There was a time, not that long ago, when the lightweight hierarchy made total sense. The B.J. Penn era ended just in time for the WEC takeover. Although sadly for everyone involved, Penn stuck around long past his expiration date, tactically as well as physically. Once the WEC crew exited the thunderdome, 155 was a rotating door of one-and-done marksmen. For fours years, no lightweight champion could defend their title more than once. But we were cool with that because there was an ace up the division’s sleeve: Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov.
That last sentence could have been written in 2015, or 2018.