Top 5 featherweight wars in MMA history, ranked

The featherweight division, as defined by the unified rules of MMA via the Association of Boxing Commissions, constitutes of fighters who are between 135 and 145 pounds.

In Japan, organizations like Shooto were among the first to form a weight class for 145 pounders in the 1990s, which they classified as lightweight. The division not only gave a platform to smaller Japanese fighters but also featured international crossovers that helped build the names of Brazilians like Alexandre Franca Nogueira.

In North America, organizations like the WEC and King of the Cage were doing their part to help pioneer these lighter divisions in the early 2000s – though KOTC technically classified their featherweights as bantamweights due to their division structures.

The WEC, in particular, found some real success with its featherweight division thanks in large part to poster boy Urijah Faber, who would go on to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

This is still one of the best MMA promos ever.

Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver 1 at WEC 34: pic.twitter.com/AuRIUMMtYu

— Dan Tom (@DanTomMMA) July 4, 2023

Aside from being a great face for the California-based promotion, Faber ended up putting on memorable performances with fighters like Jens Pulver and Mike Brown that helped build the division to what we see today in the UFC (who, of course, absorbed the WEC’s featherweight fighters back in 2010).

Limiting myself to five “great” featherweight fights is too general of a category for an already impossible ask, so I’m instead focusing on top five featherweight WARS.

Whether we’re talking about two-way technical affairs or barnyard brawls, only competitive, back-and-forth fights are eligible here. As usual, these lists reflect my personal tastes and biases and are not meant to serve as some ultimate authority. That said, I feel very strongly about not only my list but also my honorable mentions at the end.

So, without further ado …