Happy Easter! With a rare off-week for the UFC, it seems like a good time to take a look at the state of the lightweight Top 10 – a division where the title belt was recently vacated by Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is apparently retired for good despite Dana White’s best efforts to bring him back for one more fight. A matchup between Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira has been scheduled for the vacant title, and a few other exciting matches are pending in the division. Let’s take a look at these upcoming fights, as well as a couple others that aren’t scheduled but make perfect sense in my opinion. And if you want to put a few bucks on your favorite lightweight, you can get a piece of the action at 22Bet.
[#1] Dustin Poirier vs [#13] Conor McGregor
Coming off a TKO win over McGregor, the #1 ranked Dustin Poirier should really be fighting for the vacant title. Alas – money talks, the UFC loves ‘rubber matches’, and with Poirier and McGregor both holding a stoppage win over the other, how could they resist a trilogy bout? I would have preferred to see these two in other bouts before a rematch, but the figurative ink on this bout agreement was dry before the official result of the second fight was announced.
[#2] Justin Gaethje
With most of the Top 10 scheduled for a fight, the last man to get a shot at the title is conspicuously missing an opponent. Let’s match him up with [#5] Rafael dos Anjos – a former champion who has recently returned to the division after a brief stint at welterweight, and is also looking to climb back up the rankings.
[#3] Charles Oliveira vs [#6] Michael Chandler
While the first crack at the vacant belt did not go to the top two ranked lightweights, hardly anyone can complain about either Charles Oliveira or Michael Chandler getting to skip to the front of the line. Oliveira – a 26 UFC fights veteran – has won eight straight in the Octagon, with seven consecutive finishes capped off by a dominant decision win over Tony Ferguson. Across the cage from him will be the former Bellator champion Michael Chandler, who has made a successful Octagon debut at UFC 257, knocking out Dan Hooker in the first round. The winner of this fight could become the next dominant lightweight champion.
[#4] Tony Ferguson vs [#8] Beneil Dariush
The former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson has fallen on hard times, following up a brutal TKO loss to Justin Gaethje with a rather one-sided decision loss to Oliveira. He will be looking to bounce back and make another run at the title – against an opponent who is on the opposite career trajectory. Beneil Dariush is on a six-fight win streak with four finishes, however Ferguson would be a bigger feather in his cap than the opponents in his recent streak.
[#7] Anthony Pettis
The only fighter on this list – and in the Fight Matrix Top 10 – who is not currently under contract with the UFC, Anthony Pettis is another former champion who made a foray to other weight divisions but ultimately is returning to lightweight. He will not be competing for the UFC gold again any time soon as Pettis has recently parted ways with the promotion, and will be fighting next in the PFL vs an unranked Clay Collard.
[#9] Diego Ferreira
Diego Ferreira has recently had a six-win streak of his own going, and a split decision loss to Dariush should not make him fall too far out of the title picture. He does not currently have a fight scheduled, and [#10] Dan Hooker is available in what could be a big rebound win for both fighters.
[#11] Kevin Lee
Reaching just a bit outside of the Top 10 – but how is it that Kevin Lee and [#12] Paul Felder never fought? Felder is more commentator than fighter these days but he can still hang with the best of them as he showed in a recent outing against Dos Anjos. If he is looking to fight again soon, Kevin Lee’s return bout would make for an interesting stylistic matchup.