Sherdog Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Featherweight

1. Jose Aldo (17-1)
Aldo’s first WEC title defense against Urijah Faber was supposed to test the well-rounded skills of the young Brazilian dynamo. Instead, it wound up as a test of his humanity, as he brutalized “The California Kick” with low kicks for the duration of their 25-minute bout. After his dominant performance capped the promotion’s biggest event, the trick for WEC brass will now be making challengers seem threatening to Aldo.

2. Manny Gamburyan (11-4)
After two bouts at 145 pounds -- assumed to be his more natural weight class -- Gamburyan did not set the world on fire, despite winning both. However, in his WEC 48 bout with former divisional king Mike Thomas Brown, the native Armenian had his coming-out party as a featherweight, as he clobbered the American Top Team veteran in the first round and emerged as the likely next challenger for Jose Aldo.

3. Mike Thomas Brown (23-6)
Brown was a healthy favorite heading into his April 24 bout with Manny Gamburyan. However, Gamburyan caught him with a thudding right hand, pounced for the finish and knocked the former champion further down the pecking order at 145 pounds.

4. Urijah Faber (23-4)
In front of his hometown Sacramento, Calif., faithful, in the main event of the biggest WEC card to date, “The California Kid” was dominated from bell-to-bell by Jose Aldo en route to losing a lopsided five-round decision. The next step for the former featherweight ruler seems uncertain, though he will undoubtedly remain one of the biggest stars below the lightweight division.

5. Bibiano Fernandes (8-2)
In the first defense of the Dream featherweight title he captured in October, Fernandes did enough to earn a split decision victory over former Dream lightweight champion Joachim Hansen. In doing so, he kept his title and notched easily the most significant win of his blossoming career.

6. Raphael Assuncao (14-2)
Coming off of a submission loss to Urijah Faber in January, Assuncao’s return to the WEC cage will not be an easy one. When the promotion heads to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, for WEC 49 on June 20, Assuncao will take on fellow Brazilian Diego Nunes in a nifty featherweight contest.

7. Michihiro Omigawa (10-8-1)
It was not flashy -- Omigawa’s performances seldom are -- but the gritty Hidehiko Yoshida student paid due respect to his mentor on Yoshida’s retirement card, as he grinded out a unanimous decision over a tough Micah Miller. Now, the calls for Omigawa to come stateside to the WEC will only intensify.

8. Hatsu Hioki (20-4-2)
From his professional debut as a 19-year-old, Hioki was always tabbed as a future Shooto world champion. On May 30, the Nagoya, Japan, native will get his chance when he squares off with Shooto’s 143-pound ace, “Lion Takeshi” Takeshi Inoue, at “The Way of Shooto 3.”

9. Masanori Kanehara (16-7-5)
On New Year’s Eve, Kanehara notched the most important win of his professional career by upsetting Japanese superstar Norifumi Yamamoto. Now, in his first Sengoku title defense on June 20, he will be in for another tough test when he takes on Nova Uniao standout Marlon Sandro.

10. Marlon Sandro (16-1)
It took Sandro just nine seconds to crush Tomonari Kanomata in March. That brutal win paved the way for his Sengoku featherweight title challenge on June 20 against Kanomata’s teammate, Masanori Kanehara. It will mark Kanehara’s first defense.

Other contenders: L.C. Davis, Josh Grispi, Takeshi Inoue, Mackens Semerzier, Deividas Taurosevicius.