Lightweight MMA weekly ranking missing sean sherk

i know sherk has been injured for a while so unable to fight but how can they completely drop him from the 10 top ranking, is it just me or is this madness

and not only that, there isn't a single other ufc lightweight in it...is the ufc lightweight division that bad

I agree 100%

I find it funny how Sherk was Rated #5 WW and then dropped to a #9 LW. Its very stupid. He has to be one of the strongest guys in the divison physically speaking. The guy is a monster. I think he could beat Gomi ina flash by TKO.
Not to mention he has a win over Diaz fairly recently. I think that should count for something.
Look at his record he only loses when he gets overpowered by the likes of GSP and Hughes ( the 2 biggest and strongest WW in the world).

Sherk should be a top 5 LW in a flash. I dont understand how people cannot consider him there.

The ufc have just brought the lightweight division back. Sean Sherk may be the champ but come on he only beat Kenny Florian. How should that propell him into the top ten.
His record at WW shouldn't factor in either, it only counts in that division. Give it time wait until after the franca fight, see if he can get past the BJ's of this world. If he can he'll shoot up the rankings

Well since Diaz was barely top 10 at welterweight ,and beat a buy most had top 2 at lightweight, it makes sense to me that he should be highly ranked at lightweight. I understand the arguments about Sherk only having one fight at lightweight but I'm ranking him near the top personally. he is the champ of one of one of the big 2. When BJ starts winning there I will probably think he is #1. Since he's not I decided to leave him off after a lot of thinking. Still, I wish some of Japan's more established lightweights came over and fought him so we could end the specualtion and know for sure. I still think Aoki is #1 right now.

sherk is a ball of muscle he will take gomi down and pound him out

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Posted by hippysmacker

Well since Diaz was barely top 10 at welterweight ,and beat a buy most had top 2 at lightweight, it makes sense to me that he should be highly ranked at lightweight. I understand the arguments about Sherk only having one fight at lightweight but I'm ranking him near the top personally. he is the champ of one of one of the big 2. When BJ starts winning there I will probably think he is #1. Since he's not I decided to leave him off after a lot of thinking. Still, I wish some of Japan's more established lightweights came over and fought him so we could end the specualtion and know for sure. I still think Aoki is #1 right now.

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agreed, and although i havn't seen much of melendez (neither has the world IMO) i'd like to rank him very high, probably better than sherk.

I 've seen 6 Melendez fight's and am always impressed by his pace. If you go to youtube, or daily motion you might be able to find some more, Hope that helps

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Posted by hippysmacker

Well since Diaz was barely top 10 at welterweight ,and beat a buy most had top 2 at lightweight, it makes sense to me that he should be highly ranked at lightweight. I understand the arguments about Sherk only having one fight at lightweight but I'm ranking him near the top personally. he is the champ of one of one of the big 2. When BJ starts winning there I will probably think he is #1. Since he's not I decided to leave him off after a lot of thinking. Still, I wish some of Japan's more established lightweights came over and fought him so we could end the specualtion and know for sure. I still think Aoki is #1 right now.

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I think to place Sherk high is to give the lightweight title more prestige than it deserves at this moment. i think it should be allowed to develop and maybe in the next 2 or 3 fights we can assess his position. i like Sherk, he's tough as hell and he may well run through his competition, but i'm not psychic so i'll wait and see if it actually happens before i'll call him a dominant lightweight.

I don't think beating diaz should be a factor. Same as Hendo's ranking at MW shouldn't be affected by his win over wand. just my opinion.

but yeah i'd love to see the likes of Sakurai in the ufc right now.

Heh, no worries... he's number 1 on my list.

That reminds me... I was thinking about how I like this sites rankings, but thought to myself its a shame it's like all the others, ending at number 10. Maybe since we have such a good resource (the actual fans) MMAPlayground should have top 25 rankings instead of top ten. Since the sport is growing and not every fighter is ever going to be number 1 or even crack the 10 we can still see where they stand. Just a thought.

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Posted by hippysmacker

Well since Diaz was barely top 10 at welterweight ,and beat a buy most had top 2 at lightweight, it makes sense to me that he should be highly ranked at lightweight. I understand the arguments about Sherk only having one fight at lightweight but I'm ranking him near the top personally. he is the champ of one of one of the big 2. When BJ starts winning there I will probably think he is #1. Since he's not I decided to leave him off after a lot of thinking. Still, I wish some of Japan's more established lightweights came over and fought him so we could end the specualtion and know for sure. I still think Aoki is #1 right now.

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Eh I don't think Aoki is #1..if anyone it should be Mach.

If sherk beat only beat gomi he'd be ranked in the top five, if diaz only beat kenblow he would not be ranked. it's not that hard to figure out.

gomi, when in shape is the best, sherk belongs around bottom of top 10

Yeah, I also believe that Sherk is very underrated in the lightweight division.

This guy is physically dominating. He is pretty one-dimensional, but I do not think that anyone in the lightweight division (aside from Penn now, if he remains a lightweight) can consistently stuff his takedowns and prevent him from gnp.

