that are still in the division. The current LW division isn't the shark tank it once was. Don't get me wrong there are some very good fighters in today's division but it pales in comparison to what it use to be.






My mistake .. I was naming top LW fighters and mistakenly typed Michael Chandler and since he hasn't fought in the UFC he doesn't belong on my list.

Yeah the division is so full of killers a fighter who is 3 - 5 in his last 8 is ranked 8th in the division. Another guy who has fought once in the division and 0 times in the last two years is ranked 1st. If it was so staked and full of killers these inactive fighters would be dropping spots on the top 10 left and right but they aren't.





I have multiple post naming those who I thought made up a deeper LW division.


Maynard is such a killer that he has 1 finish out of 19 UFC fights. Maybe 2 if you count the time he KOd himself.

Who was around then from my second list?
Conor didn't join the UFC until 2013
Khabib in 2012
Ferguson had his first UFC fight mid 2011 but was still green and unknown outside of TUF
Poirier debuted in 2011 but was again green and unknown
Alvarez wasn't in the UFC
Kevin Lee hadn't even had a pro fight yet
Obviously you're not referring to Gaethje
Barboza had a couple fights in by the end of 2011, and looked promising but hadn't yet spun Etim's head off so while he definitely strengthened the division he still wasn't the name he is now.
As I said Pettis and Benson joined the UFC at the end of 2011.

Of course by the end of 2011 Edgar had already KOd Maynard which was the beginnning of the end for Maynard, although we didn't know that yet.
And of course at this point BJ hadn't picked up a win at LW since 2009. He was still widely regarded as one of the best LWs on the planet (rightly so) but history shows that fighter never showed again.
 
Dogshit thread. 155 division is fucking stacked.

It's an interesting division with allot of tough fighters but not as stacked as it once was.

I don't think any of those guys touch khabib, Lee, conor or Tony.

Sherk in his prime could but the rest, I don't think so. I am of course not including BJ in my post. I think a prime Penn certainly could hang with all these guys but I am not convinced he could beat them.

Sanchez in his prime gives any top LW fighter a run for their money. People forget he beat Nick Diaz in a very close contested fight before he changed his fighting style to a brawler. A prime B.J. Penn would be LW Champion today. Sean Sherk only lost to Matt Hughes , B.J. Penn , Matt Hughes and Edgar. We are talking four of the very best to ever do it within their divisions. Edgar is still a top fighter and could walk right into the top 5 LW division with just an announcement that he is returning to the division.

LW was more staked before ... I think the hype that is Conor has everyone blinded. Sure there is heat and excitement in the division but as far as over-all talent... it isn't what it once was.

On the contrary fighters with more than a 90% win record and smashing everybody while being on multiple fight win streaks like Taisumov, Makhachev, Khabilov, Gillespie, Teymur, etc are unranked. If they were Flyweights/HWs/LHWs they'd all easily be top 5. That's how deep LW is.

If they were in another division they may not be on those win streaks.

The lw division that included Thomson, Penn, and Melendez all priming at the same time will likely never be eclipsed.

Exactly ... B.J. Penn .... Edgar ... Sean Sherk ... Maynard ... the division was packed ...
 
It's an interesting division with allot of tough fighters but not as stacked as it once was.



Sanchez in his prime gives any top LW fighter a run for their money. People forget he beat Nick Diaz in a very close contested fight before he changed his fighting style to a brawler. A prime B.J. Penn would be LW Champion today. Sean Sherk only lost to Matt Hughes , B.J. Penn , Matt Hughes and Edgar. We are talking four of the very best to ever do it within their divisions. Edgar is still a top fighter and could walk right into the top 5 LW division with just an announcement that he is returning to the division.

LW was more staked before ... I think the hype that is Conor has everyone blinded. Sure there is heat and excitement in the division but as far as over-all talent... it isn't what it once was.



If they were in another division they may not be on those win streaks.



Exactly ... B.J. Penn .... Edgar ... Sean Sherk ... Maynard ... the division was packed ...
I am gonna go ahead and disagree.

Tony, khabib, Lee and conor would all ruin zombie Sanchez, who was exactly that when he started at LW. He had a great run until Kos completely exposed him.

Edgar COULD be in the top5. Not convinced BJ would beat the top guys to be champ today. Sherk would probably lose to Kevin Lee for sure . khabib and sherk would have been interesting. Tony vs Sherk too

Keep in mind guys like Sherk and Maynard would get USADA'ed.

Maynard would get wrecked by Kevin Lee, Tony, Khabib and Conor.

Sherk could be top5 as well but I think all of the top guys could beat him.

Out of all the guys you listed, Sanchez is the least convincing. He is only a tough guy. He has shit striking, shit takedowns so he can't even implement his solid grappling because he can't get the fight to the mat and is forced to stand with basically everyone and basically everyone has better standup than him.
 
