USAT/SBN June 2011 MMA Consensus Rankings: Featherweight

by Richard Wade on Jul 1, 2011 12:44 PM EDT in MMA Rankings

Rank	Fighter	%	Promotion	Last Rank
1	Jose Aldo	100	UFC	1
2	Hatsu Hioki	92	UFC	2
3	Chad Mendes	90	UFC	3
4	Kenny Florian	77	UFC	24
5	Manny Gamburyan	76	UFC	4
6	Marlon Sandro	71	Bellator	5
7	Mark Hominick	65	UFC	8
8	Diego Nunes	60	UFC	6
9	Dustin Poirier	56	UFC	9
10	Joe Warren	43	Bellator	11
11	Bibiano Fernandes	39	K-1	10
12	Michihiro Omigawa	39	UFC	7
13	Erik Koch	35	UFC	13
14	Patricio Freire	33	Bellator	19
15	Hiroyuki Takaya	31	Strikeforce	12
16	Tyson Griffin	30	UFC	NR
17	Rani Yahya	28	UFC	15
18	Masanori Kanehara	22	Pancrase	17
19	Darren Elkins	21	UFC	NR
20	Kazuyuki Miyata	20	K-1	16
21	Robert Peralta	17	Strikeforce	22
22	Mike Brown	17	UFC	18
23	George Roop	16	UFC	35
24	Yoshiro Maeda	16	DREAM	20
25	Josh Grispi	15	UFC	14
25	Pat Curran	15	Bellator	NR

At UFC 131, #12 Michihiro Omigawa dropped a unanimous decision to #19 Darren Elkins in his return to the UFC, while #9 Dustin Poirier continued to build momentum with a UD victory over Jason Young and #4 Kenny Florian made a statement in his featherweight debut defeating #8 Diego Nunes.

#23 George Roop TKO'd one time contender #25 Josh Grispi at The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale.

#16 Tyson Griffin successfully debuted at 145 against #5 Manny Gamburyan in a fight that our panelists have been slow to credit him for.

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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farewell, manvil

http://mixedmartialartsblogger.wordpress.com/

by Cory Braiterman on Jun 29, 2011 7:21 PM EDT reply actions

seeing hatsu hioki

"I have smoked weed with alot of UFC champions" - Joe Rogan
"Você ta fudido. Se vai levar muita porrada, ta ligado?" - Anderson Silva

by milk72 on Jul 1, 2011 12:46 PM EDT reply actions

in the ufc makes me happy

fucking comment fail

"I have smoked weed with alot of UFC champions" - Joe Rogan
"Você ta fudido. Se vai levar muita porrada, ta ligado?" - Anderson Silva

by milk72 on Jul 1, 2011 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions

who is jim genia?

i hate rankings, but having takaya at #2 and bibano at #3 is just wrong

"I have smoked weed with alot of UFC champions" - Joe Rogan
"Você ta fudido. Se vai levar muita porrada, ta ligado?" - Anderson Silva

by milk72 on Jul 1, 2011 12:48 PM EDT reply actions

Hioki vs Florian

for #1 contender please!

by Johnnynumber5 on Jul 1, 2011 12:53 PM EDT reply actions

I like that one

Kenflo didn’t do much for me in his last fight, and I don’t like the idea of a guy getting a title shot after a 1 fight win streak unless he was on a huge tear prior.

Let the fighters fight, let the referees ref, but dear God, don't let the judges judge.

by halitosis on Jul 1, 2011 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

how is manny so high

on the list that is yuk yuk . no seriously he hasnt beat anyone and he is ranked 5 cmon. also florian vs hioki would be sick

by gsot fan on Jul 1, 2011 1:01 PM EDT reply actions

He beat MTB

You might have heard of the guy. Former champion, beat Faber a couple of times?

by Worldisart on Jul 1, 2011 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions

so beating mtb and leonard ( swing for the fences ) garcia, then two loses to jose aldo and tyson means you are top 5 fw, get the fuck out.

by gsot fan on Jul 1, 2011 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions

You said he hasn't beat anyone

It was a grossly ignorant statement. Merely point that out.

by Worldisart on Jul 1, 2011 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions

o.k he has one good win. wow last two fight two loses. top 5 fw no fucking way

by gsot fan on Jul 1, 2011 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions

I’ll take Florian vs. Hominick, although I realize Florian thinks he earned a straight shot at the title with his one fight in the division.

.....

Cutting down to 145 to avoid the great comments at 155.

by Scabby Knuckle on Jul 1, 2011 1:08 PM EDT reply actions

sorry but no he hasn't

florian will get the shot because he is known ( just like nick diaz ) . he should have to beat mendes or hioki or hominick to get the shot. that would be only fair but $$$$$ means more than fair.

by gsot fan on Jul 1, 2011 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Florian/Hominick isn’t even remotely competitive. Honestly.

by VirtualBalboa on Jul 1, 2011 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions

for who? i think it would be a good fight. but am interested who you think wins so decisively.

by gsot fan on Jul 1, 2011 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Florian would roll him in a single round. Easily. Terrible style matchup for the guy who can’t stop takedowns against anyone and gets dominated on the mat to be in there with a fighter who threw around Clay Guida like a rag doll.

by VirtualBalboa on Jul 1, 2011 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Fuck me for not ranking Tyson Griffin. :(

When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
Editor, HeadKickLegend.com
Still Subo at Fightlinker.com

by Derek Suboticki on Jul 1, 2011 1:10 PM EDT reply actions

atleast derek you got manny right

top 5 my ass

by gsot fan on Jul 1, 2011 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Meh, I did mine before the weekend due to being out of town. It’ll all get corrected in the next version anyways.

