Lightweight

1. B.J. Penn (14-5-1)
The world has always wanted Penn to reign as a lightweight, and reign he did at UFC 101. After nullifying top contender Kenny Florian for 15 minutes, Penn turned on the heat in the fourth round and notched a beautiful rear-naked choke submission. Up next, “The Prodigy” figures to take on Diego Sanchez in the coming months.

2. Shinya Aoki (21-4, 1 NC)
Aoki drew criticism for pot-shotting his way to a unanimous decision win over Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro on July 20. However, the win set up a high-stakes rubber match for the rubbery grappler, as he’s slated to meet Joachim Hansen for the Dream lightweight title on Oct. 6.

3. Eddie Alvarez (18-2)
Alvarez ended the Cinderella run of likely “Submission of the Year” winner Toby Imada on June 19, as he choked him out in the second round. A rumored bout against Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante did not come to fruition, but Bellator’s lightweight champion will have the luxury of courting high-quality opponents from both Bellator and Dream in the near future.

4. Kenny Florian (11-4)
Though his loss to B.J. Penn is less than a month old, talks have already started to build for Florian’s next fight. Adamant about getting in one more fight in ’09, a potential bout with noted motor fighter Clay Guida may find its way onto the UFC 106 card on Nov. 21.

5. Tatsuya Kawajiri (24-5-2)
Kawajiri showed the MMA world he still has a pulse when he took a unanimous verdict over Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante in May. Unfortunately for the “Crusher,” he did not make good on his promise to defeat superstar striker Masato under K-1 rules and was knocked out in one-and-a-half lopsided rounds on July 13.

6. Gray Maynard (7-0, 1 NC)
Maynard has continued to rack up one-sided wins inside the UFC, but talk of a title shot has been elusive for the former Michigan State Spartan. Maynard’s next chance at impressing fans and UFC brass alike will come Sept. 16 in Oklahoma City, where he meets returning Roger Huerta on a Spike TV telecast.

7. Frankie Edgar (10-1)
Not wanting to hear any more discussion about him cutting to 145 pounds, Edgar made a strong statement that he can hang against elite lightweights at UFC 98. He stayed a step ahead of former champion Sean Sherk for the full 15 minutes of their May 23 bout.

8. Sean Sherk (33-4-1)
A deflating loss to Frankie Edgar in May left Sherk with no clear place in the UFC’s lightweight division. In order to stay afloat and remain relevant, the former 155-pound champion will need to knock off tough Brazilian Gleison Tibau, a fighter who shares his predicament, at UFC 104 on Oct. 24.

9. Mizuto Hirota (12-3-1)
In their Aug. 2 encounter, Hirota withstood Satoru Kitaoka’s early submission storm and wore down the Sengoku champion. He then smashed Kitaoka with a barrage of knees in the fourth round to claim Sengoku’s lightweight crown.

10. Satoru Kitaoka (25-9-9)
In the first defense of his Sengoku lightweight title, Kitaoka was outlasted by the hard-hitting Mizuto Hirota, who battered him with knees and took his title in the fourth round. The defeat was Kitaoka’s first as a lightweight.

Other contenders: Gesias Cavalcante, Gilbert Melendez, Eiji Mitsuoka, Diego Sanchez, Josh Thomson.