FIGHT! Rankings: WEC 50 Cruz vs. Benavidez


(Cruz retains his title and his #1 ranking.)

It was a big night for bantamweights at WEC 50 as three guys in FIGHT!’s top-five took to the cage. Dominick Cruz retained his top spot in our Bantamweight Rankings by taking a split decision victory over Joseph Benavidez and Benavidez stays locked in at #2 following the loss. Scott Jorgensen made his case for a title shot and held on to #4 in the Bantamweight Rankings by defeating Brad Pickett, who dropped from #8 to #11.

The featherweight division saw lots of shuffling among established fighters as well as a couple new entrants who logged their third qualifying fight. Previously unranked Chad Mendes enters our rankings at #13 in the Featherweight Rankings with a win over Cub Swanson, who slips from #27 to #28. Javier Vazquez leapt from #21 to #14 with his win over previously unranked Mackens Semerzier, who enters our rankings at #38. In the night’s only other featherweight contest, Fredson Paixao loses ground, falling from #24 to #25 following his win over Bryan Caraway, who falls from #48 to #51.

The WEC’s lightweight division is its least relevant weight class in the global MMA scene but there were some interesting developments last night in Las Vegas. Shane Roller falls hard from #18 to #42 in our Lightweight Rankings with his submission loss to Anthony Pettis, who made a strong case for a WEC title shot and jumped from #63 to #28. Bart Palaszewski continued his climb towards relevance with a win over unranked Zach Micklewright, moving from #73 to #57. Ricardo Lamas slides up from #66 to #62 with his win over previously unranked Dave Jansen, who comes in at #92. In the night’s other lightweight contests, Anthony Njokuani crashes from #62 to #93 after getting finished by unranked Maciej Jewtuszko and Danny Castillo moves from #110 to #82 with his win over unranked Dustin Poirier.

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