Fantasy UFC Tournament: Lightweight Division, Semi-Finals

The first round of the UFC lightweight tournament is over and four fighters have advanced to compete in the semi-finals. Before going any further, here are the results from the first round fights:

Kenny Florian was able to eliminate Takanori Gomi by a 13-1 vote.

Frankie Edgar was almost as dominant beating Jim Miller with a 12-2 vote.

The closest fight was between Sean Sherk and Gray Maynard, but Maynard pulled it off with nine votes over five for Sherk.

Four writers got behind Tyson Griffin, but it wasn't enough. Diego Sanchez advances with 10 votes.

Now, our semi-final fights are set, let's take a closer look.

Semi-Finals, Fight One: Kenny Florian vs Frankie Edgar

Both Florian and Edgar got through their first round fights pretty easily. In reality, that's also the case as Kenny and Frankie have been dominant in their past fights.

Kenny Florian has some of the most impressive victories over Roger Huerta, Joe Stevenson and Clay Guida. Frankie Edgar has also piled up some impressive wins lately against Tyson Griffin, Hermes Franca and Sean Sherk.

A fight between these two fighters would certainly be very interesting. Both guys are looking better then ever and are very close to a championship fight, for Kenny, a rematch.

When looking at a common opponent, both guys have fought Sean Sherk. Kenny Florian lost a decision while Frankie Edgar won a decision. But it's safe to say that Florian has probably better all around skills, he has better BJJ and better striking but Edgar is very fast and has improved his boxing skills a lot.

Edgar would also have the advantage in wrestling for sure, but his small size compared to the other lightweight fighters has been a problem for him in past fights.

Who moves on to the finals?

Semi-Finals, Fight Two: Gray Maynard vs Diego Sanchez

Now would that be an interesting fight or what?

In the first round, Gray Maynard was referred to as a younger and better version of Sean Sherk and surely enough, Maynard eliminated last year's lightweight winner. Diego didn't get it easy, but he was able to defeat a tough fighter in Tyson Griffin.

Maynard and Sanchez are two pretty big 155 pound fighters. Sanchez is a former welterweight and Gray is just a big and powerful fighter for 155. Gray Maynard wears his nickname of ''The Bully'' very well. He has been able to cancel out his opponents in the past and make them fight his fight. You have a good reason there why Gray Maynard is still undefeated.

Diego Sanchez is wild and explosive and has good skills wherever the fight goes. It's pretty hard to keep up with Diego in a fight unless you break him early in the fight.

Maynard has great wrestling and is very strong. With that said, Diego may have a slight advantage on the feet even though Maynard has been working hard on his striking.

Who moves on to the finals?

There you go, time to vote for those two semi-final fights to determine the two finalists for next week. Be sure to vote and check out the finals in the next tournament.