UFC 118 will determine the future of the lightweight division

Posted by Josh Davis

Aug 25

In addition to offering fight fans a great night of fights, UFC 118 will determine the future of the lightweight division. After UFC 112 the only talk related to the lightweight division was how Frankie Edgar upset the greatest lightweight of all time, BJ Penn. There is much more to the lightweight division than that and UFC 118 will shape up the division.

In a number one contenders fight, Kenny Florian will face Gray Maynard. This fight pits two of the best in the division against each other to see who will face the winner of Edgar vs. Penn II. Maynard is the only man to ever defeat Edgar and hopes to get past Florian so that he has the opportunity to prove that he is the best in the division. If Florian wins, it will be his third opportunity at UFC gold. Florian has climbed the mountain of the lightweight division twice before only to come up short both times. Florian lost his first title opportunity to Sean Sherk at UFC 64 and he lost his second chance at a title against BJ Penn at UFC 101.

In the main event of the evening, Frankie Edgar will make his first title defense against the man he took the title from: BJ Penn. In what should be an exciting fight, Edgar will look to prove that his victory over Penn was no fluke and he is the new king of the division. Penn wants to prove that the first fight was just a bad night for him and he is, and always will be the best that the lightweight division has ever seen.

Many people have stated that if Penn defeats Edgar then they should have a rubber match to see who the best truly is. Penn, however, disagrees with that notion. He has stated in numerous interviews that he does not believe that there should be a third fight between the two in the immediate future. Penn stated that he is not opposed to the a third match up if he wins, he just thinks that there are other fights that would be better.

As it stands now, the winner of these two fights will meet each other to determine the true king of the lightweight division while the losers will have to go back to the drawing board and work their way back up the mountain to a title shot. No matter how these fights play out, UFC 118 will determine the future of one of the most stacked and exciting divisions in all of mixed martial arts.

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