The “gate keeper” is a fighter that is good enough to be one of the top fighters in the division, but not good enough to beat the elite few on top. They will likely never be a champion, but they will never be without an important fight or spot within the UFC. Here are who I see as the gate keepers in the UFC.

Flyweight – Ian McCall: McCall is a great flyweight, but already has proven that he can’t compete with the likes of Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez. He just doesn’t have the skills to break into the top.

Bantamweight – Urijah Faber: Faber is a tremendous talent, but he was clearly outclassed by Renan Barao and lost his last fight with Dominick Cruz. Faber is just a step to slow to earn the title.

Featherweight – Dustin Poirier: “The Diamond” is a great fighter, but he hasn’t been able to get the job done in his toughest fights. He will always be in discussion as a top-5 featherweight, but not able to get any higher.

Lightweight – Jim Miller: Miller has tremendous heart and wrestling ability, but he can’t quite get to the mountain top. If a contender isn’t cut for the elite status, Miller will prove it.

Welterweight – Jake Ellenberger: Ellenberger seemed primed for a title shot with a win over Rory MacDonald, but he failed to take his talents to that next level. He can beat most of the division, but not the very best.

Middleweight – Yushin Okami: As said previously, Okami is a tough guy to get past, but if you can, it puts you in the 185-pound title picture.

Light Heavyweight – Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: Lil Nog is a talented fighter, but doesn’t really show anything to make you feel like he could actually be the 205-pound champion. He has some big wins, but some bad losses. If someone is going to be a champ in this division, they have to get through him.

Heavyweight – Antonio Silva: Silva proved he can’t be the champion of this division, getting hammered by Cain Velasquez on two occasions now. However, he owns wins over guys like Fedor and Alistair Overeem. Silva is no easy victory, but he doesn’t have the total package to be champ.

Aldo has seemingly cleaned out the division and is now preparing to face Erik Koch at UFC 149 later this year.

But, on Tuesday, some light may have been shed on the featherweight tunnel.

Chan Sung Jung put on the best performance of his career in a fourth-round submission win over Dustin Poirier.

Long thought of as just a bit of a novelty act, Jung had made a name for himself for being able to take a beating and keep coming forward, hence the name “The Korean Zombie”. Nobody really thought of him as a legit title contender.

But, on Tuesday night in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 3, Jung showed great all-around skills and some of the slickest jiu-jitsu I have seen in a fight in quite sometime.

Jung had tremendous transitions, great execution, and he also mixed up his striking to include leg kicks and knees. It was clear that Jung has improved a great deal since joining the UFC, where he is now 3-0.

While he still needs to keep improving to beat the likes of Aldo, he does present one thing that Aldo’s opponents haven’t seemed to possess, and that is the ability to press the action.

Most of Aldo’s opponents have been very tentative against the champion and have tried to react to what Aldo does as opposed to making him react to what they do.

That won’t be an issue with Jung. He is going to fall on his sword and go with his style, win or lose. I think he could possess a real threat to Aldo because he will be able to eat some punches and kicks and keep coming forward. If the fight goes to the ground, it is hard to see anyone really out-working Jung.

Kenny Florian may have put it best on the broadcast when he said Jung “is always throwing finishing moves at you.” All of his strikes have the intent to end the fight and on the ground, he is always pursuing a submission. He doesn’t give his opponents a chance to relax.

The one area Jung may need to improve is his conditioning, but he will have a while to do that before facing Aldo. I think fans would get behind an Aldo vs. Jung bout as well, at least a lot more than Aldo vs. Koch.

Not too much has changed in the division since I last came out with my 145-pound top 10, but we did have some debuts and a mild upset or too.

Here is a look at my latest top 10 for the featherweight division.

1. Jose Aldo (19-1) – Aldo is the champion and awaits his next opponent. It looks to be Kenny Florian, but a date and location have yet to be set. Aldo showed some signs of vulnerability against Mark Hominick, but still dominated a great deal of their 25-minute fight. Florian will need to be on top of his game to take Aldo’s title.

2. Chad Mendes (10-0) – The wrestling master has been labeled the No. 1 contender for Aldo, but he opted not to wait for the champion to heal up with some injuries and will now take on Rani Yahya at UFC 133, with his title shot on the line. Mendes likely has the grappling edge in this one, but will have to avoid the slick submissions of Yahya.

