Hiroyuki Takaya, Dream Featherweight Champion

Over the past few years, the smaller weight classes in mixed martial arts fighting have been aspiring to be on level ground with the heavier weight classes. For years, these guys have been putting on spectacular fights that many casual fans have not witnessed.

There is a variety of circumstances as to why this is the case.

As with any sport, there has to be depth in talent, a forum to display that talent, and a marketing train that will lead to exposure for the sport. Up until recently, the major promotions in mma have largely ignored the smaller weight classes, mainly due to a shortage of quality talent. But the new year brings with it the good news that we will no longer have to search for “little guy” fights, and the casual fans will now get to see what they have been missing.

Many fighters have become household names over the past ten years or so, and now we have plenty more fighters with the potential to be just as well known. With that in mind, we bring you our picks for the top 35 “little guys” in mma—a pound-for-pound ranking of fighters who routinely weigh in at 145 pounds or less, ranging from featherweight all the way down to strawweight.

~Top 35 Little Guys in MMA~

Recognized weight classifications in mixed martial arts:

• Featherweight – 145lbs
• Bantamweight – 135lbs
• Flyweight – 125lbs
• Strawweight – 115lbs

* KOTC names their 145lbs division Bantamweight
** KOTC names their 125lbs division Jr Flyweight

~Honorables~

PR=Previous Ranking
CR=Current Ranking
H=Honorable
KO=Knockouts
Sub=Submissions

Shine Fight Promotions is a small mma organization, founded in 2009. They held two successful events last year and have been looked at as a decent place for a fighter to earn a paycheque.

They have recently had a run of bad luck though, and it’s difficult to say if they are deserving of the negative press heading their way because of it.

Scheduled for May 15, 2010, Shine Fights 3: Worlds Collide was to be their marquee presentation. The main event, pitting former UFC standout Din Thomas against former WBA/WBC champion Ricardo Mayorga, would prove once and for all whether boxers were better than mma fighters.

Read more »

Sarah Kaufman and Roxanne Modafferi weigh in for Strikeforce Challengers 9

Canadian Sarah Kaufman recently made headlines with her powerslam knockout of Roxanne Modafferi to successfully defend her Strikeforce title. Title in what? Even the broadcasters weren’t certain. They fought at 135 pounds. Normally, 126 to 135 pounds is called “bantamweight”. But Strikeforce was calling it “welterweight”. Showtime, airing the fight, put up a graphic that said “lightweight”. Even veteran fight announcer Mauro Ranallo, who was calling the fight, could only refer to it as the “one-thirty-five division”. Read more »

“Cuddles” finds her next opponent

Jan Finney makes her Strikeforce debut this Saturday, June 26th.  She’s fighting the dominant featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos.

Finney has a rather lacklustre record of 8-7, but her record is misleading!  I’ve seen the Vegas spread as well as many comments on the various mma message boards.  No one is giving Finney a chance to compete, let alone win this matchup. I just want to point out that Strikeforce didn’t simply pluck someone from the amateur ranks to give Cris Cyborg a tune-up fight.

Finney’s losses have come against top competition.  She lost to wmma pioneer Shayna Baszler.  And she lost via overtime decision to Miesha Tate (referee decision).  As well, she lost to Erin Toughill after taking the fight to a decision. And 3 of her losses were to the same fighter. Read more »

Don King Proves Once Again How Much He Loves 'America'

Din Thomas is either crazy or very confident in his abilities as a combat fighter. I’d say he’s somewhere in between there. And I give him much credit for wanting to step between the ropes and fight a professional boxer.  I’d like to see more of this from mma fighters, particularly the ones that call out other fighters.  Read more »

The month of May has ended for fight fans, as we were treated to an assortment of elite and very intriguing match ups.  Both boxing and mma delivered this month in supplying us with something to watch almost every weekend and even during weekdays.

There was not a day this month that we weren’t bombarded with breaking news about the Rampage vs. Rashad match.   And the Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley fight was one of the most anticipated boxing match ups – probably since Mike Tyson’s heyday.

In the month of May 2010, this is the lineup of big fights that we enjoyed: Read more »

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion

Tim Sylvia continues his climb back to respectability as he defeated Poland’s Mariusz Pudzianowski at Moosin: God of Martial Arts event this past Friday (5/21/10).  [video below] The fight took place in Worchester, Massachusetts as Sylvia looked to steal some of the mystique that has contributed to Mariusz being recognized as the five-time World’s Strongest Man.  Mariusz has a background in amateur boxing and kickboxing.

You would think that Sylvia would have home field advantage considering that he’s from nearby Maine.  However, considering that Massachusetts has a dense amassment of Poles, it doesn’t take long to recognize that Pudzianowski was the crowd favorite. Read more »

ADDENDUM (6/3/2010):
Charles Bennett is out for the KJ Noons rematch.  Apparent scheduling conflicts have led to the removal of the always controversial Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett from June’s “Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum” event, and original opponent K.J. Noons Noons (8-2 MMA, 0-0 SF) has been moved up to Strikeforce’s June 16 event in Los Angeles.
(full article at mmajunkie.com)

ADDENDUM:
Charles “Crazy Horse” Bennett quickly rebounds and signs to rematch KJ Noons, at Strikeforce in June.  Bennett surprised in the first match and knocked the undefeated Noons silly in their first bout.

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Unfortunately, Shine Fights: Mayorga Vs. Din Thomas (For 5/15/10) was cancelled! Wow, for us mma fans this is very disappointing. Get the full breakdown at mmajunkie.com.

Twitter(ShineFights): “Don King had a plan to ruin our show and he was able to get that done by bringing 1,000,000.00 in cash to the court room.”

Twitter(ShineFights): “To all of the fans who were looking forward to Shine 3 we are very sorry with the out come of the ruling with the judge. We hope that you have faith in our company and understand that we did everything in our power to make this fight happen.”

Shine Fights returns from its last event on September 4th.   Shine Fights is an up and coming mixed martial arts organization dedicated to the promotion of matching good fighters against each other.  They do not shy away from popular opinion, and come this Saturday, they intend to put this to the task.

You have two fighters (Mayorga & Bennett) that have garnered publicity, even if it hasn’t always been on the positive side.  One of these fighters on the card is the former boxing champion from Nicaragua, Ricardo Mayorga (36), making his mma debut, after having apparently finished his boxing career.  Read more »