Consensus Rankings:   Official  |  Member Designed  |  This Ranking Updated 12 years, 8 months ago  |  All By minotauro11

1. 1

   

   Frankie Edgar

   "The Answer"

   24-11-1

   Frankie is constantly being underestimated, but he will have a tough time staying champ for long, there are some great fighters in his division.
   

2. 2

   

   Gray Maynard

   "The Bully"

   13-7-1, 1 NC

   Gray is a great wrestler, and a powerful striker. He can become the number 1 lightweight in his next fight, against champ Edgar.
   

3. 3

   

   Gilbert Melendez

   "El Nino"

   22-8-0

   Melendez has decent striking and wrestling, but he is a bit over rated I think. I won't rank him lower until I am proved correct, but I don't think he is the best Lightweight outside of the UFC.
   

4. 4

   

   Melvin Guillard

   "The Young Assassin"

   32-22-2, 3 NC

   Am I the only one that remembers how big of a prospect Evan Dunham was?! He beat Escudero, Griffin and Sherk! (Yeah he beat Sherk). No one gave Guillard a chance, but he blazed through him. Now everyone thinks Dunham's a chump.
   

5. 5

   

   Benson Henderson

   "Smooth"

   30-12-0

   Wow, Benson keeps impressing me.
   

6. 6

   

   Jim Miller

   "A-10"

   37-18-0, 1 NC

   Miller runs through everyone put in front of him, and I think he is one of the best lightweights out there. His only losses are to the number one and number two, and I think it's pretty clear that he's the number one contender if he gets through Bendo.
   

7. 7

   

   Eddie Alvarez

   "The Underground King"

   30-8-0, 2 NC

   Alvarez has awesome striking, and he is getting better quickly. The upcoming lightweight tournament in Bellator looks like it will provide a good test for Alvarez.
   

8. 8

   

   Clay Guida

   "The Carpenter"

   38-24-0

   Guida is a staller. Guida's creative Clay n' Pray which consists of getting on top, almost getting submitted and landing shoulder bumps. It's disgusting. However, he did beat Gomi and Showtime, which is two big wins.
   

9. 9

   

   Anthony Pettis

   "Showtime"

   25-14-0

   He needs to work on his wrestling for sure, but anyone with a brain could tell you that he won that fight. After the loss, he has to be lower than Guida, but I don't think his stock should drop too far after that "loss"
   

10. 10

    

    Donald Cerrone

    "Cowboy"

    36-17-0, 2 NC

11+

11. 11

    

    Evan Dunham

    18-9-1

    Efrain Escudero exposed Dunham, but we didn't notice it because he came back and won by a fantastic submission. Guillard opened our eyes, and hopefully Dunham's too, to what this hole is, Dunham needs to improve his striking. He keeps his spot in the top 15 because he is still a great up and comer.
    

12. 12

    

    Shinya Aoki

    "Tobikan Judan"  |  48-11-0, 1 NC

    It's hard for me to forget getting knocked out by that cross dressing kickboxer. He does, however, have some great wins in MMA. Submitting Beerbohm with ease is very impressive.
    

13. 13

    

    Joe Lauzon

    "J-Lau"  |  28-15-0

    Lauzon looked excellent in the first round against George Sotiropoulos, but he gassed out, then Sotiropoulos took over. The fight showed two things, 1) Lauzon has great skill and potential 2) He needs to work on his cardio if he wants to enter title contention. If he improves his cardio, and can keep up the pace he did in the Sotiropoulos and Reudigar fights, then he could be a UFC champion. Looked amazing against Warburton.
    

14. 14

    

    Charles Oliveira

    "do Bronx"  |  34-10-0, 1 NC

    Big loss to Cerrone. Looked great against Lentz though.
    

15. 15

    

    Dennis Siver

    23-11-0, 1 NC

    Major upset winner against Sot. A very tough stylistic fight coming up against Wiman.
    

16. 16

    

    Matt Wiman

    "Handsome"  |  16-10-0

    Matt Wiman looked spectacular in his destruction of Cole Miller. If he can continue to improve he could certainly make big waves in the UFC's lightweight division.
    

17. 17

    

    Gesias Cavalcante

    "JZ"  |  22-12-1, 2 NC

    Cavalcante is an extremely skilled fighter. I believe he is fully recovered from his knee injury, and it showed against Josh Thomson. (That decision was **** by the way).
    

18. 18

    

    Michael Chandler

    "Iron"  |  23-8-0

    Looked good in his win over the dangerous Patricky Freire. He'll be a tough fight for Alvarez.
    

19. 19

    

    Jeremy Stephens

    "Lil' Heathen"  |  29-21-0, 1 NC

    Stephens bounced back from his decision loss to Guillard with an awesome KO of Marcus Davis. Stephens has great power for a LW, and needs another win to jump into the top 15.
    

20. 20

    

    Tatsuya Kawajiri

    "Crusher"  |  37-14-2

    Looked bad against Melendez.