UFC 118: What It Meant For The Lightweight Division

It was a big night for the UFC's Lightweight division Saturday as Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn fought for the LW belt again and Gray Maynard took on Kenny Florian for the number one contender spot in the division.

Due to the controversy surrounding the decision in the first fight, many people were counting Edgar out going into his second title match against BJ Penn. In the first fight BJ seemed to lack motivation, something he had plenty of going into previous fights, and it showed in his performance.

However, going into the second fight BJ seemed more motivated than we'd seen him in a while. People (myself included) didn't think Edgar would be able to stop a truly determined BJ and that BJ would steam role his way past Edgar. We were all wrong (good thing I didn't put any money on it).

Edgar used his quickness and mixed things up during the fight to keep BJ tentative and uncomfortable. Also, Frankie's cardio helped him in the later rounds. The Champ seemed fresh, while Penn seemed to be fading.

Probably the biggest deciding factor in the fight was each fighter's corner men. In between rounds they showed footage of the advice that each fighter was being given and while Edgar was receiving sound technical advice BJ's corner was just giving him pep talk and offering no real advice. Had they told him to throw more leg kicks and go for more takedowns, BJ may have won the fight.

Earlier on the card Edgar's next challenger was decided as Kenny Florian took on Gray Maynard. Many MMA fans (again, myself included) felt that Florian had a much better all-around game than Gray and that would earn him the win. Again, wrong.

Gray was able to use his size and superior wrestling to his advantage to take Kenny down and control the fight earning himself the decision victory. With this victory Maynard has earned the right to take on Frankie Edgar, who he has already beat, for the LW belt.

This is probably the worst match up out there for Edgar as he's a small 155 pounds and Gray is a very, very big 155 pounds with excellent wrestling. There`s no way Edgar will out-grapple Gray and I don`t think he has the power to put him away on the feet.

After last night there's no way I'll ever count Edgar out in a fight, but I feel like before long Gray Maynard will be top dog at 155 pounds.

Since both lost, I'm sure Penn and Florian are going to want to get back inside the Octagon as soon as possible and get back in the win column. Fighting each other would make sense, but I don't think it'll happen since they fought a year ago and BJ won handily. It definitely wouldn't be very marketable.

I think one of them should definitely fight Geroge Sotiropoulos, who has been cruising through the LW division. Other than that, the winner of Sherk and Dunham could be an option for one these guys.