FanHouse B.J. Penn

The lightweight division in mixed martial arts consists of B.J. Penn and everyone else.

We all know that Penn, the UFC champion, has established himself as the top lightweight in the sport. But after Penn, there are about a dozen guys who are practically interchangeable. That list includes UFC fighters like Penn's next opponent (Diego Sanchez), his last opponent (Kenny Florian), and some past and future UFC opponents like Gray Maynard, Frank Edgar and Sean Sherk.

For the first time since his loss to Forrest Griffin more than two years ago, Shogun Rua can legitimately be called one of the top 10 fighters in MMA -- and it took a loss to get him there.

Rua's unanimous decision loss to Lyoto Machida in the main event at UFC 104 was a fight that most people thought he deserved to win, and a fight that makes one thing very clear: Shogun is back.

But where does Shogun fit in our list of the Top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in MMA? Find out below.

UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn will defend his title against Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 on Dec. 12 in Memphis, Penn and UFC President Dana White revealed Thursday in a video posted at BJPenn.com.

The fight will serve as the main event on a very strong UFC 107 card that is also expected to feature Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans in a battle of Ultimate Fighter coaches, Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo in a heavyweight clash, and Thiago Alves vs. Paulo Thiago in a fight between two Top 10 welterweights (and two Brazilians named Thiago).

BRISTOL, Conn. -- Kenny Florian looks healthy and happy 19 days after his loss to B.J. Penn at UFC 101, and he says he's hoping to get back into the Octagon in November, with Clay Guida as his likely opponent.

I caught up with Florian here at ESPN's headquarters, where he moonlights as an MMA analyst for the Worldwide Leader, and he said he's feeling good and hoping he doesn't have to wait any longer than November to fight again. He said a fight with Guida at UFC 106 on November 21 in Las Vegas has not been finalized, but that he's optimistic it will get done.

The MMA Twitter mailbag on a Monday morning after a wild weekend in mixed martial arts is all about the pound-for-pound rankings. Is Anderson Silva back on top after his destruction of Forrest Griffin at UFC 101? How high does B.J. Penn climb after whipping Kenny Florian? And what do we do with Brian Bowles and Miguel Torres after Bowles' shocking upset at WEC 42?

Plenty of debate on the matter is below.

B.J. Penn showed once again on Saturday night that he's the best lightweight in mixed martial arts, defending his UFC title and defeating Kenny Florian with a fourth-round rear-naked choke at UFC 101.

Georges St Pierre dominated Thiago Alves for 25 minutes on Saturday night at UFC 100, solidifying his spot as the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts. But he's still not close to No. 1.

I still consider Fedor Emelianenko the best fighter in MMA, in any weight class, by a significant margin. Fedor has a tough test against Josh Barnett on August 1 at Affliction Trilogy, and maybe Barnett will shock the world and force me to reconsider my pound-for-pound rankings, but for now, as you'll see below, it's still Fedor, alone at the top.

B.J. Penn was thoroughly manhandled by Georges St. Pierre when he tried to move up to welterweight at UFC 94, but he's still the best lightweight in mixed martial arts, and he has a big lightweight title fight against Kenny Florian coming up this summer.

On my list of the 10 best lightweights in MMA, Penn is first and Florian is fourth. Second on the list is Shinya Aoki, who is about to follow in Penn's footsteps and try moving up to welterweight, in Aoki's case to participate in Dream's upcoming welterweight tournament. The full lightweight Top 10 is below.

I'm back home after spending a week in Tampa covering the Super Bowl, and that means I was surrounded all week by hundreds of sports journalists representing newspapers, magazines and TV networks. I was there to cover football, but I also spent a little bit of time on the mixed martial arts beat, and I came away realizing how far MMA still has to go before it can really be considered a mainstream sport.

During his dominant win over B.J. Penn at UFC 94, Georges. St. Pierre appeared to have petroleum jelly applied to his shoulders and back by Phil Nurse, one of his cornermen.

That would be a violation of MMA rules, and it has a lot of UFC fans abuzz.