USAT/SBN October MMA Consensus Rankings: Bantamweight

He hasn't let his broken hand stop his media appearances.

#1 Brian Bowles still sits atop the bantamweight division after upsetting previous bantamweight king # 2 Miguel Torres at WEC 42. Bowles is still nursing a hand injury, but has been making the media rounds. As we stated previously, Torres has linked up with noted trainer Mark Dellagrotte and helped out WEC rising star Mackens Semerzier before his upset of Wagnney Fabiano.

Shooto's "Featherweight" king #3 Masakatsu Ueda is still undefeated and and still holding at three - all over again - after a unanimous decision rout of #14 Eduardo Dantas at "Revolutionary Exchanges". According to Sherdog.com's Jordan Breen, there is no word on who Ueda fights next or even when.

#4 Takeya Mizugaki is holds steady at the fourth position as he prepares to talk on #9 Damacio Page as the main event of WEC 45.

#5 Dominick Cruz holds steady at five with his WEC 42 win over Team Alpha Male's #7 Joseph Benavidez. As we stated previously, Cruz is likely one fight away from a title shot. No word yet on who the Team Alliance standout is set to face.

#6 Akitoshi Tamura doesn't move in the rankings as he stays in the sixth position. Originally Tamura was set to face #9 Damacio Page at WEC 43, but pulled out due to injury and was replaced by Will Campuzano.

Submission king #8 Rani Yahya was back to old form at WEC 42 choking out Josh Hosman with a vicious North-South choke.

#10 Manny "The Mangler" Tapia regrettably earns his third lose in a row, dropping a unanimous decision to #13 Eddie Wineland.

Notably, DC native #18 Mike Easton cracks the top twenty with a controversial win over now #22 Chase Beebe at UWC 7. The win places Easton within the top twenty for the first time ever. It's also the first time Chase Beebe falls out of the top twenty since first being included in it.

Based on the premise that all MMA rankings are subjective but that it’s still useful and informative to know who the online MMA community as a whole ranks as the best fighters in MMA, we collect and average the rankings of the top MMA websites to produce our consensus rankings. Show more "

We compile the top MMA rankings from each of our sources and award 25 points for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to "normalize" the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. This formula ensures that each ranking site awards the same number of total points regardless of how many fighters they choose to rank. Each fighter’s total is divided by the number of possible points to determine their standing in the Consensus Rankings.