WEC Featherweight Division Rankings

Top WEC Featherweight Fighter Rankings:

1. Jose Aldo (17-1) – Aldo lived up the the hype by defeating Urijah Faber in his first title defense, although it seemed that he lacked the killer instinct to finish the fight in the late rounds. Now 7-0 in the WEC, the young Brazilian striker has won 10 straight fights. Aldo has 6 KOs in 7 WEC fights including his TKO win over Mike Brown in November at WEC 44 to win the WEC Featherweight Championship belt. Expect to see Aldo face Manny Gamburyan in his next title defense, likely atop the WEC 51 fight card in August 2010.

2. Manny Gamburyan (11-4) – Gamburyan, cousin of UFC welterweight Karo Parisyan, jumps up from #6 on our January list to #2 this month after an impressive win over former champ Mike Brown. Given his UFC experience where he went 2-3 in 5 UFC fights combined with a 3-0 WEC record and two wins over Top 10 featherweights should be enough to give Gamburyan a shot at champ Jose Aldo later this summer.

3. Mike Thomas Brown (23-6) – Brown had two successful title defenses topping Leonard Garcia and Urijah Faber before running head-on into Aldo in November at WEC 44. The loss for Brown was his first since 2005 and his first in the WEC, but with his WEC 48 loss to Gamburyan many may see Brown falling farther that to 3rd. However, with two wins over Urijah Faber it's not reasonable to move Brown below Faber, and the competition below Faber has not done enough to warrant a Top 4 spot in our WEC Featherweight Rankings.

4. Urijah Faber (23-4) – Faber submitted Rafael Assuncao at WEC 46 to earn his WEC 48 title shot, but was soundly beaten by Aldo in a 5-round unanimous decision. While it has been announced that Faber will drop to 135 pounds to face Top 10 WEC Bantamweight Takeya Mizugaki on the WEC 50 fight card, but for now we're keeping Faber on the 145 pound list as his move does not seem permanent and has yet to actually happen.

5. Josh Grispi (14-1, 4-0 WEC) – The youngster had not fought since his WEC 41 defeat of Jens Pulver in June 2009 and made his return in impressive fashion to secure a guillotine choke on L.C. Davis and score his 4th straight WEC win. Now 14-1 in his MMA career and just 21 years of age, Grispi appears to have a bright future and should see another highly-ranked featherweight in his next fight, likely during the fall of 2010.

Former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber (left) defeated Raphael Assuncao (right) by Rear Naked Choke at WEC 46 in January.

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6. Leonard Garcia (14-5-1, 5-2-1 WEC) – With a win and a draw just 6 weeks apart in his last two WEC fights, Garcia is a solid #6 thanks to his WEC 48 victory over Chan Sung Jung. The fight with Jung not only won Fight of the Night honors, but it also netted Garcia a cool $65k bonus raising his WEC record to 5-2-1 in 8 WEC fights. Garcia will need a couple more wins to get back into title contention on this list as the talent around him in the WEC's 145 pound division has seen a major upgrade in the past year.

7. L.C. Davis (16-3, 3-1 WEC) – Davis picked up wins in each of his first three WEC bouts defeating Javier Vasquez (not the MLB pitcher), Diego Nunes and Deividas Taurosevicius, but fell at WEC 49 to Josh Grispi. While Davis has an impressive resume, the loss to Grispi doesn't drop Davis in our latest 145 pound rankings, but it did stop his 3-fight win streak in the WEC as he remains at #7.

8. Diego Nunes (14-1, 3-1 WEC) - With his lone career loss coming to #7 L.C. Davis and a 3-1 WEC record, Nunes seems the logical choice at #8. While it may have been a split decision that gave Nunes the victory over Rafael Assuncao at WEC 49, a win is a win and it moved Nunes into a solid Top 10 spot in our WEC 145 pound division rankings.

9. Cub Swanson (14-3, 4-2 WEC) – The one consistent for Swanson since joining the WEC's 145 pound division is his lack of consistency after two wins put him in position to face Jens Pulver, the man everyone is beating these days, but somehow Swanson was the lone victory for Pulver in his last 7 fights. Swanson returned to the WEC after one fight outside of the organization only to then run into now Featherweight Champ Jose Aldo where he suffered an 8 second flying knee KO loss. Cub bounced back beating John Franchi at WEC 44 and is now 4-2 in six WEC fights.

10. Rafael Assuncao (14-2, 2-2 WEC) – Now 2-2 in the WEC, Brazilian Rafael Assuncao got a taste of the top of the WEC's 145 pound division in facing Faber at WEC 46 and followed it up with a loss to Diego Nunes at WEC 49. Assuncao was ranked #5 on our list in May only to fall several spots after his most recent defeat. However, Assuncao edges Mark Hominick for #10 thanks to his stronger WEC performances as he will look to get back to his winning ways likely in the fall of 2010.

Jose Aldo (left) defeated Mike Brown (right) by TKO at WEC 44 to win the WEC Featherweight belt.