Sherdog Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Flyweight

1. Shinichi Kojima (10-3-5)
His Shooto world title won't be at stake, but "BJ" will be in for a tough fight July 19. The sport's flyweight king is scheduled to take on unbeaten Brazilian Jucie Formiga, the Shooto South American 123-pound champion.

2. Mamoru Yamaguchi (20-5-3)
The former two-division Shooto world champ continued his kickboxing exploits on June 1, taking a decision over Naguranchun Masa M16 in the Shoot Boxing ring. However, it's uncertain when the long-term pro Shooto star will return to MMA action.

3. Yuki Shoujou (8-5-2)
He fought valiantly, but there was little for Shoujou to do in his March 20 Shooto world title challenge against Shinichi "BJ" Kojima. The champion was in rare form, 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 (5-3-2)
After a 72-second submission over Jay Muna in Saipan this past May, "The Spiderman" will return to Shooto in August to take on fast-rising strawweight Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara at a 119-pound catchweight.

8. Daniel Otero (6-1-1)
The former Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion has yet to see action in 2009. He’s 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)
Sugawara had a disappointing outcome when his March bout with veteran Daiji Takahashi was declared a draw. The rangy brawler will get the chance to atone for the tie on July 19, when he meets Yasuhiro Akagi.

Other contenders: John Dodson, Jussier da Silva, Junji Ikoma, Mitsuhisa Sunabe, Sam Thao.