News New Lightweight rankings post UFC 262

[MCS]

All of the fighters from 5 down have some warts on their resume. Again there’s no science. Rda, tony, hooker, etc.

For the gap I like the 12-month "rule" without a scheduled fight. It shows who's active. I agree those aren't top guys either, it's more like Dariush and Islam for current guys on win streaks. But still, we're talking 2016 here. It's half a generation. Makes little sense. Conor's also on their p4p top 15. It is a useless promotional ranking.

 

[GrantB13]

Jesus Christ. How long can they keep bumping Conor up without even winning? Now they can try to justify Conor with a title shot because "he's top 5". What a joke.

 

[kflo]

For the gap I like the 12-month "rule" without a scheduled fight. It shows who's active. I agree those aren't top guys either, it's more like Dariush and Islam for current guys on win streaks. But still, we're talking 2016 here. It's half a generation. Makes little sense. Conor's also on their p4p top 15. It is a useless promotional ranking.

Again you’re ignoring the win in 2020. I get it but it happened and does factor in.

I do think Islam rda is still the right fight to measure both guys in the division.

p4p is useless and a 15 ranking is also useless (and dumb).

 

[kflo]

Jesus Christ. How long can they keep bumping Conor up without even winning? Now they can try to justify Conor with a title shot because "he's top 5". What a joke.

You think tony should have stayed top 5 instead?

 

[Sticko]

There's absolutely 0 logic behind Conor being top 5

Yes, there is. Former LW champion. Lost to Khabib, but Khabib beats everybody, and he won a round off him. You don't fall very far when you lose to someone at the top of the rankings. Then lost to Dustin who is #1, but won the first round on every scorecard. Again, you don't fall very far when you lose to people at the very top.

The only people who won rounds off Khabib in the UFC were Conor and Gaethje.

 

[GrantB13]

This is probably the worst part about how the UFC handles rankings. Once a guy has name, they tend to get overranked. Guys don't go down fast enough. I understand one loss not hurting a guy too bad. Chandler just lost a title fight that he came within an ace of winning. He shouldn't drop too far imo, so 4 is about right. But Tony has lost three straight and he's gotten dominated in all three. He shouldn't be top ten, and I'm not even sure he's top twenty.

Yeah they are really bad about ignoring when top guys are no longer at the top. Like giving Weidman Reyes in a division he doesn't fight in even though he had 1 win and 4 KO loses

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Yes, there is. Former LW champion. Lost to Khabib, but Khabib beats everybody, and he won a round off him. You don't fall very far when you lose to someone at the top of the rankings. Then lost to Dustin who is #1, but won the first round on every scorecard. Again, you don't fall very far when you lose to people at the very top.

The only people who won rounds off Khabib in the UFC were Conor and Gaethje.

C'mon man. McGregor's last, and only, win at LW in the UFC was in 2016. It was a great win, but he shouldn't even be top ten right coming off of two straight losses in the division.

 

[kflo]

This is probably the worst part about how the UFC handles rankings. Once a guy has name, they tend to get overranked. Guys don't go down fast enough. I understand one loss not hurting a guy too bad. Chandler just lost a title fight that he came within an ace of winning. He shouldn't drop too far imo, so 4 is about right. But Tony has lost three straight and he's gotten dominated in all three. He shouldn't be top ten, and I'm not even sure he's top twenty.

But also recognize tony lost to the #2, the champ and #3. It is hard to place him amongst the bottom part of the top 15 who haven’t fought (or at least beat) anywhere near that caliber.

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

This is probably the worst part about how the UFC handles rankings. Once a guy has name, they tend to get overranked. Guys don't go down fast enough. I understand one loss not hurting a guy too bad. Chandler just lost a title fight that he came within an ace of winning. He shouldn't drop too far imo, so 4 is about right. But Tony has lost three straight and he's gotten dominated in all three. He shouldn't be top ten, and I'm not even sure he's top twenty.

That’s how I’ve felt about him for a bit. I love Tony. He’s fun. But just like cowboy and pettis he’s on his way out. They are gonna milk his name for every drop it’s worth before cutting him loose.

