USAT/SBN December Consensus MMA Rankings: Featherweight

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

Old Man Strength no longer rules the day.

American Top Team's #2 Mike Thomas Brown lost his spot atop the burgeoning featherweight division by the rising Brazilian phenom and now #1 Jose Aldo (who jumps from three to one). At WEC 44 on November 18th in Las Vegas, Aldo put on one of the most dominating and flawless performances in MMA in recent memory. He effortlessly stuffed the shots of the brutally strong and technical Mike Brown, while putting together accurate devastating strikes with lightning speed. The Novia Uniao black belt eventually finished Brown from back control with strikes. It was a beautiful display of skill, technique, athleticism and gameness.

So what's next for #3 Urijah Faber? As many of you know, the Team Alpha Male leader is set to take on #6 Rafael Assuncao (who jumps up a spot from number 7) at WEC 46 in January. Provided "The California Kid" prevails next year, he'll likely earn a shot at Aldo's belt.

DREAM's Featherweight Grand Prix winner #4 Bibiano Fernandes who bested Joe Warren and #12 Hiroyuki Takaya at DREAM's October 6th show, stays in the fourth spot this month. No word yet on when the decorated grappler returns to MMA action.

"The Iron Broomstick" in #5 Hatsu Hioki stays in the fifth spot after getting robbed by the judges in his loss to #9 Michihiro Omigawa at Sengoku's November 7th show. No word yet on when the lanky fighter returns to action. As for Omigawa, he will fight Dream Featherweight Grand Prix runner-up #12 Hiroyuki Takaya at Dynamite!! 2009 this New Year's Eve.

Jumping into the top for the first time is #7 Manvel Gamburyan. After leaving the UFC for the WEC and dropping from lightweigh to featherweight, the scrappy and somewhat improved Gamburyan earned a decision win over #13 Leonard Garcia at WEC 44. Garcia has now officially dropped out of the top ten.

For no apparent reason, #8 Wagnney Fabiano is back in the top ten despite being choked out by clever upstart #10 Mackens Semerzier. The Tidewater Virginian returns to the WEC at WEC 46 where he'll face another stiff test in Deividas Taurosevičius.

After landing himself back in the top ten, he's now bounced back out: the Featherweight King of Pancrase #15 Marlon Sandro. After being robbed in one of the worst decisions of 2009 to Michihiro Omigawa, the Brazilian rebounded at Sengoku's November show where he knocked out #22 Yuji Hoshino in the first round. He'll return to act at Dynamite!! 2009 where he'll face the tough if inconsistent Hideo Tokoro.

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.