USAT/SBN January MMA Consensus Rankings: Featherweight

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

Nova Unaio still rules the day.

Since WEC 44 in November, there hasn't been any reason for the top spot to change as #1 Jose Aldo hasn't competed. However, #3 Urijah Faber defeated now #8 Rafael Assuncao in a thrilling bout at WEC 46, making "The California Kid" the next in line for the Brazilian's belt.

Some suggest even though Faber lost twice to Brown (who himself was manhandled by Aldo), his speed and unorthodox style make him a better match-up. The heat of the fight is even giving the WEC a potential reason to make Aldo vs. Faber the first WEC PPV. At this time, nothing is announced yet.

As for #2 Mike Brown, a win at WEC 46 over the out-classed Anthony Morrison puts the former champion on the comeback trail. No word yet on when he'll fight next.

I'm not sure why, but DREAM's Featherweight Grand Prix winner #5 Bibiano Fernandes drops to the fifth spot this month. If the rumors are true, he'll square off against Joachim Hansen as he drops to featherweight. The card will take place sometime in March.

"The Iron Broomstick" in #4 Hatsu Hioki moves to the fourth spot after getting robbed by the judges in his loss to #6 Michihiro Omigawa at Sengoku's November 7th show. Since then, he has not competed, so it isn't at all clear why he jumped in the rankings. As for Omigawa, he looked hugely impressive in stopping #17 Hiroyuki Takaya at Dynamite!! 2009. With the Yoshida Dojo ostensibly severing ties with Sengoku Raiden Championships, no word yet on when or where he'll compete next.

#7 Manny Gamburyan stays in the seventh spot this month after besting #18 Leonard Garcia on Versus at WEC 44 back in November. "The Anvil" has no announced plans to return to featherweight action as of it.

#9 Masanori Kanehara took a gigantic jump in the ratings when he bested the down barely-top 25 #21 Norifumi Yamamoto. Jumping all the way up from the sixteenth spot, Kanehara out-dueled and out-pointed the dangerous but incredibly deflated former Japanese featherweight king. 

Rounding out the top is Boston native #10 Josh Grispi, who has been sidelined with an injury he took into the fight with former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver. No word yet on when the rising featherweight star returns to the blue cage.

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.