Flyweight

1. Shinichi Kojima (10-3-5)
With a history of questionable strategies and fight tactics, Kojima turned in arguably the most brilliant performance of his career in dominating Yuki Shoujou on March 20, becoming a "Submission of the Year" candidate en route to his third successful defense of his Shooto world title.

2. Mamoru Yamaguchi (20-5-3)
Away from the regular confines of Shooto and MMA, the former flyweight king continued his kickboxing campaign, as he lost a unanimous verdict to Akito Sakimura in the Shoot Boxing ring on April 3.

3. Yuki Shoujou (8-5-2)
He fought valiantly, but there was little for Yuki Shoujou to do in his March 20 Shooto world title challenge against Shinichi "BJ" Kojima, as the champion was in rare form and dominating Shoujou before choking him out cold in the third frame.

4. Yasuhiro Urushitani (15-4-6)
Quickly looking to atone for his shocking September loss to Shoujou, Urushitani got back into action and picked up an easy victory on Nov. 8, as he hacked open an overmatched Kiyotaka Shimizu for a first-round stoppage at Cage Force.

5. Ryuichi Miki (9-2-3)
The 26-year-old Miki continued his ascent in the flyweight division on April 10, as he put a 15-minute, lopsided beating on veteran Junji Ikoma. This figures to move Miki along toward a potential Shooto 123-pound title challenge.

6. Rambaa Somdet (6-2)
A nagging neck injury nixed Somdet's scheduled PFC flyweight title bout with unbeaten Pat Runez on Jan. 22. Now, Somdet will sit on the shelf recovering until he's ready to challenge the winner of the makeshift title bout between Runez, and the man Somdet beat, Ulysses Gomez.

7. Jesse Taitano (4-3-2)
The Guam-based Taitano made the most out of his Jan. 18 trip to Japan, as he fought to a draw with Shooto world champion Shinichi "BJ" Kojima in a non-title affair.

8. Daniel Otero (6-1-1)
The former Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion has yet to see action in 2009, healing his injuries after a successful tour of the Midwest netted him a pair of entertaining victories over Josh Rave and Sam Thao in 2008.

9. Alexis Vila (5-0)
Arguably the hottest prospect in the flyweight division, the 1996 Olympic freestyle wrestling bronze medalist racked up his fifth career win in February, corking Ben Nguyen in the second round.

10. Masaaki Sugawara (7-3-1)
The exciting puncher was entertaining as usual in his March 20 meeting with veteran Daiji Takahashi, but couldn't generate enough offense to earn himself a “W,” settling for a draw instead.

Other contenders: John Dodson, Jucie Formiga, Junji Ikoma, Pat Runez, Sam Thao.