UFC Lightweight Division Heavy With Talent

Milwaukee, Wisconsin was witness to a great night of fights and the end of an era, playing host to the final UFC on Fox event.

The last two fights of the night only added to the UFC’s lightweight division’s bottleneck at the top.

Edson Barboza got a stoppage win against New Zealand’s Dan Hooker.

Barboza put his phenomenal striking on show against a valiant Dan Hooker, whose toughness worked against him, eventually collapsing to a body shot after taking a shocking amount of damage throughout the fight.

Hooker, unable to walk properly, taking a barrage of head punches and clearly suffering from abdominal or rib cage damage, had Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier in commentary calling for the fight to be stopped.

In the headliner, the favoured Kevin Lee was again humbled by Al Iaquinta in a fascinating fight that went the distance.

The results of this fight in particular really add to the difficult task the UFC has in organising the right lightweight fights next year.

We’ve compiled a list of the lightweight (and potential lightweight) fighters which will be causing headaches for matchmakers.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov

Obviously, at the top of things is the Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Having won the belt, that Conor McGregor left vacant, by beating Al Iaquinta, Khabib defended the title quite easily against the returning Irishman. Currently he’s waiting on the verdict for his punishment following the now famous events that unfolded after that fight.

Tony Ferguson

The guy arguably most deserving of a title shot is Tony Ferguson. In fact, he was meant to fight Khabib for the belt twice before. After recovering from the injury that kept him out of the last title fight, Ferguson looked impressive against Anthony Pettis. The fact a fight between Ferguson and Khabib has been scheduled four times and all of those fights have fallen through, would be a concern for matchmakers though.

Dustin Poirier

Like a lot of fighters on this list, Dustin Poirier would probably be the top contender in any other division. Having overcome Eddie Alvarez, Justin Gaethje and Anthony Pettis in his last three fights, Poirier’s form and talent is undeniable. He was scheduled as the opponent for Nate Diaz’s comeback fight, but that was cancelled when Poirier suffered a hip injury.

Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor wants nothing more than a rematch with Khabib, but after he was mauled by the Dagestani, it would’ve been hard to bill… for about 5 seconds before Khabib added to the chaos and controversy surrounding the rivalry by jumping over the cage and into McGregor’s teammates. The rematch would likely be even bigger than the original fight, and for all of Conor’s shortcomings in the first bout, his achievements in the sport, and the determination we saw in the second Diaz fight, keeps this a firm possibility. The only thing stopping things at the moment is the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Max Holloway

Adding to the lightweight’s stacked line-up is the possibility of Max Holloway moving up from featherweight. Max’s dismantling of the previously undefeated Brian Ortega last week would have many lightweights concerned. Holloway’s reported troubles with weight-cutting and Dana White calling for him to move up a weight class means a move up seems to be on the cards. Holloway was briefly the replacement for Ferguson against Khabib in their last scheduled fight, before being replaced by Al-Iaquinta, himself. Khabib did come out and say he thinks Max needs to prove himself in the division for a title shot.

Nate Diaz

Nate Diaz doesn’t deserve a title shot, due to being inactive since his last fight with Conor in 2016, however, the fact he took the Poirier fight before it was cancelled shows he is hungry to compete again. Conor’s loss to Khabib means the trilogy fight makes a lot of sense now. Depending on the punishment Conor receives, a fight with Diaz would be a good buffer fight while the top is more clearly sorted out.

Donald Cerrone

Similar to Diaz, Cerrone doesn’t deserve a title shot at the moment, but his return to lightweight increases the backlog. Cowboy is reportedly set to fight Alexander Hernandez in January. A win in that would make things interesting for his next match-up. Especially since he was being touted as a potential opponent for Conor.

Al Iaquinta

Beating Kevin Lee today, who was the fourth-ranked lightweight contender, certainly adds to Iaquinta’s stocks. When he was rushed in on less than 24hrs notice against Khabib for the vacant belt, he surprisingly didn’t look out of place and took the eventual winner all the way to a decision. After his victory today, he made the bold move of claiming he was more deserving of another shot at the title compared to Conor, and if the Notorious wanted a rematch, he’d have to go through Iaquinta first.

This list paints part of the picture, but you can’t forget that Justin Gaethje, Edson Barboza, Kevin Lee, Alexander Hernandez, Anthony Pettis and Michael Chiesa are all competing in the same weight class as well.

This goes to show the ridiculous depth of the lightweight division.

If the rumours of a new 165lb division are true, provided welterweight’s limit is increased by 5lbs, it’d make a lot of sense and would help spread out the talent.

By Brandon Clark