Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

The University of Oregon football team may have lost its game to Nebraska 35-32 on Sept. 17, but that same night, at least one Oregon Duck showed out.

Evan Dunham began his professional MMA career in April 2007. Four months later, Sherdog.com debuted these divisional rankings. For the majority of that nine-year period, Dunham has bounced in and out of this lightweight top 10. With his UFC Fight Night 94 win over Rick Glenn paired with previously 10th-ranked Dustin Poirier’s loss to Michael Johnson, Dunham slides back into a comfy position in our top 10 once again.

However, Dunham’s newest stint as a top-10 talent may be short-lived, just as his others were. The Oregonian is a threat to anyone at 155 pounds, and his inability to stay put in these rankings is not a slight on the fighter himself but rather an indicator of the depth, talent and constant upheaval at 155 pounds.

As always, the lightweight division has a series of major bouts on deck, both inside and outside the UFC. Over the course of the next two months, fights such as Michael Chandler-Benson Henderson, Beneil Dariush-Rashid Magomedov and Paul Felder-Francisco Trinaldo could quickly give the bottom half of the top 10 a complete facelift. It is possible that some of those fighters, given the matchmaking, notch outstanding victories that vault them forward in the division. Even with four straight wins in the Octagon, Dunham is just another outstanding talent in MMA’s greatest division, a weight class where elite talents are constantly moving and shaking.

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