Every Monday we’ll be inquiring to my MMA Magic Eight Ball an MMA related question.  It will also provide some evidence to support its claim.  At the end the Eight Ball will give its answer, don’t worry you’ll get the hang of it.

To appreciate the MMA 8-Ball, you must first know its possible responses.  This is not a run of the mill eight ball mind you; it’s the MMA version, so it’s a little different.  Here’s the possible choices and what they mean.  Now, there are like 20 possible vague and often confusing responses on a standard 8 ball.  Not on the MMA 8 Ball.  There are eight and only eight responses.  They are as follows.

Rickson by Armbar – Would Equate To “It is Certain”

Jon Fitch by Unanimous Decision – Would Equate To “Most Likely, but not Certain”

Dana White Drops the F Bomb – Would Equate To “You May Rely on It”

Nick Diaz Interview – Would Equate to “Reply Hazy, Try Again”

Business As Usual – Would Equate to “Ask again later”

Your winner and UFC Champion, James Toney – Would equate to “My reply is No”

Cecil Peoples FTW – Would equate to “Nah”

Your Tequila Cazadores Spirit Winner Michael Bisping – Would Equate “No Chance, Ever.”

Alright so now we know what the possible answers are and what they mean, let’s give the MMA 8 Ball a chance to work a little and come up with its answer.  To the point as to whether or not Gilbert Melendez is the best Lightweight in the world, we must first allow the 8 Ball to look at the other top Lightweights and how’d Melendez would fare against them.

Eddie Alvarez is a talented Lightweight who sports a nice 22-2 record and currently holds claim to the Bellator Lightweight Championship.  Alvarez’ two losses came to Nick Thompson and Shinya Aoki.  We all saw what Melendez did to Aoki and more recently what he did to Kawajiri.  I know Eddie wants this fight, but after about forty seconds of action, he’d regret it. 

Another top Lightweight is UFC Champion, Frankie Edgar, who just had a draw with Gray Maynard.  Most believe this is the fight that would give Gilbert fits, but the 8 ball isn’t so sure.  Frankie is dangerous, and his wins over BJ Penn were dominant and very imposing.

Shinya Aoki is as slick as anyone has ever been on the mat, that’s a fact.  His submissions are top-notch, but we don’t have to go too far back to see what happened when he faced off with Gilbert Melendez.  It was total dominance and Aoki was outclassed.  Not enough has changed in the year since their last fight to think anything would be different.

Jim Miller is discounted in the Lightweight Division, but his lone 2 losses came to Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar, who just battled to a draw for the UFC Title.  That puts Jim Miller in pretty rarefied air.  He is riding a seven fight UFC win streak, and frankly, there’s nothing to say he’s not more than Gilbert could handle.  Jim Miller is theoretically the best Lightweight on Earth.  He would be an IDEAL matchup for Melendez in the UFC.

Gray Maynard would give anyone at 155 fits.  He’s athletic, huge and strong and has excellent wrestling and control on the mat.  He’s not the most electrifying Lightweight on earth, but he might be the finest Lightweight on earth.  The rematch he has with Frankie Edgar could propel him to being the top of the heap. Maynard does hold victories over Edgar, Florian, Nate Diaz and Jim Miller.

Anthony Pettis is a young, exciting and talented fighter.  He has a 13-1 record and his stock is skyrocketing coming off of the 2010 highlight to end all highlights, the Showtime kick on Ben Henderson.  Let’s be honest though, the body of work isn’t there yet to support a claim of Pettis being top dog at 155.  Not to say someday he won’t be, but he needs some wins inside the UFC first.  His fight with Clay Guida on June 4^th will be telling.

There you go, Melendez is right there, top three for sure.  The 8 ball ranks them Maynard, Melendez followed by Edgar.  So until we are able to see Melendez turned loose on UFC talent, we can’t be sure.  There’s a lot to be said though for Melendez being the best in the world.  His destruction of Kawajiri Saturday night certainly points to him being the best.  What’s the final verdict?

The MMA Magic 8 Ball says:  Jon Fitch by Unanimous Decision.