USAT/SBN May 2011 MMA Consensus Rankings: Featherweight

by Richard Wade on May 27, 2011 11:59 AM EDT in MMA Rankings

Rank	Fighter	%	Promotion	Last Rank
1	Jose Aldo	100	UFC	1
2	Hatsu Hioki	92	WVR	2
3	Chad Mendes	91	UFC	3
4	Manny Gamburyan	82	UFC	4
5	Marlon Sandro	76	Bellator	5
6	Diego Nunes	69	UFC	6
7	Mark Hominick	67	UFC	8
8	Michihiro Omigawa	66	UFC	7
9	Dustin Poirier	52	UFC	9
10	Bibiano Fernandes	48	K-1	10
11	Joe Warren	45	Bellator	11
12	Erik Koch	41	UFC	13
13	Hiroyuki Takaya	41	Strikeforce	12
14	Josh Grispi	36	UFC	14
15	Rani Yahya	31	UFC	15
16	Kazuyuki Miyata	26	K-1	16
17	Masanori Kanehara	25	WVR	17
18	Patricio Freire	24	Bellator	18
19	Yoshiro Maeda	22	WVR	20
20	Mike Brown	20	UFC	18
21	Robert Peralta	19	Strikeforce	22
22	Raphael Assuncao	16	UFC	21
23	Yuji Hoshino	14	WVR	29
24	Takeshi Inoue	14	Shooto	25
25	Koichiro Matsumoto	13	DEEP	31
25	Luis Palomino	13	Champions Fighting Alliance	NR

#1 Jose Aldo actually made the division more interesting with his poor finish to an otherwise dominant performance against #7 Mark Hominick at UFC 129.

#3 Chad Mendes will stay busy against #15 Rani Yahya at UFC 133 following Aldo's withdrawal due to inadequate preparation time.

#4 Manny Gamburyan will welcome Tyson Griffin to the featherweight division at UFC on Versus 4.

#6 Diego Nunes will similarly welcome Kenny Florian who is making his featherweight debut at UFC 131.

UFC 131 will also feature #7 Michihiro Omigawa vs. Darren Elkins.

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.

Tweet Comment 16 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Can anyone tell me why Jim Genia has Fernandes ranked 4th in his rankings? And Takaya ranked 2nd? Just curious.

by Spider_Vemon on May 27, 2011 12:04 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, what the hell…

Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein

by Leland Roling on May 27, 2011 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions

There's always going to be some inexplicable outliers

Typically done to get attention, as shown by the recent ballot that had Bones Jones ranked #5.

by jpayne on May 27, 2011 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Yeah Roth admitted it was a joke. But Takaya lost his last fight…last month to a guy that cant even afford a wikipedia page

by Spider_Vemon on May 27, 2011 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions

I am a Joe “Daddy” Stevenson fan, and I hope that he can make something of a comeback in this division, so hopefully I’ll see him somewhere on this list. It looks like Bellator is really creeping into the top 25 of this division, and the fighters in the next season Featherweight tournament are very good.

Check out the C&D Channel on YouTube for MMA reviews, predictions, analysis, and other MMA related content.

by chrisbboy82 on May 27, 2011 12:48 PM EDT reply actions

More Matthew Roth foolishness

Kenny Florian ranked number 10 on his list despite NEVER FIGHTING AT 145lbs?
I love the idea of the consensus rankings, but there needs to be some more scrutiny of the panel of people submitting ballots.

www.hottopicwithphil.com

by Worldisart on May 27, 2011 12:57 PM EDT reply actions

i am a big ken flo fan

but that is very, very silly.

by Clifford J on May 27, 2011 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Kenny Florian agrees with that ranking.

Bolts from the Blue // "I eat cereal out of a giant novelty wine glass because it makes me feel fancy." - Britney Wade
Bloody Elbow // "Everybody underestimates the kick in the groin." - Bas Rutten

by Richard Wade on May 27, 2011 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm not ripping on you specifically

I know you put in a lot of hard work to put together the rankings. It just angers me when people like Roth talk about in other threads how he ranks Jon Jones number 5 basically as a joke, and that kind of thing really undermines what you’re trying to do here in my eyes.

www.hottopicwithphil.com

by Worldisart on May 27, 2011 2:15 PM EDT up reply actions

I only let him get away with that because it didn't impact the final product.

As for ranking Florian 10th at featherweight, I disagree with it, but it’s not as ridiculous in my opinion as it appears to be in yours.

Bolts from the Blue // "I eat cereal out of a giant novelty wine glass because it makes me feel fancy." - Britney Wade
Bloody Elbow // "Everybody underestimates the kick in the groin." - Bas Rutten

by Richard Wade on May 27, 2011 7:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Florian has a scheduled fight in the division

I can see the reasoning behind that. No need to get bent over it.

Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches

by Urijah Bieber on May 27, 2011 10:23 PM EDT up reply actions

I hope

that familiar names like Florian, Griffin, Stevenson, etc… will boost fan interest in the lower weight divisions.

by BJJDenver on May 27, 2011 1:32 PM EDT reply actions

I hope they all lose

So us WEC loyalists who hated Snowden for crapping on this division won’t feel so bad.

by Urijah Bieber on May 27, 2011 10:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Im surprised

That some people picked Hominuk so low. He actually survived a fight with Aldo. Not many can say that.

How does he get a 3.8 from two people.

Doesn’t make sense.

When these ratings are created are they actually taken seriously?

Sheeeeeeeee-it

by Clay Davis on May 27, 2011 2:35 PM EDT reply actions

Unless we're giving points for losing less badly thank expected I don't see how you rank Hominick top 10.

Bolts from the Blue // "I eat cereal out of a giant novelty wine glass because it makes me feel fancy." - Britney Wade
Bloody Elbow // "Everybody underestimates the kick in the groin." - Bas Rutten

by Richard Wade on May 27, 2011 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions

lolwut : I don't see how you don't rank him top ten.

Hominick is clearly a top ten fighter. He has been dominant in the big leagues since Affliction: Banned and has shored up the holes in his ground game in a big way. Easily a candidate for best pure striking in MMA and increasingly well rounded. Outside of Aldo, he probably had the most productive 2010 of any FW in the world.

Additionally – he is the only guy who beat Leonard Garcia badly enough to actually win a decision against him. For that reason, he is potentially top five p4p.

And you don’t give points for “losing less badly”, but rather fighting competitively with one of the best in the world at any weight.

by Urijah Bieber on May 27, 2011 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions