The top of the featherweight buzz rankings held relatively steady in September, with former WEC champ “The California Kid” Urijah Faber hanging onto first and Jens Pulver staying in second. With the WEC and Japanese promotions some of the only outlets for fighers in this weight class to make a name for themselves, established stars like Faber and Pulver will be difficult to bump from the top. Giving it a go, however, is Brazilian dynamo Jose Aldo, jumping five spots to third place in the rankings now that he is set to take on WEC champion Mike Thomas Brown in November. The tough American and the exciting Brazilian should deliver a much-needed television ratings boost to the organization.
Despite not fighting in the U.S., Japanese star Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto still generates a fair amount of fan buzz and held on to the fourth spot. Joe Warren and a number of other featherweights jumped up significantly in the rankings after having bouts in September.
As evidence of the relative lack of familiarity that most U.S. fans have with this division, the bottom half of the top 20 buzz rankings are volatile. 12 fighters dropped out of the rankings since August.
| September Rank |
Featherweight Fighter |
August to September Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Urijah Faber | No Change |
| 2 | Jens Pulver | No Change |
| 3 | Jose Aldo | Up 5 |
| 4 | Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto | No Change |
| 5 | Mike Thomas Brown | Down 2 |
| 6 | Joe Warren | Up 11 |
| 7 | Manny Gamburyan | Up 22 |
| 8 | Rumina Sato | Up 50 |
| 9 | Wagnney Fabiano | Up 37 |
| 10 | Hideo Tokoro | Up 24 |
| 11 | Bibiano Fernandes | Up 25 |
| 12 | Chase Beebe | Up 3 |
| 13 | Josh Grispi | Up 34 |
| 14 | Leonard Garcia | Down 9 |
| 15 | Micah Miller | Up 26 |
| 16 | Yoshiro Maeda | Up 6 |
| 17 | Hiroyuki Takaya | Up 14 |
| 18 | Dokojonosuke Mishima | Up 7 |
| 19 | Rafael Assuncao | Up 32 |
| 20 | L.C. Davis | Up 4 |
Dropped out of Featherweight Top 20:
Hatsu Hioki (#21), Michihiro Omigawa (#23), Marlon Sandro (#31), Fredson Paixao (#33), Javier Vazquez (#35), Masanori Kanehara (#42), Abel Cullum (#44), Ivan Lopez (#49), Cole Province (#51), Chang Sung Jung (#55), Shigeki Osawa (#57), Matt Jaggers (#60)
