The rankings, available in their on WAMMA’s official web site, consist of top ten rankings in the bantamweight (115.1-125 pounds), super bantamweight (125.1-135 pounds), and featherweight (135.1-145 pounds) weight classes.

Leading the pack in the featherweight class are two of the most recognizable fighters in all of female MMA, Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. Both Carano and Santos finished tied for the top spot at 145 pounds. The two have long been rumored for a head-to-head showdown that is now not expected to take place on the late-summer or early-fall, at the earliest.

At super bantamweight, former BodogFIGHT women’s champion Tara LaRosa finished at the top of the 135 pound top ten, which features established fighters such as Roxanne Modafferi, Shayna Baszler, and Amanda Buckner. LaRosa received votes from pollsters in every eligible weight class.

Ranked as the WAMMA number seven super bantamweight is former SmackGirl champion Hitomi Akano, who was just recently announced by the Strikeforce promotion as having signed to fight Santos. The two will meet in a 145 pound encounter during the promotion’s April 11 event in San Jose that will be televised on Showtime. The fight is currently slated to be the first-ever fight between two ranked WAMMA female fighters.

In the bantamweight division, Megumi Fuji claimed the top spot by what an official WAMMA official press released claimed was an overwhelming margin. According to the release, Fuji was ranked in the top spot on every ballot submitted by WAMMA pollsters.

WAMMA’s new female fighter poll will be conducted on a monthly basis and the organization believes its rankings could help further the growth of female MMA.

“Female MMA has experienced tremendous growth in recent years but many of the sport’s top women athletes are still being overlooked,” said WAMMA Rankings Committee Chair Sam Caplan, who is also the founding publisher of this web site. “With these rankings, WAMMA hopes to help bring greater awareness to the depth that exists in female MMA. We also hope that these rankings are used to create championships in multiple weight classes, which will in turn create bigger opportunities for female fighters.”

The new female poll will tabulate top ten rankings in the 125, 135, and 145 pound weight classes.

WAMMA also conducts a monthly top ten rankings poll for male fighters that has been utilized to crown champions in the heavyweight and lightweight division. The association’s heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, successfully defended his title last month against former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski while Shinya Aoki won the then-vacant lightweight title in December against Eddie Alvarez during FEG’s “Dynamite!!” event.

The male rankings is a media-only poll and will be conducted separately of the female poll, which will differ in that it will be an industry poll. As such fighters, managers, trainers, and promoters will be allowed to vote on a limited basis. According to a press release issued Thursday, fighters will be unable to vote for themselves nor will they be allowed to vote in the weight class in which they most recently competed in.

Additionally, WAMMA is claiming that pollsters will be subject to a vetting process in which their ballots are analyzed for any potential abnormalities that might exist due to a bias.

“We are sure that the decision to conduct an industry poll for our female rankings will raise some eyebrows,” began WAMMA Chief Operating Officer Michael Lynch. “However, after an exhaustive search, it was determined that while there are many knowledgeable experts on the field of female MMA, most of them have an industry affiliation. Much like the NFL allows its players to vote in its Pro Bowl selections, WAMMA has elected to follow a similar model. We’re going to allow the female fighting industry tell the world who its best fighters are.”

Serving as the chair for the new female poll is the founding owner and publisher of this web site, Sam Caplan contributing writer for CBSSports.com. Caplan also serves as the chair for WAMMA’s mens poll.

“WAMMA has billed itself as a fan and fighter-forward organization,” said Caplan. “There have been several calls to start a prominent women’s poll to help female fighters gain additional exposure. The decision to respond to those requests and start a monthly poll is proof that WAMMA is sincere in its statements about helping advance the growth of the sport.”

Jeff Osborne, promoter of the HOOKnSHOOT promotion and one of female MMA’s strongest advocates, along with Team Bison MMA trainer Mike Reilly, fighter-turned-writer Adam Baker of DreamFighters.com, and freelance MMA journalist Yael Grauer have already signed on as pollsters.

Reports surfaced earlier this month that the Alvarez vs. Aoki bout was under consideration to be for the vacant WAMMA lightweight title. FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned Monday morning through a press release issued by WAMMA that the organization will be recognizing the Alvarez vs. Aoki winner as its lightweight champion.

The release goes on to state that a belt will not be presented to the winner immediately after the conclusion of the contest. Instead, the winner will receive the championship belt during a ceremony to be held at a later date.

Alvarez was a two-time All-American high school wrestler at Northeast Catholic High School in Philadelphia and has gone 15-1 since becoming a professional mixed martial artist. A former BodogFIGHT welterweight champion, Alvarez made the decision to drop to the lightweight division earlier this year.

Starting with a 165 pound catchweight bout during a Jan. 25 ShoXC event in Atlantic City, N.J., the 24-year old father of two has gone 4-0 as a lightweight. The undefeated streak includes a 3-0 run during DREAM’s lightweight Grand Prix that only ended after Alvarez was unable to receive medical clearance to compete in the finals.

Aoki is 18-3 and widely regarded as one of the top submission fighters in MMA with black belts in both Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The 25-year old Japan native has earned his number three WAMMA lightweight ranking with notable victories over current DREAM lightweight champion Joachim Hansen; Gesias “JZ Calvan” Calvancante; former two-time UFC lightweight title challenger Caol Uno; and former Shooto middleweight champion Akira Kikuchi.

Alvarez and Aoki had been scheduled to compete during the finals of the DREAM lightweight Grand Prix but Hansen, and injury reserve, replaced the injured Alvarez. Hansen became the DREAM lightweight champion after TKO’ing Aoki in the first round even though he had been eliminated earlier in the tournament by Alvarez.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com President and Publisher Sam Caplan serves as the chair for WAMMA’s ranking committee.

