Who do you guys have as your top 10 145ers in the world? I have it like this. 1: Jose Aldo - Too good for the weight class, needs to move up, however he still has some nice fights here, not too many in the WEC, but I'd like to see him fight Soto, Sandro and Fernandez and possibly Grispi. Has already eliminated the who's who in his weight class in devastating fashion. Swanson, Faber and Brown all suffering brutal, one-sided losses. 2: Marlon Sandro - Super well rounded fighter who can win a fight in any fashion, his only "loss" was actually a draw to Omigawa, and recently knocked out Kanehara for the Sengoku championship. 3: Bibiano Fernandes - Outstanding grappler. Lost to Faber and KID early in his career but has racked off 6 straight, including top guys such as Warren, Takaya and former DREAM LW champ Hansen. He's the DREAM champion, and don't be fooled by the decision, Fernandes won the fight clearly. 4: Manny Gamburyan- Surprising, but the Armenian has strung off 3 wins, including notables such as Garcia and former WEC champion Mike Thomas Brown. His judo base is a good style to grind out decisions, but he's also got some power in his punches as well. 5: Michihiro Omigawa- After a lackluster start to his career, a move to 145 has left the judoka on the heels of several notable wins. He's seemed to figure out that he needs to get guys down and grind out decisions rather than go for the knockout as we saw in his brief stint in the UFC. Hopefully he comes back stateside to the WEC, but a rematch with Sandro wouldn't be a bad fight either. 6: Mike Thomas Brown- Despite the losses to Aldo and Gamburyan, Brown has been as good as anyone in the division for a long time, and is a former WEC champion. Needs some good resume boosting fights later to move up. 7: Hiroyuki Takaya- DREAM Grand Prix Finalist rebounded from losses to Omigawa and Fernandes with a surprising KO over Hansen, who hadn't been knocked out in his career. 8: Josh Grispi - He's been absolutely racking up the wins, and now has a number of impressive wins inside the WEC, LC Davis' consciousness didn't even last a round and Grispi looks like fodder, I mean a contender for Aldo's belt. 9: Joe Warren- Rebounded from an embarrassing quick submission loss from Fernandes to capture the Bellator tournament crown. Setting up a great collision with Soto, that Warren has to be favored on. 10: Joe Soto- The Bellator king, hammered Saraiva in his last fight. The kid is a well-rounded grappler, and can win a fight in numerous ways once it reaches the ground. Certainly not the comp that Warren has fought so far, but a win over Warren should catapult him up in the rankings.. And that's all folks. Feel free to laugh and or flame me and add your own lists. Descriptions not needed. :cheer:
Amazing that 2 years ago you would have been laughed at for a Top 10 Featherweight list that didn't include Kid Yamamoto.
Marlon Sandro and Bibiano Fernandes are just as good as those guys. Especially Sandro, I'd pick him over every other fighter in the WEC right now. And Fernandes probably as well. I can see the future. :: I made my list with the inference that Warren wins against Freire.
1. Jose Aldo (By far the best at 145) 2. Manny Gamburyan (May be too high at 2, will drop when he gets slaughtered by Aldo.) 3. Mike Brown (Supposedly personal problems led to his bad perfomance against Manny. When on, he beats everyone at 145 other than Aldo.) 4. Uriah Faber (On his way to 135, but I'll rank him until he fights there. No shame in his losses to Brown and Aldo.) 5. Josh Grispi (10 wins in a row. 9 in the first round. 4 in the first minute.) 6. Bibiano Fernandez (Coming off impressive wins over Warren and Hellboy.) 7. Marlon Sandro (Would love to see him come to the WEC or Bellator and see how good he really is.) 8. Joe Warren (Still has a way to go, but has elite wrestling and a huge heart.) 9. Joe Soto (Will defend his Bellator Title against Warren in the fall. Can't wait.) 10. Kid Yamamoto (I think there is still gas left in the tank.) TFK