Well, Fight Night 20 didn’t exactly go the way I imagine the UFC wanted it to. Rather than establish Gray Maynard as a top level challenger to BJ Penn it just featured him getting a narrow win over Nate Diaz. So the question now becomes who in the lightweight division should be fighting BJ?
Here’s a rundown of UFC lightweights (we’ll skip the dream matchup game for today) along with their rankings in the USA TODAY / SB Nation Consensus Rankings:
Kenny Florian (#4) – It’s a little too soon to throw Kenny back into the cage with BJ given that he wasn’t all that successful the last time. Maybe two more quality wins like he put up against Clay Guida and there would be some interest but right now it’s just not a good time for Florian / Penn 2.
Gray Maynard (#5) – Heading into last night I thought Gray would make a decent enough challenge for BJ but Diaz was so successful striking with him that now it just seems like I’d be paying to watch BJ do bad things to Gray’s brain. If he was afraid of trying to take Diaz down, he probably has no interest in trying with BJ which means we’d just see him flailing with his wide arm punches while BJ picks him apart. It’d probably look a lot like the Penn/Sanchez fight but much shorter.
Frankie Edgar (#6) – Yes, Frankie lost to Maynard. But by the time the fight rolls around it will have been two years since that loss. Edgar’s boxing technique is much better than Maynard’s so it’s likely that he’d be able to have a bit of time standing where he wasn’t just serving as a punching bag. Unfortunately, Frankie just isn’t much of a finisher. If Penn doesn’t have to worry about your power then he is going to be able to do most anything he wants.
Diego Sanchez (#7) – …no
Sean Sherk (#9) – Regardless of if we get the Sherk that does nothing but box with his tiny little arms or the Sherk that tries for takedowns, it’s pretty clear that he is in over his head with BJ. And given that his last fight was a loss to Edgar. Well, that one just won’t work.
So there you have it, the top challengers to BJ Penn. Three of them have already been brutally beaten down by the champ already, one of them looked awful against Nate Diaz, and the other lost to that guy.
Me? I’ll cast my vote for Frankie Edgar. What about you?