Sources indicated that talks are only in their preliminary stages and that K-1 and DREAM officials have not made a final decision regarding whether Alvarez vs. Aoki will have WAMMA’s title at stake.

WAMMA bills itself as a “multifaceted, fan and fighter-forward organization dedicated to promoting the integrity, legitimacy and longevity of Mixed Martial Arts.” The promotion conducts a monthly rankings poll, of which FiveOuncesOfPain.com President and Publisher Sam Caplan serves as the chair of.

According to the organization’s November rankings, Aoki is ranked second in the poll with Alvarez slotted immediately behind him in the three spot. Both Aoki and Alvarez are ranked behind current UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn, who is scheduled to challenge Georges St. Pierre for the UFC welterweight title on Jan. 31 at UFC 94. UFC President Dana White commented earlier this week that should Penn win, his next fight would be a welterweight title defense against number one title contender Thiago Alves.

If WAMMA sanctions the Alvarez vs. Aoki matchup, it would add a second active title to the organization, with Fedor Emelianenko currently recognized as its heavyweight champion. Emelianenko is scheduled to defend the WAMMA heavyweight title on Jan. 24 in Anaheim, California during Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to see Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett faceoff for the right to take on Fedor for the WAMMA World Heavyweight Championship,” WAMMA CEO Dave Szady is quoted as saying in company-issued a press release. “In the spirit of crowning undisputed champions, we couldn’t be happier than to have two of the fighters who arguably deserve a shot at Fedor fighting it out for the chance to take on the champ.”

Both fighters competed at Affliction’s first-ever event on July 19 and both were victorious, with Barnett recording a second round knockout over Pedro Rizzo and Arlovski knocking out Ben Rothwell in the third round.

In other Affliction-related news, MMAjunkie.com was on hand to cover the promotion’s press conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Junkie is reporting that HDNet will broadcast a one-hour pre-show for the Oct. 11 event that will include several undercard matches being televised.

In addition to fights between Barnett vs. Arlovski, Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and Vitor Belfort vs. Matt Lindland having been confirmed, Junkie is reporting that undercard bouts between Roy Nelson vs. Paul Buentello and Mike Pyle vs. Jason High were also announced.

Finally, Junkie is also reporting that there is concern whether the Belfort vs. Lindland fight will take place, as Belfort is still not fully recovered from a hand injury suffered during his win over Terry Martin during Affliction’s first event.

After reading a report on FiveOuncesOfPain.com that cited a Belfort interview with the Brazilian website Tatame.com that quoted Belfort as saying the matchup would be for a belt, WAMMA CEO Mike Lynch contacted us to issue a statement. While WAMMA believes that the potential matchup is intriguing, it doesn’t consider it one worthy of determining an undisputed champion at 185 lbs.

“There has been a lot of speculation that an upcoming proposed match-up between Matt Lindland and Vitor Belfort will be for a WAMMA title,” said Lynch in an e-mail to Five Ounces of Pain. “To be sure, Matt and Vitor are two of the very best fighters in MMA today. Lindland is currently ranked seven in our middleweight rankings and Belfort is a former UFC champion who is bound to excite fans everywhere with his explosive style. If this fight happens, it would be an incredible match up. It certainly rises to the level of a must-see fight and would be the highlight of any fight card.

“With that being said, any fight between Lindland and Belfort at this time would not be for a WAMMA title. WAMMA’s goal is to crown undisputed champions based on our objective rankings. Based on our rankings, we could not sanction a Lindland vs. Belfort fight as a WAMMA championship. However, the winner of the match-up would certainly cement his place as part of the fighter elite and would be a likely contender for a WAMMA championship in the future.”

I recently had the pleasure to interview one of my all-time favorites, former UFC heavyweight champion and current IFL color commentator Bas Rutten.

Bas has added co-producer to his list of many roles in MMA as he’s involved with a new MMA documentary called “Potent.”

Potent, which is available at PotentTheMovie.com, is an in-depth look at what it takes to be a successful fighter in MMA and includes testimonials from the likes of not only Bas but also Frank Shamrock, Mario Sperry, Dean Lister, Dan Henderson, Murilo Bustamante, Shawn Tompkins, and many more.

I was not only able to interview Bas about the movie for CBSSports.com but I was also able to ask him about a change in his role with the IFL, whether Xtreme Couture will be a featured team in the league next season, and his thoughts on star pupil, Kimbo Slice.

According to Rutten, Team Kimbo apparently wants another shot at Sean Gannon:

Q: Have you discussed an opponent at all?

BR: No, absolutely not. We would really like to have Sean Gannon, the guy he lost to on the Internet, because they changed a lot of rules with that fight. That fight was purely boxing and suddenly knees started getting involved and the choke holds and he started clinching, and that was not just the match. I think it’s really been bothering Kimbo and I think he wants revenge.

That match is high on the priority list and hopefully Tank Abbott is one, too. Apparently he made some videos and said some things about Kimbo. When you put those videos out I think you should not only just bark but you should fight and take the fight.

You can read the interview in its entirety by clicking here.

a lot of people have questioned the legitimacy of the win because of the chokeholds. the best way to settle this is a rematch in a pure striking environment…K1. K1 has already contacted me, i assume this is what they want. gannon/kimbo makes a lot of sense for them, would sell a lot of payperviews to people who don’t normally buy K1. help start the buzz, we made the first one happen, lets do it again!

Gannon may have to wait in line because it was announced after Kimbo’s win over Ray Mercer this past Saturday that he’ll fight Tank Abbott in Atlantic City this September.