Best ever runs at LW?

Underground
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Who owns the best run ever at LW?

For the sake of this conversation, I would define a run as starting with a win over a generally accepted “good or very good” fighter. Maybe top-15 or so. So, to me, Khabib’s run begins with his win over Tibau, not his first fight.

Here’s what I’ve got:

Khabib: Tibau, Tavares, Trujillo, Healy, RDA, Horcher, Johnson, Edson, Raging Al, Conor, Dustin. (IMO, the best win on the run is over RDA, followed by Conor and then Dustin).

Tony: Castillo (was he ever ranked?), Trujillo, Tibau, Thomson, Edson, Lando, RDA, Lee, Showtime, Cowboy. (Best wins: RDA, Lee, Cowboy and Pettis).

BJ Penn: This is tough because there were interruptions. But, I think it’s fair to say that if you only look at his LW fights, you have, Gomi, Bang, Pulver, Joe Daddy, Sherk, Florian, Diego. (Best wins: Gomi, Sherk, Florian).

Frankie: Hermes Franca, Sean Sherk, Matt Veach, BJ Penn x 2, draw against Gray, Gray. (Best wins: BJ (second fight, since I think he lost the first one), Sherk, and Maynard).

Benson Henderson: Bocek, Miller, Clay, Frankie x 2, Nate, Gil. (Best wins: Frankie, Nate, and Gil, although I think he lost the second Frankie fight and the Gil fight).

Showtime: Stephens, Lauzon, Cowboy, Benson, Gil. (Best wins: Flawless victories over Cowboy, Benson, and Gil).

Am I missing any? What a great, historic weight class. Tough to rank.

2 Likes
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  1. BJ

  2. Tony

  3. Benson

  4. Showtime

  5. Frankie

  6. Khabib

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Oh, how could I forget RDA?

Benson, Nate, Showtime, Cowboy. Each win was tremendously impressive.

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A few thoughts:

The most impressive wins to me on this list are BJ beating Gomi and Sherk; Benson beating Frankie the first time; Pettis beating Benson and Gil; Frankie finishing Gray; and Tony and Khabib beating RDA.

I think that the best wins over RDA while he was close to his LW prime and Showtime over Benson. RDA was so, so good and Showtime just smashed a prime Benson. RDA’s win over Showtime was legendary.

Tony and Khabib have the most prolific wins. Showtime and RDA had shorter wons, but they were both so incredibly dominant.

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hella solid thread ttt

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mindless optimism - 

hella solid thread ttt

Thanks!

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Penn 1a

Khabbib 1b

Ferguson

Frankie

Benson

Showtime

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Samoa - 

Penn 1a

Khabbib 1b

Ferguson

Frankie

Benson

Showtime

That’s a good list. Where do you put RDA?

I’ve got to be honest: It’s hard for me to look at Penn’s list and Khabib’s list and say that Penn’s is better.

I think Pettis’s run is criminally underrated, but it was just too short. I put it above Benson’s because Benson benefitted from the judges in a way that Pettis did not.

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The Henderson run sucked. 

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HillboFrateTrane - 

The Henderson run sucked. 

It was weird.

I thought that the Frankie and Gil fights were great, but I think he lost 2/3 of them.

He dominated Nate. But, so did RDA. He beat the shit out of Clay Guida in a

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Great thread. 

Not a huge benson fan, and i thought he lost the frankie rematch, the thompson fight, and the giblert fight, but that was an impressive run given the way the decisions went. 

RDA looked unstoppable before the alvarez fight. How did alvarez even get that title shot ? 

BJ s run was legendary for the period/ era, but looks weak in hindsight because so many of his opponents, like himself, fought well beyond their primes.

I cant stand tony, but hes my pick.  Hell of a run with mostly finishes. He just takes a fuckload of damage getting the job done, unlike prime bj and pettis. 

Frankies reign didnt last very long, and i thought he lost the first fight with bj and gray. His run to the title was epic and fun to watch unfold. I like rooting for the little guys who wont quit.

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Connorwinztharematch - 

Great thread. 