Staff Writer, BloodyElbow.com, 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 Jul 1, 2011 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions

why the hell is Elkins even ranked? I think we can all agree that he lost the Omigawa fight.

When fighters get clearly robbed (Sanchez vs Kampmann, Korean Zombie vs Leonard Garcia, Nam Phan vs Leonard Garcia, Omigawa vs Elkins) i tend to treat the fighter’s who deserved the win as if they had won, or at the very least not punish them because judges don’t know what the hell they were doing.

If you want to move Elkins up a little bit in the rankings because he hung with Omigawa then that’s fine, but don’t punish omigawa for the judges decisions

by darkotto23 on Jul 1, 2011 1:33 PM EDT reply actions

I rank solely on wins and losses, or at least try to do it within a general formula. Elkins should be ranked for now. When he loses down the road, he’ll get dropped. All this talk of having rankings be IMMEDIATELY relevant to what is happening for the future should not be the case. It’s a snapshot of now, and right now… even if I think he lost, he won.

Staff Writer, BloodyElbow.com, 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 Jul 1, 2011 1:40 PM EDT up reply actions

eh i guess we just have different styles of ranking fighters

by darkotto23 on Jul 1, 2011 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Totally agree.

This division’s rankings aren’t as ridiculous as some of the other rank lists I’ve seen over the past year or two. But I agree that the Omigawa “loss” shouldn’t affect his status within the UFC or his ranking with the fans.

And how is Kenny Florian even being discussed as a contender after only one fight in the division? Seems like a perfectly good waste of a title shot when there are more deserving guys. I could see the matchup if Florian had at least a 30% chance of beating Aldo, but c’mon man. This is just another shameless attempted ppv draw.

Don’t get me started on Leonard Garcia. The numbers on his scorecards are usually more fucked up than a special ed math test.

by aaronj on Jul 1, 2011 1:51 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

top 10 in one of the most stacked division

dropping down to an unknown division

that is why

by dbcb on Jul 1, 2011 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Which begs the question....

With so many people that Florian can’t beat at 155, why was he in the top 10 anyway?

by aaronj on Jul 1, 2011 2:33 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

who are the people that Kenny can't beat at 155?

BJ, Gray, Frankie….GIlbert..Alvarez maybe?

I would still pick Kenny against most 155ers, he just hasn’t been able to beat the top 5 talents

by darkotto23 on Jul 1, 2011 3:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Edgar, Maynard, Miller, Guillard, Dunham, Alvarez, and Melendez would beat him fairly easily. And those are just the names off the top of my head. I could probably come up with more if I think about it.

by aaronj on Jul 1, 2011 3:34 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Very few of those guys, Edgar included, have an “easy time” with Florian. He was a good sized lightweight with solid grappling and above average striking. Anyone like that is dangerous. At featherweight, so long as he isn’t drained, he’s very dangerous.

by VirtualBalboa on Jul 1, 2011 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions

i actually would pick Kenny vs Dunham, Miller and maybe even Frankie (probably not frankie, but still)

by darkotto23 on Jul 1, 2011 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't think you can reasonably just ignore the result of a fight.

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 Jul 1, 2011 2:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes you can.

When the decision is just ridiculous. Keep in mind that we’re ranking fighters by who we think is the best fighter. Not simply by wins and losses. If we were going by win/loss ratio only, there would be no discussion here because everybody would have the same rankings.

Elkins shouldn’t get cred for getting beaten in a fight just because somebody who doesn’t know anything about fighting says he won.

By your logic, Leonard Garcia deserves a title shot.

by aaronj on Jul 1, 2011 2:44 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Then all of Leonard's opponents would be ranked.

Let the fighters fight, let the referees ref, but dear God, don't let the judges judge.

by halitosis on Jul 1, 2011 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Both Griffin and Florian should be top 5 at the moment, IMO, which speaks volumes about the talent level at 145 that two guys can drop in and immediately take starring roles.

by VirtualBalboa on Jul 1, 2011 2:53 PM EDT reply actions

Keep in mind...

That they have lead roles based on their name recognition and star power, not because of their talent. Don’t forget that they only dropped to 145 because most (all) of the top 10 at 155 would wreck them.

Florian only made the cut to save his job. Had he not got injured and stayed at 155, his head would be on the chopping block after getting annihilated by the top guys. And even if he managed to tread water there, he would be “Koschecked” out of title contention. 145 was the only place he could run to. And inexplicably he’s already ranked almost at the top, despite being a refugee. Fan sentiment and emotional attachment are bizarre things.

by aaronj on Jul 1, 2011 3:04 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Florian was on the chopping block?

Ok dude whatever you say. Diego Nunes was a clear cut top ten fighter.

by Urijah Bieber on Jul 2, 2011 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Florian shouldn't be top five.

When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
Editor, HeadKickLegend.com
Still Subo at Fightlinker.com

by Derek Suboticki on Jul 1, 2011 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Tyson Griffin

OK people, follow along:
1) Manny Gamburyan has 1 loss at FW and has even beaten a currently ranked MW by KO in 2003.
2) Tyson Griffin beat Manny on 6/26/11 5 days before these rankings were updated and he also happens to own a KO of one Urijah Faber.
3) Manny is still ranked 5th?!? and Griffin is 16th!!?

Besides the idiotic argument of “Well, he only has 1 win at FW; his wins at LW don’t count” can someone explain this?

by Mulefloyd on Jul 7, 2011 12:38 PM EDT reply actions