It could be argued the 2010s opened and closed with the most dominant UFC champion residing in the lightweight division. Prior to the beginning of the decade, BJ Penn was coming off a dominant performance over Diego Sanchez and nobody saw him losing the belt any time soon. As we all know, he never won another fight at 155 ever again. While I’m not saying Khabib Nurmagomedov is never going to win another fight at lightweight again, he did enter this decade with a similar stature to Penn. When Khabib claimed the crown, he put an end to a tumultuous decade as eight different men laid claim to the UFC lightweight title, nine if you include Tony Ferguson’s interim reign.
Video: Top 10 MMA fighters of 2010s at lightweight
