Bantamweight: Urijah Faber

Urijah Faber was once considered the most dangerous man south of 155 pounds. Then along came a man named Mike Brown and everything changed for the former longtime WEC champion. Since losing his featherweight title to Brown at WEC 36, Urijah has put together a record of 5-4, dropped a weight class and botched a handful of title chances: he was outworked in a rematch with Brown, brutalized by Jose Aldo, and in recent years, campaigning at bantamweight, clearly outworked by current champion Dominick Cruz and now interim title holder, Renan “Barao” Pegado. Urijah is a man who's built for competition, and he's remarkably technical everywhere the fight takes place, but he's lost a step, and the competition has risen just beyond his grasp. Having said that, the only way you're going to get a chance at fighting for 135 pound gold is by getting past “The California Kid”, the toughest guy in the division not named Dominick Cruz or Renan Pegado.

Featherweight: Ched Mendes

Another member of Team Alpha Male makes this list, and quite frankly, that's anything but a negative sign. These guys are tough as nails, and as close to being a champion as one can be without wearing that belt. Mendes has torn through many a foe at 145 pounds, looking every bit the physical specimen he is. A powerful wrestler with crisp punches, Chad's rugged, determined, and durable. The only man in the division with a skillset to genuinely rival this potential future champ (excluding current champion Jose Aldo of course, who put Mendes to sleep at UFC 142) is Pat Curran, and he's currently under contract with Bellator, so that's not likely to be a fight we'll see anytime soon. Hatsu Hioki, Ricardo Lamas, Chan Sung Jung and Dennis Siver are all superb talents, but if it comes down to challenging Jose Aldo for the belt, you'd better be able to get past this monster known as “Money”.

Lightweight: Frankie Edgar

Frankie shocked the world as an undersized lightweight who not only managed to claim the 155 pound title, he did so by beating an incredibly gifted fighter in BJ Penn. Twice at that. Since then Edgar's looked to be one of the most resilient men competing today, being nearly finished on two separate occasions by Gray Maynard, only to rally each time, once resulting in a draw and once resulting in a shocking knockout. The only problem for “The Answer” you ask? Benson Henderson. Henderson took Edgar's title in close but decisive fashion at UFC 144. The two will rematch at UFC 150, and while it's hard to bet against Frankie Edgar, it's even harder to bet against Benson Henderson, who is in affect a larger, stronger version of Frankie himself. Anything can happen in this forthcoming rematch, but I don't see many significant differences, and I don't see Benson leaving the octagon without the belt he now owns. And, quite simply put, that makes Frankie Edgar the baddest man at 155 pounds not wearing gold.