Official Strawweight MMA Rankings: February 2020
Photo by Dux Carvajal/ONE Championship/Getty Images
The author is suffering from technological problems, so the format will be reduced for this edition of the rankings.
#1/2/3
Joshua Pacio vs. Alex Silva winner will be #1 if there is a finish or dominant decision by Pacio, or Silva if he wins. If there is a weak result or unconvincing decision, it will be Jarred Brooks.
#3 - Haruo Ochi
When it came time for his rematch vs. Jarred Brooks, although Ochi came on strong in the 3rd round, showing his experience and striking savvy built around hooks and deft flying knees against a tiring Brooks, Haruo ultimately lost his #1 ranking via UD, bringing his SW record down to 7-2 (1).
While Ochi remains the DEEP champion and one of the greatest threats in the division, his stature in Japan's biggest promotion, RIZIN, has shrunk in their smallest division. Thankfully for Ochi, he remains technically undefeated under the RIZIN banner, as his loss to Brooks took place in Bellator, and his only other fights in RIZIN are his KO of Sunabe and his NC against Brooks.
#4 - Yosuke “NINJA” Saruta
Yosuke was targeting a fight between the next best wrestler at strawweight (one being himself) and Nobita Naito on the March ONE Japan card. The cancellation of that card in December dashed those dreams, but the fight remains titillating, as there's no clear-cut contender at ONE SW at the moment, the clunk of Pacio's knee bouncing Saruta's brain against his skull is still fresh in the minds of strawweight aficionados.
Despite the fact that Yosuke's dominant performance against King of Pancrase Daichi Kitakata helped silence the vast majority of doubters, whether or not the divisional Ninja— a former Shooto & ONE champ— deserves a title fight for it remains to be determined.
#5 - Daichi Kitakata
Daichi Kitakata suffered a highlight-reel KO loss to Yosuke Saruta, but has a chance to rebound in spectacular fashion against the first high-level SW to come out of the legendary American Kickboxing Academy, TUF veteran and former Tachi Palace FLW champ Adam Antolin, on the February Pancrase card.
Antolin secured a #1 ranking in Pancrase due to his out-of-nowhere Prayer Choke submission over longtime Pancrase ranker Hiroaki Ijima last Autumn.
Kitakata won his Pancrase belt by KO'ing 3-divisional King of Pancrase & former tormentor Mitsuhisa Sunabe in the 5th round last July.
#6 - Mitsuhisa Sunabe
Sunabe's Pancrase title-run came to an end in his rematch against Daichi Kitakata, as the much-improved Daichi took advantage of Sunabe's suspect durability since getting KO'd by Haruo Ochi in 2018.
Although he doesn't have a fight scheduled, Sunabe's still training and his twitter account seems to hint he's preparing for a return.
Possible opponents include Yuta Miyazawa and a rematch with Tatsuya So, or even Pancrase top-5 ranker Anthony Do. If the return is in RIZIN, the possibilities are too many to list.
#7- Rene Catalan
“D'challenger” had his 7-fight winning streak come to an end against the most dominant Filipino in MMA, Joshua Pacio. Although Rene impressed with his series of leg-lock attempts in the 1st round, by the 2nd round Pacio's endless Team Lakay cardio had come into effect and he submitted Catalan with an arm-triangle choke.
Rene's next move is uncertain, but rematches with Nobita Naito or Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke are possibilities, as is a fight with fellow Filipino Jeremy Miado.
#8 - Yoshitaka “NOBITA” Naito
Yoshitaka ended 2019 on a solid two-fight winning streak against solid opposition in Alex Silva and Pongsiri Mitsatit. Although he started out the year on a sour note, losing via 1st-round TKO in a massive upset to Rene Catalan & his rubber match with Silva being the most lackluster of their trilogy due to Nobita's tactics, he turned the pace up against Pongsiri Mitsatit and gained some extra fans in the process.
A fight between two former Shooto & ONE champs against Yosuke “Ninja” Saruta is among the most tantalizing options. However, piecing together a few more wins against some lower-level opponents, like Robin Catalan or the Hexigetu-Adrian Matheis winner, might be a reward Nobita deserves after his years of service to JMMA, instead of facing another hungry wolf occupying the hyper-elite slots of his division.
#9- Alex Silva
(If he loses)
#10 - Koha “HIROBA” Minowa
Koha Minowa became the 8th Shooto strawweight world champion with a Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn-like trilogy against the athletic Yohei Komaki.
