He is better than Anderson Silva. He's better on the ground than him and believe it or not, more dynamic and aggressive on his feet. He may be P4P #1 right now, just doesn't have enough spotlight performances yet to prove it. I expect Jose Aldo to move up soon and win the Lightweight belt. I think he would beat edgar in somewhat dominating fashion if Edgar still has the belt. If Maynard has it, he may have a tough time strictly due to Maynards size, but then he is still very dangerous on the ground.
Any list with Aoki in the top 5 is a joke. Any list with GSP and Silva out of the top 5 is ****ing ******ed. Any list with Diaz above Aldo is downright idiotic. good list though :good
he also said if the ufc would like to give him the chance that he would maybe go down in a weight class or or go up 1 or 2 weight classes and give a try at the belts there. he is a very interesting young fighter and he is very young and if he can keep it up like Anderson does until he is 36 years old then i def have him on my P4P #1
Of course you're right - its completely hypocritical of me to refuse to judge Silva, Jackson and Couture solely on fights several years ago (over a decade ago in Couture's case) while suggesting that the fact Aoki is 2-2 in his last four fights and put in an embarassing performance against Melendez suggests he isn't the best lightweight in the world. Silly me
Aoki is no hypejob though :nono, he's well proven, Kawajiri, Hansen, Alvarez, Cavalcante, Shaolin were all top guys at one time.
Not a hypejob at all. Just not well rounded. The best in the division...Edgar, Melendez, Maynard, Florian even, if BJ comes back, if Aldo comes up, they all beat him.
Aoki has lost once in the cage, and 4 times in a ring. 5 if you count the mixed rules match against Nagashima
Sure Stoo, why not count his exhibition loss to Fedor as well, and leave out that the 3 losses were against welters and he avenged the other one.
Ok Im happy to dismiss the two exhibition bouts, but I seem to remember typing ''if you count...'' But yeah lets ignore my original point he's lost once in the cage, I happen to think it was Gil being better that lost him that fight. And for the record, before you say Im not a Aoki fan I rank him about 5 in the world at lightweight.
Thats fine Stoo, but I just think that a cage debut fight against a good opponent is always difficult for fighters that come from the ring. Look at Shogun and Gomi. They looked much better after a couple of fights. Melendez is kind of underrated as well, he's got 2 L's, both avenged, and wins against some decent opp.
I think Gil is the best in the world tbh. The Gray/Edgar rematch and BJ moving up leaves the UFC LW's without a clear no 1. Regardless of that Melendez is more than a match for either 3