It's an interesting division with allot of tough fighters but not as stacked as it once was.



Sanchez in his prime gives any top LW fighter a run for their money. People forget he beat Nick Diaz in a very close contested fight before he changed his fighting style to a brawler. A prime B.J. Penn would be LW Champion today. Sean Sherk only lost to Matt Hughes , B.J. Penn , Matt Hughes and Edgar. We are talking four of the very best to ever do it within their divisions. Edgar is still a top fighter and could walk right into the top 5 LW division with just an announcement that he is returning to the division.

LW was more staked before ... I think the hype that is Conor has everyone blinded. Sure there is heat and excitement in the division but as far as over-all talent... it isn't what it once was.



If they were in another division they may not be on those win streaks.



Exactly ... B.J. Penn .... Edgar ... Sean Sherk ... Maynard ... the division was packed ...
Just to get a title elimination bout you had to go thru killers. The gatekeepers then would be contenders today, imo.
 
Maynard was a killer when he peaked and a top fighter in the LW division for a couple years. When he started to decline he declined fast, which happens to some fighters. His trilogy with Edgar are some of the most entertaining fights you can watch in the UFC.

Some of those killers in your second list were around in the division when the killers in the first list were still in their prime or near it.
B.J. Penn / Sean Sherk / Edgar / Maynard / Benson / Pettis and that's not to mention other tough fighters like Nate Diaz that are still in the division. The current LW division isn't the shark tank it once was. Don't get me wrong there are some very good fighters in today's division but it pales in comparison to what it use to be.






My mistake .. I was naming top LW fighters and mistakenly typed Michael Chandler and since he hasn't fought in the UFC he doesn't belong on my list.

Yeah the division is so full of killers a fighter who is 3 - 5 in his last 8 is ranked 8th in the division. Another guy who has fought once in the division and 0 times in the last two years is ranked 1st. If it was so staked and full of killers these inactive fighters would be dropping spots on the top 10 left and right but they aren't.





I have multiple post naming those who I thought made up a deeper LW division.
Everything after u wrote “my mistake” sounds like u didnt read my whole comment. Not repeating shit about my reply on the rankings argument. Go back and reread.

I dont even know why u atarted telling me about the Maynard/Edgar narrative like I’m a white belt but thanks I guess.
 
@MRDOG, you've been here longer than me, and have a Plat account. Why are you making white belt level threads?

LW is strong asf. There are no gimmie fights in the top 15. Tony has been out for a while and could use a fight before he fights for title, tell me, who would you match him up against in the top 15?

Tony-Conor-Khabib are all championship level fighters.

Dustin-Eddie-Lee are the gate keepers to the very top of the division.

Barboza-Gaethje-Diaz-Pettis are all beatable top contenders, who will give anyone a very hard fight. None of these guys is getting walked through. Even 8f you beat one of these guys, you're probably facing a lengthy medical suspension.

Vick-Iaquinta-Hernandez-Hooker-Trinaldo are all skilled and are not an easy fight for anyone, yet losing to them will set you back really far in the division. Now why is that?

The division is strong asf. If anything WW has been dying down. Needs some new blood in the rankings. Gunnar doesn't fight. Dhk doesn't fight. Ponzi hasn't fought since Dec. Cowboy is losing to everyone at the top. Masvidal is on a game show. Magny cheery picks. Maia is getting matched up with all the wrestlers. Robbie Lawler is on a decline. Wonderboy has had one good fight sandwiched between stinkers, since 2016. Colby ruined his title shot. And the Champion just recently stopped being a cry baby (at least according to him). The talent is all there, but I feel the division is a bit mismanaged.


Does my thread not contain enough Conor in it ?

I would match Tony up with Diaz as both been out for awhile.


You are calling Eddie a gatekeeper and he is currently ranked 4th which further adds to my narrative.


Maynard is such a killer that he has 1 finish out of 19 UFC fights. Maybe 2 if you count the time he KOd himself.

Who was around then from my second list?
Conor didn't join the UFC until 2013
Khabib in 2012
Ferguson had his first UFC fight mid 2011 but was still green and unknown outside of TUF
Poirier debuted in 2011 but was again green and unknown
Alvarez wasn't in the UFC
Kevin Lee hadn't even had a pro fight yet
Obviously you're not referring to Gaethje
Barboza had a couple fights in by the end of 2011, and looked promising but hadn't yet spun Etim's head off so while he definitely strengthened the division he still wasn't the name he is now.
As I said Pettis and Benson joined the UFC at the end of 2011.

