MMABlog’s Lightweight MMA Rankings

Rank	Name	Organization	Next Fight
1	B.J. Penn	UFC	St. Pierre (#1 WW) 1/31
2	Takanori Gomi	World Victory Road	Golyaev (NR), 11/1
3	Shinya Aoki	DREAM
4	Eddie Alvarez	EliteXC?
5	Sean Sherk	UFC	T. Griffin (#15), 9/25
6	Mitsuhiro Ishida	DREAM/Strikeforce
7	Tatsuya Kawajiri	DREAM
8	Kenny Florian	UFC	Stevenson (#10), 11/15
9	Josh Thomson	Strikeforce	Edwards (NR), 11/21
10	Joe Stevenson	UFC	Florian (#8), 11/15
11	Gesias Calvancante	DREAM
12	Joachim Hansen	DREAM
13	Gilbert Melendez	Strikeforce
14	Jamie Varner	WEC
15	Tyson Griffin	UFC	Sherk (#5), 9/25
16	Roger Huerta	UFC
17	Gray Maynard	UFC	Clementi (NR), 9/25
18	Frank Edgar	UFC	Wiman (NR), 12/10
19	Vitor Ribeiro
20	Nate Diaz	UFC
21	K.J. Noons	EliteXC?
22	Joe Lauzon	UFC
23	Nick Diaz	EliteXC
24	Spencer Fisher	UFC	Gugerty (NR), 9/25
25	Caol Uno	DREAM

 

Others Considered: Clay Guida, Hermes Franca, Marcus Aurelio, Jim Miller, Jorge Masvidal , Rich Clementi, Matt Wiman, and Mac Danzig.

Best Non-UFC Fighters

Here are the best non-UFC fighters.  This shows where the UFC is stacked and where they lack.  There competition is mainly in Affliction at heavyweight and DREAM at lightweight.  Here are the best non-UFC guys that the UFC should look to sign if possible. 

Rank	Heavyweight	Light Heavy	Middleweight	Welterweight	Lightweight
1	Fedor Emelianenko	Antonio Rogerio Nogueira	Paulo Filho	Jake Shields	Takanori Gomi
2	Andrei Arlovski	Ricardo Arona	Matt Lindland	Carlos Condit	Shinya Aoki
3	Josh Barnett	Rafael Feijao	Robbie Lawler	Jay Hieron	JZ Calvancante
4	Tim Sylvia	Vladimir Matyushenko	Kazuo Misaki	Nick Thompson	Eddie Alvarez
5	Ben Rothwell	Babalu Sobral	Gegard Mousasi	Mach Sakurai	Mitsuhiro Ishida
6	Mirko Cro Cop	Tito Ortiz	Vitor Belfort	Mike Pyle	Joachim Hansen
7	Roy Nelson	Steve Cantwell	“Jacare” de Sousa		Tatsuya Kawajiri
8	Aleks Emelianenko	Brian Stann	Jason Miller		Josh Thomson
9	Antonio Silva		Melvin Manhoef		Gilbert Melendez
10	Alistair Overeem		Murilio Rua		Vitor Ribeiro
11			Cung Le		Jamie Varner
12			Denis Kang		Ryan Schultz
13			Joey Villasenor		KJ Noons
14			Frank Shamrock		Nick Diaz
15			Yoshihiro Akiyama		Caol Uno
16			Jorge Santiago
17			Chael Sonnen

DREAM 5 News: Joachim Hansen Wins Lightweight Grand Prix

You might be thinking how did Joachim Hansen win the lightweight Grand Prix.  He was eliminated in the quarter finals in a fight of the year candidate with Eddie Alvarez.  Follow along this post as I recap DREAM 5. 

Quick Results:

Lightweight Grand Prix Semi-Finals

Shinya Aoki def. Caol Uno via Decision (Unanimous)
Eddie Alvarez def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via TKO (Punches), R1 – 7:35

 

Joachim Hansen def. Kultar Gill via Submission (Armbar), R1 – 2:33

Joseph Benavidez def. Junya Kudo via Submission (Guillotine Choke), R1 – 2:42

Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Motoki Miyazawa via TKO (Cut), R1 – 8:57

Hideo Tokoro def. Takeshi Yamazaki via Decision (Unanimous)

Daisuke Nakamura def. Andy Ologun via Submission (Armbar), R1 – 3:41

Yoshihiro Akiyama def. Katsuyori Shibata via Technical Submission (Gi Choke), R1 – 6:34

Alistair Overeem def. Mark Hunt via Submission (Keylock), R1 – 1:11

 

Lightweight Grand Prix Finals

Joachim Hansen def. Shinya Aoki via TKO (Punches), R1 – 4:19

Here is what happened.  Shinya Aoki and Caol Uno fought very well and the fight was very close, but Shinya Aoki pulled off the unanimous decision win placing him in the finals.  The second bout featured Eddie Alvarez and Tatsuya Kawajiri.  This fight was back and forth also and was a stand up war.  However, Alvarez was able to TKO Kawajiri in the first round.  The finals were set up to be Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez.  That is what I predicted for the final and what many people predicted.  The problem is a cut on Alvarez’s eye caused his eye to be swell shut and a doctor forced him to withdraw.  The question then is what was going to happen.  It just so happened that Joachim Hansen had been placed on the card just in case.  Hansen had won his earlier fight with Kultar Gill that night and he was tapped to replace Alvarez in the finals against Aoki.  So, the finals were set.  Hansen seized the opportunity and won by TKO in round 1 to become the first ever DREAM lightweight champion.  He stated he would like to defend his title first against Eddie Alvarez.  DREAM has some contenders at lightweight!  Eddie Alvarez, Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Caol Uno, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Gesias Calvancante, Luiz Firmino, Katsuhiko Nagata, and Andre “Dida” Amade.

The losing LWGP semifinalists were awarded ¥1,000,000 (about $9,400).
Aoki received ¥3,000,000 ($28,000), and Hansen ¥10,000,000 ($94,000).
(These bonuses are in addition to their fight purses.)