Not a huge benson fan, and i thought he lost the frankie rematch, the thompson fight, and the giblert fight, but that was an impressive run given the way the decisions went. 

RDA looked unstoppable before the alvarez fight. How did alvarez even get that title shot ? 

BJ s run was legendary for the period/ era, but looks weak in hindsight because so many of his opponents, like himself, fought well beyond their primes.

I cant stand tony, but hes my pick.  Hell of a run with mostly finishes. He just takes a fuckload of damage getting the job done, unlike prime bj and pettis. 

Frankies reign didnt last very long, and i thought he lost the first fight with bj and gray. His run to the title was epic and fun to watch unfold. I like rooting for the little guys who wont quit.

Good post.

Frankie is one of my all-time favorites. But, if the first round against Gray wasn’t 10-7, than 10-7s shouldn’t exist. It took my a long time to admit that.

He is like Cormier: his best work spans two weight

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Jens Pulver 

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Best wins:

1) BJ over Gomi

2) RDA over Pettis

3) Tony over RDA

Best runs:

1) Khabib

2) Tony

3) BJ

If Tony beats Gaethje he moves to #1 IMO.

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yabadaba - 

Best wins:

1) BJ over Gomi

2) RDA over Pettis

3) Tony over RDA

Best runs:

1) Khabib

2) Tony

3) BJ

If Tony beats Gaethje he moves to #1 IMO.

Good stuff.

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yabadaba - 

Best wins:

1) BJ over Gomi

2) RDA over Pettis

3) Tony over RDA

Best runs:

1) Khabib

2) Tony

3) BJ

If Tony beats Gaethje he moves to #1 IMO.

yabadaba, I’m curious why you put Tony’s win over RDA over Khabib’s win.

IMO, Tony did more damage to RDA. But, Khabib absorbed much less damage. Difficult to rank them against one another.

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Best wins:

  1. BJ over Gomi

  2. RDA over Pettis

  3. Tony over RDA

  4. Yves over Thompson

Best runs

  1. Khabib

  2. Tony

  3. BJ

  4. Yves did have a really good run, and was the uncrowned lightweight champ. This does get overlooked.

We still need Khabib vs Tony!!!

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Great thread.

Best runs…

  1. Khabib

  2. Tony

  3. Penn

  4. Frankie

  5. Bendo

If you count Penns run as after he lost a SD to Pulver then you could also count Serra win and Uno draw (that 90% of fans think he won) and then it was on to Gomi. I know we can’t count his WW,MW,HW fights but in his LW run that started after his Pulver loss he beat Craighton, Serra and all the LW’s mentioned and also had big wins up in weight.

Penn’s LW run from 2002-2009 was so impressive not just because he beat all the LWs but because he also took time to beat one of the top 3 GOAT WWs in Hughes, Renzo, Rodrigo and almost beat the WW GOAT in GSP.

We will never get to know what Penn’s LW career would have been like if he stayed at LW the whole time 2002-2009 but I suspect it would put him clearly as having the best LW run ever.

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BJ Penn Forever - Great thread.

Best runs…

  1. Khabib

  2. Tony

  3. Penn

  4. Frankie

  5. Bendo

If you count Penns run as after he lost a SD to Pulver then you could also count Serra win and Uno draw (that 90% of fans think he won) and then it was on to Gomi. I know we can’t count his WW,MW,HW fights but in his LW run that started after his Pulver loss he beat Craighton, Serra and all the LW’s mentioned and also had big wins up in weight.

Penn’s LW run from 2002-2009 was so impressive not just because he beat all the LWs but because he also took time to beat one of the top 3 GOAT WWs in Hughes, Renzo, Rodrigo and almost beat the WW GOAT in GSP.

We will never get to know what Penn’s LW career would have been like if he stayed at LW the whole time 2002-2009 but I suspect it would put him clearly as having the best LW run ever.

great points.

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Justin Gaethje:

Vick (KO)

Barbosa (KO)

Cowboy (KO)

Tony Ferguson (TKO)