Of course by the end of 2011 Edgar had already KOd Maynard which was the beginnning of the end for Maynard, although we didn't know that yet.
And of course at this point BJ hadn't picked up a win at LW since 2009. He was still widely regarded as one of the best LWs on the planet (rightly so) but history shows that fighter never showed again.

You named them yourself ... being unknown at the time doesn't mean they weren't in the division.

Edgar / B.J. Penn / Sean Sherk / Maynard / Gilbert Melendez / Eddie Alveraz / Nate Diaz / RDA / T.J. Grant Plus many other tough guys were all in the division at the same time. The LW division currently has some tough guys but it isn't as stacked as it once was.
 
Does my thread not contain enough Conor in it ?

I would match Tony up with Diaz as both been out for awhile.


You are calling Eddie a gatekeeper and he is currently ranked 4th which further adds to my narrative.




You named them yourself ... being unknown at the time doesn't mean they weren't in the division.

Edgar / B.J. Penn / Sean Sherk / Maynard / Gilbert Melendez / Eddie Alveraz / Nate Diaz / RDA / T.J. Grant Plus many other tough guys were all in the division at the same time. The LW division currently has some tough guys but it isn't as stacked as it once was.
Did you just assume my liking for Conor?

Tony-Diaz. I'd love to see that fight myself. Both Mexican American (pocho) guys, who won't go down. But you didn't answer the question I asked. I asked you who you would give Tony in the top 15 as a gimmie fight for his return, since having him jump on a title shot wouldn't be smart for him. The answer is there aren't any, because the division is stacked. Which is my point.

Yes I called Eddie a gatekeeper, but it seems like your reading comprehension is failing you. I said they (Eddie, Dustin, Lee) are the gate keepers to the very top of the division, meaning after Conor, Khabib, and Tony they are the next in line alphas of the division.
 
Khabib
Fergie
Conor
Poirer
Lee
Alvares
Barboza

That's about as nasty a top 7 as you will see anywhere.
 
Does my thread not contain enough Conor in it ?

I would match Tony up with Diaz as both been out for awhile.


You are calling Eddie a gatekeeper and he is currently ranked 4th which further adds to my narrative.




You named them yourself ... being unknown at the time doesn't mean they weren't in the division.

Edgar / B.J. Penn / Sean Sherk / Maynard / Gilbert Melendez / Eddie Alveraz / Nate Diaz / RDA / T.J. Grant Plus many other tough guys were all in the division at the same time. The LW division currently has some tough guys but it isn't as stacked as it once was.

Melendez and Alvarez weren't in the UFC at the time. You used a loss against Nate in your OP to discredit Conor, yet you use him now to strengthen the old division, but not the new?

And WTF, if unknown fighters still strengthen the division then how can you possibly discredit the current division? Maybe there are a bunch of potential GOATs in the division right now but we know how good they are going to be yet. What a bizarre argument.
 
You read the title right.

Conor got special treatment in his fights and seems to have allot of favorable circumstances surrounding some of his biggest fights. He fought a wide array of fighters that he was much bigger then and once facing someone slightly bigger he lost / had a tough fight that could of went either way.

Khabib is undefeated and I would put his best win down as RDA, which was a solid win but he won the belt from facing someone outside the top ten or barely top ten ( depending on your rankings ).

The LW division is so weak that :
- Anthony Pettis who is 3 - 5 in his last eight fights is still ranked 8th in the division.
- Tony Ferguson who has fought about twice in three years is ranked 2nd.
- Conor Mcgregor is ranked 1st after being stripped of the belt and hasn't fought in 2 years and has fought only once in the LW division.
- Al laquinta who has fought twice in three years and went 1 -1 in those two fights is ranked in the top 10

Both are tough fighters and so are some of the others I mention but the LW division doesn't exactly have all the killers it once had.

Folks .... the UFC LW division isn't what it once was.
It’s so weak a guy with 5 ko finishes in a row is not ranked. You are idiot TS.
 
Lightweight will really get interesting when Max Holloway and Brian Ortega inevitably move up. I don't think Conor has long term plans for fighting, Tony Ferguson is prone to injury and not the youngest fighter in the division and Kevin Lee will eventually move to 170 as might Khabib, especially if he starts underperforming against the top 5 at lightweight.
 
There was a time when the LW division had ..

Frankie Edgar / Maynard / Gilbert Melendaz / B.J. Penn / Eddie Alvarez / Ben Henderson / Micheal Chandler / Anthony Pettis and others in their prime or near it.

You seem to be combining multiple eras here. The last time we saw Penn at lightweight was in 2010. Benson became champ in 2012. Pettis became champ in 2013. Eddie Alvarez wasn't even in the UFC until 2014 and he lost his first fight.

You're comparing lightweight today to a span of several years and several promotions. That's not an accurate comparison.
 
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