In their 2016 meeting, Hiroba overcame his opponent's active & explosive guard to, in classic Hiroba fashion, tire him out with his relentless wrestling built around his Fedor Emelianenko-like core gut, opening up the submission in the 2nd round. The 2018 rematch went much quicker, as Hiroba scored a 1st-round TKO. The 3rd 2020 fight mirrored the 1st: a 2nd-round sub for Hiroba.
Possible options for Hiroba include fights with Ryosuke Honda, who defeated former SW champ Ken Asuka via SD, and the three-fight winning streaks of Tateo Iino & Junji Sarumaru. Another option: officially relegating Shooto into ONE's Japanese-RFA, joining ONE Championship & rematching Saruta?
Contenders
Iino, Adiwang/Pongsiri winner.
Jeremy “THE JAGUAR" Miado
Miado ended 2019 with the strawweight division's KO of the year & 2010-19 decade. Although he's been hot-and-cold throughout his career (his ONE debut loss to Robin Catalan & the recent Dejdamrong rematch being prime examples), Miado's performances in victory offer instantaneous devastation worthy of the nickname “The Jaguar”.
A longtime figure that ONE has been desperate to turn into a divisional superstar, Jeremy's performance against then-10th-ranked SW Miao LiTao has set his hype going into 2020 off to a great start. Especially since there are only a few fighters ahead of him now in the title picture, so a title-shot is possibly only two wins away.
Bokang Masunyane
Arguably the pound-for-pound #1 South African in the sport, Bokang secured a major victory in his SW debut against Ryuto Sawada. Now an immediate figure of interest in the title-discussion of ONE, how Matt Hume & Chatri decide to match Bokang up next will be very intriguing.
In a performance eerily-similar to Clay Guida's 3-round act against Tatsuya Kawajiri, Masunyane grabbed hold of a reverse-bearhug and kneed his Japanese opponent for the majority of 3 rounds, realizing the ridiculous advantage his gigantic muscles held in that position compared to playing with Ryuto's guard.
Ryosuke Honda
Honda-kun secured the biggest victory of his young career against former Shooto world champion “Ken Asuka”, breaking Kurosawa's two-fight KO streak since returning in 2019.
The 2017 Shooto FLW rookie champion, Honda scored his first SW victory over quality opponent “The Skinny Zombie” when he was only 2-0. He lost to Junji Sarumaru via technical decision, though it was stopped due to a groin shot less than a minute into the 2nd round.
Honda also defeated 2017 Shooto SW rookie champ Shota Aki via 2nd-round sub.
Next 5
Ken Asuka or Miao, Komaki or Adiwang/Pongsiri loser depending on performance
Ryuto Sawada
Ryuto's sophomore ONE appearance didn't go as planned, as he lost a unanimous decision to the first black man to be a ranked SW in explosive, relentless wrestler Bokang Masunyane.
Sawada holds a 3-1 record with the organization, though, and as an instructor living in Singapore at EVOLVE MMA (no doubt, even factoring in Singapore’s high cost-of-living, earning more than as an assistant instructor at AACC in Tokyo), he has a solid future ahead of him with the biggest MMA promotion in Southeast-Asia.
Sawada holds wins over “The Skinny Zombie" Takamasa Kiuchi, Tateo Iino, Yuki Shojo, Anthony Do, and numerous other elite SWs.
Junji "SARUMARU" Ito
While he wasn't able to finish the resilient Team Lakay export Jerome Wanawan, Sarumaru walked away with a 30-27 & 29-27 unanimous decision verdict over the first Filipino opponent of his career. Sarumaru is now 3-0-1 since his January, 2018 upset loss to Itchaku Murata. He holds a technical decision win over Ryosuke Honda in that time.
Sarumaru's been a longtime contender in Shooto going back to his 2011 title-shot against Junji Ikoma, and is looking for his 5th shot at the belt. He holds a notable knockout over Shooto champ Ken Asuka.
Tatsuya So
In the narrow SW top-20 tier that interchanges constantly, Tatsuya So’s highlight-reel KO over a much-improved Ryo Hatta nets him a top-20 ranking for at least a while. Prior to this, So had a three-fight win streak broken by current King of Pancrase Daichi Kitakata.
Out
“Cangaceiro” Gilberto Dias is out.
Also note that Hayato Suzuki— ranked 6th in the December rankings— was removed due to inactivity and has left ONE due to a cyst in his head, but has a FLW fight scheduled in Grachan.