 

[kflo]

C'mon man. McGregor's last, and only, win at LW in the UFC was in 2016. It was a great win, but he shouldn't even be top ten right coming off of two straight losses in the division.

I’ll ask you. If rda fought Justin and they made the fight at ww, and rda won, would you keep their lw rankings unchanged as if the fight never happened?

 

[kflo]

That’s how I’ve felt about him for a bit. I love Tony. He’s fun. But just like cowboy and pettis he’s on his way out. They are gonna milk his name for every drop it’s worth before cutting him loose.

Dariush was a good matchup for tony at that point. It was a close odds fight. It’s still tough to place tony against the bottom part of the top 10 to 15. (That said, he has looked like shit).

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

But also recognize tony lost to the #2, the champ and #3. It is hard to place him amongst the bottom part of the top 15 who haven’t fought (or at least beat) anywhere near that caliber.

No, it shouldn't be. Eventually the logic becomes circular. Ferguson is going to keep drawing top guys because he is ranked high, but he is only ranked high because his losses are to top guys.

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

Dariush was a good matchup for tony at that point. It was a close odds fight. It’s still tough to place tony against the bottom part of the top 10 to 15. (That said, he has looked like shit).

Ok, but rank 6? The last two I get. Justin and Charles are world beaters. But he didn’t look good in either of them. Which is exactly why the guy ranked 9th best was a decent favorite over hims. At this point, if you put him against some Unranked guys he’d be an underdog. I think that tells you that moving him down a single spot doesn’t reflect where he stands at all

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

I’ll ask you. If rda fought Justin and they made the fight at ww, and rda won, would you keep their lw rankings unchanged as if the fight never happened?

Yeah. Divisional rankings, especially given how far apart UFC divisions are from each other, should focus on wins within the weight class. But I can see how people would disagree with that, so even if we include McGregor's welterweight fights against fighters who also fight at lightweight, we are only adding his fights against Diaz where he went 1-1, which are from five years ago, and his win over a shot Cerrone. So he's 3-3 in LWish fights over the past five years, with 2 of his three wins coming against guys not currently relevant.

I'm not a McGregor hater (as a fighter). But no way he should be top ten at LW given his accomplishments.

 

[kflo]

No, it shouldn't be. Eventually the logic becomes circular. Ferguson is going to keep drawing top guys because he is ranked high, but he is only ranked high because his losses are to top guys.

i didn't mean he doesn't belong there, i just meant it's hard to say exactly where he belongs. most of those guys would be 0-3 against the same opponents.

 

[NikLuk]

No one's disputing that. Not sure what your point is?

Liie I said Dober lost his 15th rank when Chandler got ranked.

He got it back when Oliveira moved to Champ combined with Cerrone losing his last fight.

My point is that Dober was an unranked win and that’s how it should be treated. What Dober was at other points in time is irrelevant when discussing Islam.

 

[kflo]

Yeah. Divisional rankings, especially given how far apart UFC divisions are from each other, should focus on wins within the weight class. But I can see how people would disagree with that, so even if we include McGregor's welterweight fights against fighters who also fight at lightweight, we are only adding his fights against Diaz where he went 1-1, which are from five years ago, and his win over a shot Cerrone. So he's 3-3 in LWish fights over the past five years, with 2 of his three wins coming against guys not currently relevant.

I'm not a McGregor hater (as a fighter). But no way he should be top ten at LW given his accomplishments.

like i've said, rankings are not just accomplishments. there is subjectivity in how good a fighter is. it's why guys get ranked with 1 or 2 fights in a division. this happens with independent sanctioning bodies as well. it's not unique to the ufc. rankings are not solely about stats.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

My point is that Dober was an unranked win and that’s how it should be treated. What Dober was at other points in time is irrelevant when discussing Islam.

Nah certain wins age better with time. Beating guys who later on prove to be elite shows your level of competition

 

[Gabriel201]

 

[kflo]

My point is that Dober was an unranked win and that’s how it should be treated. What Dober was at other points in time is irrelevant when discussing Islam.

dober should be treated as dober. nitpicking about whether he was really #15 or #16 and thinking it makes a difference is pretty ridiculous.

again, people want to make these discussions statistical. it's not how it works.