#lightweight division

Despite the setback caused by Bell’s withdrawal, which derailed Cruz’s direct path back to title contention, the disruption did not impact his training camp. Montoya steps into the ring coming off a victory against Antonio Perez in April, presenting Cruz with a confident opponent even with the last-minute change. The Olympic gold medalist is aware that a strong performance is crucial to maintain…

Sam Noakes, hailing from the UK, is set to challenge Denys Berinchyk, providing Noakes an opportunity to affirm his status as a leading competitor in the lightweight division. While Berinchyk may not hold the championship titles he once did, his seasoned experience against top-tier fighters makes him a formidable opponent and a crucial test for Noakes, who is eager to re-establish himself in the…

For Sam Noakes, a fighter hailing from the UK, the upcoming bout provides a pivotal opportunity to reaffirm his status among the top competitors in the lightweight division. Denys Berinchyk, although no longer a titleholder, brings a wealth of experience from facing top-tier adversaries, making him a well-regarded benchmark for Noakes as he seeks to re-enter the world title scene. Scheduled for…

Joey

August 19th, 2015

With MMA in a lull period, a well earned one at that, I figured now was as good a time as ever to return to checking up on these weight classes! Thus far we’ve burned through every weight class from 170 lbs up and you can get all of that good info here: starting with WW (http://thesportssoundoff.tumblr.com/post/123505931590/checking-up-on-the-health-of-these-divisions-ww) and then all of the established classes after it; MW (http://thesportssoundoff.tumblr.com/post/123096295630/check-up-on-these-weight-classes-mw-edition), LHW (http://thesportssoundoff.tumblr.com/post/122967347520/performing-a-check-up-on-these-weight-classes-lhw) and HW (http://thesportssoundoff.tumblr.com/post/122893058455/performing-a-check-up-on-these-weight-classes). We’re at 155 lbs aka the lightweight division and most consider it to be the deepest division in all of MMA. Let’s go by the top 10 and find out just HOW deep and also how healthy.

A slight correction, in the interest of keeping things fair-ish, I’ve moved the goalposts for THIS month from July to July and instead made it August to August. I dont think the #s will fluctuate all that much in this regard.

Average age of the division: 29 years old

Oldest fighter in the top 10: Donald Cerrone (32 years old)

Youngest fighter in the top 10: Beneil Dariush (26 years old)

Number of fights averaged over a 12 month span (August 2014 to August 2015):  2.72 fights

Fighter with the most number of fights over a 12 month span (August 2014 to August 2015): Beneil Dariush with 5

Fighter with the least number of fights over a 12 month span (August 2014 to August 2015): Khabib Nurmagomedov with 0

Number of fights pulled out of over a 12 month span (August 2014 to August 2015): 7

Number of fights NOT between two fighters in the top 10 over a 12 month span (August 2014 to August 2015): 15

So right away, we can start by praising the LW division for some of the stronger qualities it possesses. Off the bat, it’s the healthiest division in the UFC with an average of close to 3 fights a year from its top guys. How much of an anchor is The Eagle? If you removed Khabib from the UFC rankings, that average hits 3 on the dot. Also color me surprised! Donald Cerrone is NOT the most active UFC fighter according to THIS breakdown. Now the numbers get a little bit more wonky if you make it July to July (add a fight for Cerrone, remove a fight for Beneil) but it speaks to Dariush’s durability and consistent fight schedule. The numbers COULD in theory be higher than this if you consider that Benson got hurt and was going to fight in July, Khabib has been out for close to 100 years, Myles Jury and Anthony Pettis are on the mend AND the division champ is out with an injury. In the end, you can see why the UFC has faith in 155 lbers---they tend to ALWAYS show up.

It’s the youngest division thus far in this check up and I suppose that comes with a caveat or two. For one, Josh Thomson and Gilbert Melendez are removed from the rankings and that takes a combined 69 (HA!) years out of the top 10. Melendez at 33 and Thomson at 36 could, in theory, be considered progress stoppers in the division. That said, this division HAS genuine bonafide youth in its rankings. In the interest of fairness, I went to see what the other divisions have at #11. The LW division has 28 year old Al Iaquinta. The only division younger was 27 year old Gunnar Nelson compared to 44 year old Dan Henderson, 39 year old Lil Nog and 35 year old Big Foot Silva. Rather than cast dispersions on the division because there’s no Melendez or Thomson, I want to applaud the UFC’s 155 lb division for being deep enough that you could remove two top 10 guys (who happened to be the oldest in the top 10) and replace them with younger athletes at an equal to or even greater to production level. That’s roster churning done right in a lot of key ways.

If there’s two things to keep an eye on, it’s that in the top 10, you’ve got an absurd 8 fights that were cancelled or fell apart for injury or some other reason. Pettis had to pull out of the Myles Jury fight, Khabib pull out of two fights, Alvarez pulling out of a Jan fight with Benson Henderson, Benson pulling out of a fight with Michael Johnson and a few other “almost” fights. Now a large portion revolve around two guys (Pettis and Khabib) but it’s still a messy situation. Also a lot of the top 10 are NOT fighting on another relative to other divisions. Hell for Tony Ferguson, he’s fought ONE dude in the top 10 and he just left the promotion. Benson Henderson’s last win vs a guy in the current UFC top 10 at LW? Donald Cerrone in 2010 (Nate Diaz is top 15, Edgar is a FW, Khabilov unranked, Thomson out of the organization and Thatch isn’t a ranked WW). Now I’d attribute that to the speed in which LW moves around and not a knock on the guys currently existing in the weight class. Still it’s a little concerning to see guys build resumes on the 15 to 30th ranked LWs in the org. On the other hand? That’s a lot of top quality fresh fights to discuss and look at.