While the biggest card from last weekend was UFC 133, Friday night’s Tachi Palace Fights 10 did much more to shake up the ProMMAnow.com World Rankings.

Flyweight Frenzy
In one of the two contests between ranked fighters, Ian McCall captured the TPF flyweight title with a third-round submission over Darrell Montague. With the victory, McCall jumped up to number two in the rankings, while Montague held firm at seven.

For the first time in his career, Jussier da Silva fought after suffering a loss. He returned in a big way and took a decision over veteran Mamoru Yamaguchi. With the victory, “Formiga” jumps up to the number-three position, while Yamaguchi falls to five.

Former flyweight kingpin Shinichi “BJ” Kojima returned to action for the first time since dropping a fight to Da Silva in 2009. He scored a split decision over top-20 flyweight Masaaki Sugawara. With the victory, Kojima returns to the rankings at four on the strength of his victories over Yamaguchi and Yuki Shojo.

While one Japanese fighter returned to the rankings, another fell out. Ryuichi Miki has not fought since losing to Yasuhiro Urushitani on May 30, 2010. According to ProMMANow.com World Rankings rules, all fighters must fight or have a fight scheduled every 365 days. However, Miki will have a chance to return to the rankings when he takes on Haruo Ochi next month.

Rankings Mailbag
Will Dan Henderson‘s victory over Fedor Emelianenko vault him into the top five? Fedor might be done, but he is still a respectable name and very few fighters have wins over “The Last Emperor
–Dan K., Baltimore, MD

Not to take anything away from Henderson’s win over Emelianenko, but it does not have any effect of his ranking. The fight was at heavyweight, and Henderson is still dedicated to campaigning at light heavyweight. If anything, Emelianenko loss could have finally been the anvil that crushed him and took him out of the heavyweight rankings. However, since the division is historically weak, even with three losses, he will stay ranked at number nine. His place is by no means secure since Josh Barnett, Sergei Kharitonov or even Cole Konrad are poised to break into the top ten.

Heavyweight

  1. Cain Velasquez (UFC Champion)
  2. Brock Lesnar (UFC)
  3. Junior dos Santos (UFC)
  4. Alistair Overeem (Strikeforce Champion)
  5. Fabricio Werdum (Strikeforce)
  6. Shane Carwin (UFC)
  7. Antonio Silva (Strikeforce)
  8. Frank Mir (UFC)
  9. Fedor Emelianenko (M-1/Strikeforce)
  10. Roy Nelson (UFC)

Upcoming Fights
#7 Antonio Silva vs. Daniel Cormier (9/10/2011)
#10 Roy Nelson vs. Mirko Filipovic (10/19/2011)
#1 Cain Velasquez vs. #3 Junior dos Santos (11/19/2011)

Light heavyweight

  1. Jon Jones (UFC Champion)
  2. Mauricio Rua (UFC)
  3. Rashad Evans (UFC)
  4. Quinton Jackson (UFC)
  5. Lyoto Machida (UFC)
  6. Forrest Griffin (UFC)
  7. Dan Henderson (Strikeforce Champion)
  8. Phil Davis (UFC)
  9. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (UFC)
  10. Rafael Cavalcante (Strikeforce)

Upcoming Fights
#2 Mauricio Rua vs. #6 Forrest Griffin (8/27/2011)
#10 Rafael Cavalcante vs. Yoel Romero (9/10/2011)
#1 Jon Jones vs. #4 Quinton Jackson (9/24/2011)

Middleweight

  1. Anderson Silva (UFC Champion)
  2. Chael Sonnen (UFC)
  3. Yushin Okami (UFC)
  4. Nate Marquardt (UFC)
  5. Ronaldo Souza (Strikeforce Champion)
  6. Vitor Belfort (UFC)
  7. Mark Munoz (UFC)
  8. Demian Maia (UFC)
  9. Michael Bisping (UFC)
  10. Hector Lombard (Bellator Champion)

Upcoming Fights
#1 Anderson Silva vs. #3 Yushin Okami (8/27/2011)
#10 Hector Lombard vs. Jesse Taylor (9/3/2011)
#5 Ronald Souza vs. Luke Rockhold (9/10/2011)
#8 Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago (10/8/2011)
#2 Chael Sonnen vs. Brian Stann (10/8/2011)
#7 Mark Munoz vs. Chris Leben (11/5/2011)
#9 Michael Bisping vs. Jason Miller (TBA)

Welterweight

  1. Georges St. Pierre (UFC Champion)
  2. Jon Fitch (UFC)
  3. Jake Shields (UFC)
  4. Josh Koscheck (UFC)
  5. Nick Diaz (UFC)
  6. B.J. Penn (UFC)
  7. Carlos Condit (UFC)
  8. Charlie Brenneman(UFC)
  9. Rick Story (UFC)
  10. Thiago Alves (UFC)

Upcoming Fights
#3 Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger (9/17/2011)
#8 Charlie Brenneman vs. Anthony Johnson (10/1/2011)
#1 Georges St. Pierre vs. #5 Nick Diaz (10/29/2011)
#6 B.J. Penn vs. #7 Carlos Condit (10/29/2011)

