Benson Henderson is the UFC LW Champ, but not the best LW

Inevitably most of the new rankings that pop up after UFC on Fox 5 are going to place Benson Henderson in the number 1 position for the Lightweight rankings.

Logically it is hard to disagree, I mean the UFC is the top organization in the world   so whoever is the champion in the UFC is usually the best in the world for their weight.
However I honestly don’t believe Benson is even the best LW in the UFC right now.
For starters I am of the opinion that Frankie Edgar beat him in the second fight, so I consider Frankie a better LW.

I don’t think Benson can beat Gray Maynard.
He already lost once to Anthony Pettis and I am confident Pettis can beat him again.
Gilbert Melendez, Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler would all be tough tests as well.
Hell even Sean Sherk may be able to hold Benson down for 25 minutes and beat him.

In saying this, it just goes to show that the LW division is the deepest toughest division when you have nearly 10 guys who could all be the champ on any given day.

UFC on Fox 5 Report Card

This was in my opinion the most stacked UFC card for 2012, any one of the the three top fights were main event material, and the fact it was a free event was even better.

I only got to watch the main card on Fox, as Bell apparently decided we did not need Sportsnet any longer so I missed out on the prelims.

Overall Event – A

I don’t think you can argue, even though 3/4 main event fights went to a decision they were all great fights.

Matt Brown vs Mike Swick

Rating – A

Great first round with Matt Brown trying a few submissions to finish early, Mike Swick defending nicely.
Matt Brown with clean KO in the second round, very entertaining fight.
When the fight was announced I thought this was an easy win for Mike Swick, I like Matt Brown but I thought Swick was a better fighter no matter where the fight went.
Clearly I was wrong as Brown seemed to dominate the ground and standup

Rory MacDonald vs BJ Penn

Rating – A+

This was a thoroughly entertaining fight, I expected MacDonald to win but figured it would be tougher than it was, you hear Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg often say about fighters “He has improved a lot since we last saw him” and often I find it isn’t really that true.
However in a few cases it really is, Rory MacDonalds striking was exceptional, he really dug a few of those body shots into BJ Penn, I’d like to see him fight Fitch next however it sounds like it will be Condit again.

Alexander Gustafsson vs Shogun

Rating – A

Another great fight, I expected Gustafsson to win a bit easier than he did, however Shogun looked better in this fight, his fight against Vera he looked terrible.
Gustafsson gets a shot at Jon Jones (or Chael Sonnen if he pulls a miracle) however I don’t think Gustafsson has much to offer for the champ.

Benson Henderson vs Nate Diaz

Rating – A+

I expected a very competitive battle out of this fight, however I was somewhat disappointed that Nate had nothing much to offer.
On the other hand Benson looked incredible, I can’t not give it an A+ after he dominated in such a manner.