LW for me is just as stacked as LHW both have very good fighters and very many potentially good matches
Lightweight has alot of very talented fighters, but only a few that are seasoned and experienced, and also polished in all areas as much as WW. The Welterweight division has everything: Experienced, Seasoned, Battle Tested Champions: GSP Hughes (although past his prime, still very dangerous) Penn Shields Diaz Who at LW currently has more experience than any one of them? Strong Wrestlers GSP Shields Kos Fitch Who at Lightweight is a better wrestler than any one of them? Great Grapplers Penn (although slightly undersized) Shields GSP Hughes Who at lightweight has the combination of BJJ/Wrestling those 4 do? Great Strikers (MMA Strikers) GSP Diaz Penn Alves Other dangerous and talented fighters Diego Kampmann Story Condit Johnson This division truly has everything! For me, lightweight has some guys that aren't ready yet and still need to improve. Aoki is too one dimensional Pettis is too one dimensional (he lost to Guida!) Guida is a gate keeper
I admire your Aoki dedication. Bet it's good weight training emptying all those sticky tissues up in the waste basket by your desk. Seriously though, if you want to make a case for an individual fighter, this is not the thread. Shinya is an after thought in a great division.
This is a seriously flawed statement, Shinya has dominated almost every possible challenger to his supremacy in Japan, say what you want about him fighting journeymen now, but there are maybe 2 or 3 other lightweights that come close to him in resume.
Edgar, Maynard, Guida, Pettis, Henderson, Miller, Cerrone... Whoever is the champion has his work cut out for him. Versatile fighters who come to FIGHT!
If you take out GSP from WW, you have the same situation, only better fighters. The reason LW appears better is because they don't have a dominant champ making everyone else look beatable and limited. :deal