USA TODAY/MMA Nation January 2012 Consensus Rankings: Bantamweight

by Richard Wade on Jan 27, 2012 1:19 PM EST in MMA Rankings

Rank	Fighter	Points	Promotion	Last Rank
1	Dominick Cruz	375	UFC	1
2	Urijah Faber	356	UFC	2
3	Joseph Benavidez	341	UFC	3
4	Brian Bowles	315	UFC	4
5	Scott Jorgensen	305	UFC	5
6	Demetrious Johnson	301	UFC	6
7	Renan Barao	261	UFC	7
8	Miguel Torres	220	UFC	8
9	Bibiano Fernandes	206	DREAM	13
10	Masakatsu Ueda	175	Shooto	10
11	Takeya Mizugaki	165	UFC	11
12	Brad Pickett	157	UFC	9
13	Michael McDonald	141	UFC	12
14	Zach Makovsky	118	Bellator	15
15	Eduardo Dantas	115	Bellator	16
16	Wagnney Fabiano	108	Bellator	14
17	Antonio Banuelos	104	DREAM	16
18	Eddie Wineland	93	UFC	18
19	Alexis Vila	88	Bellator	19
20	Damacio Page	69	UFC	21
21	Joe Warren	62	Bellator	23
22	Masakazu Imanari	58	DREAM	21
23	Marcos Galvao	56	Bellator	26
24	Raphael Assuncao	52	UFC	30
25	Yves Jabouin	51	UFC	32

Upcoming Bouts:

#3 Joseph Benavidez vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani at UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann

#5 Scott Jorgensen vs. #7 Renan Barao at UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit

#6 Demetrious Johnson vs. Ian McCall at UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann

#11 Takeya Mizugaki vs. Chris Cariaso at UFC 144

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.