USAT/SBN February MMA Consensus Rankings: Bantamweight

by Luke Thomas on Feb 25, 2010 12:28 PM EST in MMA Rankings

Rank	Fighter	%	Promotion	Last Rank
1	Brian Bowles	100	WEC	1
2	Miguel Torres	96	WEC	2
3	Masakatsu Ueda	88	Shooto	5
4	Dominick Cruz	87	WEC	3
5	Joseph Benavidez	83	WEC	4
6	Scott Jorgensen	78	WEC	6
7	Takeya Mizugaki	74	WEC	7
8	Damacio Page	65	WEC	8
9	Rani Yahya	59	WEC	9
10	Wagnney Fabiano	56	WEC	10
11	Akitoshi Tamura	40	WEC	13
11	Charlie Valencia	40	WEC	11
13	Masakazu Imanari	40	DEEP	13
14	Eddie Wineland	38	WEC	12
15	Brad Pickett	34	WEC	15
16	Abel Cullum	32	KOTC	22
17	Jeff Curran	32	XFO	17
18	Antonio Banuelos	31	WEC	16
19	Will Ribeiro	30	WEC	21
20	Seiya Kawahara	30	Pancrase	NR
21	Clint Godfrey	29	WEC	26
22	Frank Gomez	29	WEC	18
23	Tetsu Suzuki	28	GCM	28
24	Cole Escovedo	28	Tachi Palace Fights	NR
25	Artemij Sitenkov	28	EuroFight XFC	30

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

The Hardcore Gym stays in the spotlight for another month, but that may soon change.

#1 Brian Bowles is still the bantamweight king, but faces a stern challenge in #4 Dominick Cruz at WEC 47 on March 6th. Cruz, the Alliance standout, has dramatically improved his technical and strategic game while some believe Bowles achieved his place in the sport due to nothing more than #2 Miguel Torres' defensively poor aggression. Bowles will earn points as a stable champion with a clear defeat of Cruz.

As for Torres, he returns at WEC 47 where he'll face Team Alpha Male's #5 Joseph Benavidez. Despite telling utterly horrendous Chuck Norris jokes on Twitter, Torres is still a fan and oddsmaker favorite heading into his contest with the scrappy Benavidez.

Shooto's Featherweight king #4 Masakatsu Ueda jumps up a spot drops to fourth after, sigh, a unanimous decision win over BJJ player Eduardo Dantas at "Revolutionary Exchanges". Sherdog.com's Jordan Breen reports Ueda will finally return to action when he takes on Shuichiro Katsumura in March at "The Way of Shooto 2".

#6 Scott Jorgensen is slated to battle Chad George at WEC 47. The former Boise State wreslter should not ruin his winning streak by taking George lightly. Jorgensen is riding high after defeating Noah Thomas at WEC 43 and #7 Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 45.

#8 Damacio Page is headed back to his ferocious ways when he takes on John Hackleman-product #18 Antonio Banuelos. The well-conditioned Banuelos still lacks technical discipline, something the slightly more patient Page will likely utilize.

#9 Rani Yahya clings to the top ten, but just barely. The enormously talented grappler has yet to announce his next fight after losing to #5 Joseph Benavidez at WEC 45.

And #10 Wagnney Fabiano is still in the top ten. The Nova Unaio black belt made his first appearance at bantamweight at WEC 46, crushing Clint Godfrey and winning by unanimous decision.

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.

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.

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Comments

I just can’t see Brian Bowles keeping the belt for that long, and I am actually picking Cruz to win the Title against him. Ueda and Imanari have got to go to the WEC so that the WEC can have all the top 15 Bantamweights.

by chrisbboy82 on Feb 25, 2010 12:01 PM EST reply actions

Am I the only one surprised by how low Banuelos is?

He’s on a 3 fight win streak including a recent bout with current #6 Scott Jorgenson. Why is he 12 spots lower and dropping?

"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe

by pdl on Feb 25, 2010 12:09 PM EST reply actions

He’s probably lower than Jorgenson because Jorgenson went on to beat Mizugaki.

As for why he’s dropping, I don’t know.

Ranking MMA

by JRN on Feb 25, 2010 12:31 PM EST up reply actions

Right, and that was a sick fight.

I just watched it again two days ago and it was just as awesome as I remembered. But the Banuelos loss is less than a year back and he’s got a longer win streak. Jorgenson has earned his placement by beating Mizugaki, I just don’t get why Banuelos is so underrated by everyone. He’s a fringe top 10 guy.

"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe

by pdl on Feb 25, 2010 1:20 PM EST up reply actions

Wow

while some believe Bowles achieved his place in the sport due to nothing more than #2 Miguel Torres’ defensively poor aggression

People quickly forget how many of those names Brian Bowles ran through to get to the title. Charlie Valencia, Damacio Page, Will Ribeiro, Miguel Torres. All finishes.

by juggmaster on Feb 25, 2010 12:26 PM EST reply actions

Galvao was ranked at the time Bowles destroyed him. Which is funny because he’d then go on to draw with Ueda. And then get destroyed again, but this time by Page.

Ueda should be a tad lower. Other than Okazaki and Atsushi, he’s been beating talented but highly inconsistent guys like Tazawa and Hadairo.

by David Castillo on Feb 25, 2010 1:45 PM EST up reply actions