(Aldo dominates Faber at WEC 48.)
At FIGHT! Magazine, we believe there is a need for a completely objective and unbiased ranking system for fighters to replace the myriad of subjective rankings that have become skewed, in many instances, by fighter popularity. In an effort to address this issue FIGHT! Magazine brings you its computerized rankings system which takes into account a fighters strength of opponent, strength of performance, and frequency of activity. As with any WEC event, Aldo vs. Faber resulted in a serious shakeup of the bantamweight and featherweight divisions in our Fighter Rankings but some lightweights made serious moves, too.
Jose Aldo proved that he is the class of the WEC’s 145-pound division, moving from #3 to #2 in our Featherweight Rankings with his dominant decision victory over Urijah Faber. The fight was not enough for him to leapfrop Bibiano Fernandes to the number one spot, likely because Fernandes’ overall body of work is stronger. If Aldo continues to do work in the WEC you can expect him to take the #1 ranking by force in 2010. Former champ Urijah Faber showed heart in the loss and dropped only a few spots, from #5 to #8. Faber still beats most 145-ers, but Aldo is a different kind of cat.
In the WEC Lightweight Championship tilt, Benson Henderson finished Cowboy Cerrone quickly and moved into the top five, from $6 to #4 in our Lightweight Rankings. Cerrone hung tight at #37 with the loss. If Dana White is telling the truth about the WEC lightweight division eventually being folded into the UFC, it could present great opportunities for Henderson, but based on relative bodies of work, many of the WEC’s 155-ers would get lost in the bottom half of UFC’s lightweights. Time will tell.
(Gamburyan put Brown down with a hard right.)
Manny Gamburyan crushed former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown with a hard counter right and won himself a spot in the top five, jumping from #15 to #5. Brown falls hard from #6 to #20. In other main card action, Shane Roller jumps from #32 to #18 at lightweight with his submission win over Anthony Njokuani, who drops from #41 to #58. Scott Jorgensen moves from #5 to #4 in the Bantamweight Rankings with his redemptive win over Antonio Banuelos, who slides from #9 to #13.
On the undercard, Leonard Garcia improved his stock at featherweight, from #33 to #22, with his split decision Fight of the Night victory over unranked Chan Sung Jung. Takeya Mizugaki traded places in the bantamweight rankings with the man he defeated, Rani Yahya – Mizugaki lands at #7, and Yahya now resides at #17. TUF alum Alex Karalexis wanders farther into rankings siberia with his loss to Anthony Pettis. Karalexis drops from #91 to #107 at lightweight while Anthony Pettis climbs from #73 to #59 with the win. Brad Pickett jumps from #11 to #6 at bantamweight with his win over Demetrious Johnson who, like Anthony Morrison, Chad Mendes, Tyler Toner, and Brandon Visher, remains unranked.
All other fighters appearing on Aldo vs. Faber remain unranked.
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