Lightweight

  1. Frankie Edgar (UFC Champion)
  2. Gilbert Melendez (Strikeforce Champion)
  3. Gray Maynard (UFC)
  4. Shinya Aoki (Dream Champion)
  5. Eddie Alvarez (Bellator Champion)
  6. Jim Miller (UFC)
  7. Tatsuya Kawajiri (DREAM)
  8. Sean Sherk (UFC)
  9. Clay Guida (UFC)
  10. Anthony Pettis (UFC)

#6 Jim Miller vs. Ben Henderson (8/14/2011)
#4 Shinya Aoki vs. Rob McCullough (9/24/2011)
#7 Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Joachim Hansen (Featherweight) (9/24/2011)
#1 Frankie Edgar vs. #3 Gray Maynard (10/8/2011)
#10 Anthony Pettis vs. Jeremy Stephens (10/8/2011)
#5 Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler (10/15/2011)

Featherweight

  1. Jose Aldo (UFC Champion)
  2. Hatsu Hioki (UFC)
  3. Chad Mendes (UFC)
  4. Marlon Sandro (Bellator)
  5. Kenny Florian (UFC)
  6. Diego Nunes (UFC)
  7. Joe Warren (Bellator Champion)
  8. Tyson Griffin (UFC)
  9. Manny Gamburyan (UFC)
  10. Mark Hominick (UFC)

Upcoming Fights
#4 Marlon Sandro vs. Pat Curran (8/20/2011)
#7 Joe Warren vs. Alexis Vila (Bantamweight) (9/24/2011)
#6 Diego Nunes vs. #9 Manny Gamburyan (9/24/2011)
#1 Jose Aldo vs. #5 Kenny Florian (10/8/2011)
#8 Tyson Griffin vs. Bart Palaszewski (10/29/2011)
#2 Hatsu Hioki vs. George Roop (10/29/2011)

Bantamweight

  1. Dominick Cruz (UFC Champion)
  2. Joseph Benavidez (UFC)
  3. Urijah Faber (UFC)
  4. Scott Jorgensen (UFC)
  5. Brian Bowles (UFC)
  6. Takeya Mizugaki (UFC)
  7. Brad Pickett (UFC)
  8. Demetrious Johnson (UFC)
  9. Masakatsu Ueda (Shooto)
  10. Miguel Torres (UFC)

Upcoming Fights
#2 Joseph Benavidez vs Eddie Wineland (8/14/2011)
#6 Takeya Mizugaki vs. Cole Escovedo (9/24/2011)
#1 Dominick Cruz vs. #8 Demetrious Johnson (10/1/2011)
#4 Scott Jorgensen vs. Jeff Curran (10/29/2011)
#7 Brad Pickett vs. Renan Barao (11/5/2011)
#3 Urijah Faber vs. #5 Brian Bowles (11/19/2011)

Flyweight

  1. Yasuhiro Urushitani (Shooto World Champion)
  2. Ian McCall (Tachi Palace)
  3. Jussier da Silva (Tachi Palace)
  4. Shinichi Kojima (Shooto)
  5. Mamoru Yamaguchi (Shooto/Tachi Palace)
  6. Yuki Shojo (Shooto)
  7. Darrell Montague (Tachi Palace Champion)
  8. Kiyotaka Shimizu (King of Pancrase)
  9. Fumihiro Kitahara (Shooto)
  10. Ulysses Gomez (Tachi Palace)

Upcoming Fights
Ryuichi Miki (dropped due to inactivity) vs. Haruo Ochi (9/24/2011)

The Pro MMA Now World MMA Rankings were last updated on Aug. 8, 2011. If you have thoughts regarding the rankings we would love to hear your opinions.

8 thoughts on “ProMMANow.com World Rankings Update – Flyweight Frenzy”
  1. I still don’t understand how Urushitani is ahead of McCall in all of these rankings. He’s beaten two top ten caliber fighters, and the formerly #1 ranked guy in the division.

    McCall is the best flyweight right now in the world.

    Right now are the key words, because he won’t be when the UFC opens up it’s doors to the little guys.

  2. Urushitani has just as many, if not more quality wins. I will explicate further in the next rankings mailbag. I also could not agree more with your “right now” point though. Look at how much the rankings have changed since TPF starting promoting the division.

  3. Oh, I agree that Urushitani should be very highly ranked. I just don’t agree with the whole #1 goes back to Japan after Jussier went in and beat their best guy (Kojima) then came to the US and got beat by McCall. It kinda goes with your second point, and coupled with the small amount of success guys have when they come over from Japan I gotta put the guy who has a win over #1 on top.

    Really want the UFC just to scrap Johnson-Cruz and send him down to 125 to fight Benavidez.

  4. Very true, got crossed up with the timeline. I guess it comes down to the three top ten wins for Urushitani, the longer career at 125 (with a few losses there), and the fact that a one or two of those wins were top 5. To the win over Ortiz (who wasn’t ranked but undefeated), the top 5-10 win over Montague, and the win over #1 in “Formiga” for McCall. Closer then I thought.

    Now I’d just rather not think about it until Zuffa adds 125.

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