It's not often that a fighter moves up in our MMA rankings after losing a fight, but then again it's not often that a fighter looks as impressive in a losing effort as Takeya Mizugaki looked in dropping a unanimous decision to Miguel Torres at WEC 40. So as we update our list of the Top 10 bantamweights in MMA, we've moved Mizugaki up -- ahead of everyone but Torres.
WEC 40 may have been the best bantamweight card of all-time, and that makes the day after WEC 40 a perfect time to revisit our ratings of the 135-pounders. Torres obviously stays at the top, while three other fighters who won at WEC 40 -- Rani Yahya, Joseph Benavidez and Dominick Cruz -- are in the Top 7. The toughest decision for me was what to do with Manny Tapia and Akitoshi Tamura, who had a great fight on the WEC 40 undercard. All three judges gave the decision to Tamura, but from my angle sitting at cageside Tapia appeared to have been more effective, so I'm placing him one spot ahead of Tamura at the bottom of my Top 10.
Top 10 bantamweights (135 pounds) in MMA:
1. Miguel Torres
2. Takeya Mizugaki
3. Brian Bowles
4. Rani Yahya
5. Joseph Benavidez
6. Masakatsu Ueda
7. Dominick Cruz
8. Eduardo Dantas
9. Manny Tapia
10. Akitoshi Tamura
WEC 40 may have been the best bantamweight card of all-time, and that makes the day after WEC 40 a perfect time to revisit our ratings of the 135-pounders. Torres obviously stays at the top, while three other fighters who won at WEC 40 -- Rani Yahya, Joseph Benavidez and Dominick Cruz -- are in the Top 7. The toughest decision for me was what to do with Manny Tapia and Akitoshi Tamura, who had a great fight on the WEC 40 undercard. All three judges gave the decision to Tamura, but from my angle sitting at cageside Tapia appeared to have been more effective, so I'm placing him one spot ahead of Tamura at the bottom of my Top 10.
Top 10 bantamweights (135 pounds) in MMA:
1. Miguel Torres
2. Takeya Mizugaki
3. Brian Bowles
4. Rani Yahya
5. Joseph Benavidez
6. Masakatsu Ueda
7. Dominick Cruz
8. Eduardo Dantas
9. Manny Tapia
10. Akitoshi Tamura