Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Featherweights

7. Mike Thomas Brown

Brown is a great illustration of the value of intelligence in fighting. Not the most naturally gifted mixed martial artist, he maximized his potential and defeated many seemingly more talented foes through outstanding preparation and brilliantly executed game plans. These qualities would serve Brown well in his post-fight career as a main coach for American Top Team, where he has long been recognized as one of the best trainers in the sport. Brown initially campaigned at lightweight, where he was a solid but unexceptional contender. He suffered early losses to Genki Sudo, Joe Lauzon and Masakazu Imanari, all by submission, though he also had wins over Mark Hominick and Yves Edwards. Once Brown dropped down to 145 pounds, he found real elite-level success. He decisioned Jeff Curran, which garnered him a World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight title shot against top pound-for-pound champion Urijah Faber, seen as almost unbeatable at the time. In one of the biggest upsets of the era, Brown knocked out Faber in the first round. He would then defend against Leonard Garcia, submitting him in the first round, and proved that his triumph was no fluke when he decisively beat Faber over five rounds in their rematch. Brown's reign would come to an end against Jose Aldo, who knocked him out in the second round. Already 34 years old and with featherweight rapidly evolving and improving, especially as it was incorporated into the UFC, Brown couldn't keep up, being knocked out early by Manny Gamburyan and then going 3-3 against relatively middling opposition to finish out his career, wisely retiring in 2013 to concentrate on coaching. Yet, while his legend is built off a mere 4-0 run in WEC, he was the best in the world for a time, and is 2-0 against the man directly in front of him in these rankings.

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