Sherdog Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Bantamweight

1. Brian Bowles (8-0)
Bowles impressively snatched the WEC 135-pound title with a first-round crushing of Miguel Torres. Now the Beatle-haired bantamweight will make the first defense of his crown come March 6 against once-beaten contender Dominick Cruz at WEC 47.

2. Miguel Torres (37-2)
Torres was heralded as one of the sport’s pound-for-pound stalwarts and the man to put the 135-pound division on the map. In his fourth defense of the WEC bantamweight title, he was flattened in the first round by impressive upstart Brian Bowles, who handed Torres his first loss in 18 fights.

3. Masakatsu Ueda (10-0-2)
He had to overcome rope grabbing and eye gouging, but Ueda kept his unbeaten record and Shooto world title on July 19 by taking a well-appointed unanimous verdict over tough Brazilian youngster Eduardo Dantas.

4. Dominick Cruz (14-1)
In March 2007, Cruz fought for the WEC featherweight title and was dealt his first career loss at the hands of Urijah Faber. Two years, five wins and a new weight class later, Cruz will meet current WEC bantamweight king Brian Bowles on March 6 at WEC 47.

5. Joseph Benavidez (11-1)
Benavidez was brilliant in rebounding from the first loss of his career, a unanimous decision defeat to Dominick Cruz in August. At WEC 45, it took him just 95 seconds to halt grappling ace Rani Yahya and get back on the winning track.

6. Scott Jorgensen (8-3)
Having shown marked improvement in each of his six WEC bouts, Jorgensen turned in the best performance of his young career at WEC 45, as he boxed and wrestled his way to a well-deserved unanimous decision over Takeya Mizugaki. The win firmly places Jorgensen in the promotion's 135-pound title plans.

7. Takeya Mizugaki (12-4-2)
In his Dec. 19 bout with Scott Jorgensen, Mizugaki finally found his offense in the third round. Unfortunately, it was too little too late for the former Shooto rookie MVP, who dropped a unanimous verdict to the former Boise State wrestler.

8. Akitoshi Tamura (14-7-2)
Tamura's WEC 43 bout with Damacio Page fell apart when the former Shooto world champion sustained a broken rib in training. Now recovered, Tamura is set to square off with Charlie Valencia on the main card of WEC 46 on Jan. 10.

9. Damacio Page (12-4)
It was not as competitive as a bout with Akitoshi Tamura might have been, but Page took a quick and impressive rear-naked choke victory over previously unbeaten Will Campuzano at WEC 43. It took the Greg Jackson-trained wild child just 62 seconds to get the tap.

10. Rani Yahya (15-5)
Yahya put together three straight first-round submissions since his return to the WEC, but the streak was snapped at WEC 45. It took Joseph Benavidez just 95 seconds to drop the BJJ standout and flurry to a finish.

Other contenders: Antonio Banuelos, Mike Easton, Koetsu Okazaki, Manny Tapia, Eddie Wineland.

*With the addition of Jorgensen, formerly 10th-ranked Eddie Wineland is relegated to the contenders list.