It just boggles the mind why he was ranked so low. I see Sherk as a lesser version of Hughes IMO.

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Posted by MMA

Yeah, I also believe that Sherk is very underrated in the lightweight division.

This guy is physically dominating. He is pretty one-dimensional, but I do not think that anyone in the lightweight division (aside from Penn now, if he remains a lightweight) can consistently stuff his takedowns and prevent him from gnp.

It just boggles the mind why he was ranked so low. I see Sherk as a lesser version of Hughes IMO.

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I think the Hughes comparison is an apt one. He also doesn't t suffer delusions of grandeur about his standup the way Hughes does. His boxing is very crisp and he always keeps his hands up, but it's just a tool to get him close enough for the takedown IMO. I love Hughes, but I think Sherk actually fight's smarter. They are similiar in wrestlng ability, with Hughes having the sub edge, and Sherk having the standup edge . At least that's how I see it. I do wish Sherk used his elbows a little more , but his short arms limit him, they also make him harder to sub though. I would favor Sherk in a fight in the octagon over any lightweight but Penn and Aoki.

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Posted by hippysmacker


I think the Hughes comparison is an apt one. He also doesn't t suffer delusions of grandeur about his standup the way Hughes does. His boxing is very crisp and he always keeps his hands up, but it's just a tool to get him close enough for the takedown IMO. I love Hughes, but I think Sherk actually fight's smarter. They are similiar in wrestlng ability, with Hughes having the sub edge, and Sherk having the standup edge . At least that's how I see it. I do wish Sherk used his elbows a little more , but his short arms limit him, they also make him harder to sub though. I would favor Sherk in a fight in the octagon over any lightweight but Penn and Aoki.

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I really think Sherk is underrated. IMO the Pride LW division is much more talented and exciting than the UFC LW div. but Sherk was really successful in the WW division and I think he could hang with anyone from PRIDE. After watching Diaz/Gomi I took out my calculater and started doing my MMMath. I think Sherk is easily top 5.

I made a thread about Kawajiri vs Sherk before and most people thought Kawajiri would take it. With the recent loss of Gomi to Diaz, is it safe to say that Sherk is underrated because he holds a desicive win over Diaz?

I think the DIaz/Gomi fight really shed a spotlight on the UFC LW div. that it has a lot of talent and IMO the top UFC LW (sherk, Penn, Stevenson) would all be huge threats for title contention in PRIDE

ya you got to put him in the top 3 like gomi got killed by a guy that sean took out and didn't have to hard of a time with it.

Rankings should be based on who you have beaten in the division not who you might beat or who you could beat. That would make them completley pointless really. Fact is Sherk's beaten KENFLO in the division and that is all. Who cares what belt he has and in what org now, all he has done so far is beaten Kenny who wasn't top ten whatsoever. Therefore in my opinion his ranking is low and probably shouldn't yet be in top ten. When he fights one or more times and picks up some wins in the division against top competition he will shoot right up.

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Posted by nate22

Rankings should be based on who you have beaten in the division not who you might beat or who you could beat. That would make them completley pointless really. Fact is Sherk's beaten KENFLO in the division and that is all. Who cares what belt he has and in what org now, all he has done so far is beaten Kenny who wasn't top ten whatsoever. Therefore in my opinion his ranking is low and probably shouldn't yet be in top ten. When he fights one or more times and picks up some wins in the division against top competition he will shoot right up.

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Ya I see your point and it brings up some interesting debate. The reason I have him ranked so high is based purely on potential and the work he did in the WW division. So Sherk definitley COULD be ranked #1 @ LW and he COULD be a dominating force in that division, but the reality is he hasnt faced enough competition to warrent a top 10 ranking. But then again niether has Kid Yamamato really. I bet Kid could also be in the top3 LW but he hasnt really faced top level competition to warrent his spot.

That Being said I still think Kid and Sherk deserve to be in the top 10 cause lets face it, Both these guys are monsters.

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Posted by nate22

Rankings should be based on who you have beaten in the division not who you might beat or who you could beat.

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qft.

1 Takanori Gomi

2 Hayato Sakurai

3 BJ Penn

4 Shinya Aoki

5 Gilbert Melendez

6 Norifumi Yamamoto

7 Tatsuya Kawajiri

8 Sean Sherk

9 Mitsuhiro Ishida

10 Vitor Ribeiro


Those are my rankings.

Sherk should be top 5 at least.

From gomi's last performance... sherk would DESTROY him.

I think sherk would beat gomi at his best. The only change gomi would have is a wild KO punch.

Yea sherk is very underrated!

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Posted by THE_AXE_MURDERER

1 Takanori Gomi

2 Hayato Sakurai

3 BJ Penn

4 Shinya Aoki

5 Gilbert Melendez

6 Norifumi Yamamoto

7 Tatsuya Kawajiri

8 Sean Sherk

9 Mitsuhiro Ishida

10 Vitor Ribeiro


Those are my rankings.

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thats a fair assesment. i think sherk is a good fighter but he hasnt proved himself yet to be of top 3 or even 5 material yet.

8 sounds like a good place on where he should be at the moment