Sherdog Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings
Featherweight
Feb 10, 2010
File Photo
1. Jose Aldo (16-1)
A fitting headliner for the first WEC pay-per-view, Aldo will risk his featherweight title and 145-pound alpha status against former champ Urijah Faber at WEC 48 on April 24. Aldo’s first title defense will come on hostile grounds in front of a pro-Faber crowd in Sacramento, Calif.
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Brown's quick return to the cage on Jan. 10 was successful, as he easily tapped Anthony Morrison in the first round. Brown's next assignment will be considerably tougher: He meets Manny Gamburyan at WEC 48 on April 24.
3. Urijah Faber (23-3)
Faber will have another chance to regain featherweight supremacy April 24 in front of a partisan Sacramento crowd at Arco Arena, as he headlines the WEC’s first pay-per-view. However, not all favors Faber: He'll have to deal with the division's dynamic champion, Jose Aldo.
4. Bibiano
Fernandes (7-2)
The first defense of Fernandes' Dream featherweight title will be a tall task: The BJJ world champion will take on perennial top lightweight and former Dream champion Joachim Hansen, who will be making his divisional debut, at Dream 13 on March 22.
5. Raphael Assuncao (14-2)
In his first elite-level test, Assuncao was game but outmatched against former WEC featherweight champ Urijah Faber at WEC 46, eventually succumbing to "The California Kid" late in the third frame. It was just the second loss of Assuncao's career, following his highly controversial majority decision loss to Jeff Curran in November 2006.
6. Michihiro Omigawa (9-8-1)
Few fighters had a better 2009 than Omigawa, who rocketed from also-ran to elite featherweight status. He will open up his 2010 campaign April 25, competing on "Astra," the card dedicated to the retirement of his sensei, Hidehiko Yoshida.
7. Hatsu Hioki (20-4-2)
Though most seem to think Hioki deserved the nod in his Nov. 7 split decision loss to Michihiro Omigawa, the bout was another exhibition of Hioki's staggering lack of strategy and consistency that have undermined him in the past.
8. Manny Gamburyan (10-4)
When he cut from 155 pounds to 145, it was anticipated that Gamburyan would be a shoo-in title challenger. In order to get that opportunity, he will have to deal with former divisional champion Mike Thomas Brown when the pair square off at WEC 48 on April 24.
9. Masanori Kanehara (16-7-5)
Coming off of this biggest win of his career -- a New Year's Eve upset over Japanese superstar Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto -- the hope was that Kanehara would be able to defend his Sengoku featherweight title for the promotion's March 7 card. However, a knee tweak in training has nixed Kanehara's first title defense from the bill.
10. Josh Grispi (13-1)
The 21-year-old Grispi has torn through his opposition in the WEC thus far, needing less than a combined five minutes to wipe out Mark Hominick, Micah Miller and Jens Pulver. However, surgery to repair a nagging ankle injury has Grispi on the mend to start 2010.
Other contenders: Leonard Garcia, Takeshi Inoue, Marlon Sandro, Mackens Semerzier, Deividas Taurosevicius.
