November is a month without any title fights, which makes it a good time to take a long view of the future title picture in each weight class. Today, we look at the lightweight division.
It feels a little strange that we’re about to look at the UFC lightweight division and B.J. Penn won’t even be part of the conversation, but that’s the way it works after UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar beat Penn twice this year, the second time by an absolutely dominant unanimous decision. Penn’s next fight is at welterweight and he’s not really part of the lightweight picture anymore, and so we’ll file Penn away as part of the lightweight division’s past, and we’ll look here at the division’s future.