3. Kenny Florian (14-5) – Florian won his featherweight debut over Diego Nunes and now appears to be in line for a title shot. Florian didn’t look his best, but the first fight at a lower weight class is always the toughest. Florian will have a strong game plan to fight Aldo, the question will be if he can execute it?

4. Hatsu Hioki (24-4-2) – Hioki is now part of the UFC after giving up his Shooto championship and some consider him the second best featherweight in the world behind Aldo. It will be interesting to see if Hioki suffers the same fate as many others that struggle in their octagon debut.

5. Diego Nunes (16-2) – Nunes fought amicably against Florian in a decision loss and showed that he does have some skills to compete with the best, but he still has to find a way to bring his whole game together to get over the hump.

6. Mark Hominick (20-9) – Hominick is still one of the best technical strikers in the division and he has very good submission ability as well. Hominick exposed some holes in Aldo’s game, which is more than anyone had done to that point. His next bout will be key as he needs to look impressive to get back in the title hunt.

7. Dustin Poirier (10-1) – Poirier continues to rise up the rankings as the young promising striker picked up another victory. Poirier has an interesting style that looks to pose some problems for the top contenders. He deserves a contest with a top-8 opponent next to see if he is for real.

8. Tyson Griffin (15-5) – Griffin earned a razor-close decision win over Manny Gamburyan in his featherweight debut. The win was big for Griffin, who had been struggling at lightweight prior to his jump down to 145. Griffin is a great grappler and has fasts hands, but he has yet to really find the perfect combination to make him a real threat for a championship.

9. Manny Gamburyan (11-6) – Even in a loss, Gamburyan was still right in the mix with Griffin and could have won the fight with a slight move here or there. Manny has beaten some of the best in the division but now finds himself behind a newly-crowded featherweight division.

10. Erik Koch (12-1) – Koch picked up a knockout win over Raphael Assuncao in his last fight and he will get Ultimate Fighter Champion, Jonathan Brookins in September. Koch’s lone loss was to Mendes by decision and he has since finished his last three opponents in the first round, making him a very dangerous threat in the division.

The featherweights get the spotlight this week, headlined by UFC king, Jose Aldo.

So, without further ado, here is my top 10.

(If you need to go back and find my pound-for-pound, heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight or lightweight rankings, click on the links)

1. Jose Aldo (19-1) – Aldo is one of the top strikers in all of MMA as his leg kicks are one of the most devastating strikes in the game. Aldo struggled toward the end of his win over Mark Hominick at UFC 129, but it was later discovered he was dealing with an infection leading up to the fight. Still, Aldo found a way to beat up Hominick for four rounds and retain his title.

2. Chad Mendes (10-0) – The protégé of Urijah Faber is unbeaten in his MMA career and he continues to develop his striking to go along with his overpowering wrestling. Mendes is set to take on Aldo for the title later this year, but the memory of seeing Faber get blasted in the leg by Aldo may haunt him heading into the fight. Mendes appears to posses the ability to take Aldo to the ground. But, the question is, what will Mendes be able to do to Aldo when the fight hits the ground and can he hold the champ down for 25 minutes?

3. Kenny Florian (13-5) – Florian has yet to fight at 145 pounds, but I still consider him one of the best now that he is jumping into the mix. Florian has only suffered losses to some of the best at 155 pounds and his style should pose a lot of problems for the top featherweights in the UFC. He begins his march towards a title against Diego Nunes at UFC 131, and a win will likely make him the No. 1 contender to the featherweight title later in 2011.

4. Hatsu Hioki (24-4-2) – Hioki is the Shooto and Sengoku champion, but it is hard to gauge where he stacks up against the best in the states. He did lose back in 2009 to Michihiro Omigawa by split decision. Omigawa was recently dominated by Mendes in the octagon. Still, Hioki is an impressive submission grappler that could pose some problems for anyone in the 145-pound division.

5. Manny Gamburyan (11-5) – It is hard to know just how talented Manny is because his biggest win is against Mike Brown, who has been on a major downfall over the past few years. Still, Gamburyan has strong hands and is a powerful grappler. He isn’t afraid to trade and he pushes a fast pace, which makes him a tough opponent for anyone. He gets Tyson Griffin in Griffin’s UFC featherweight debut at UFC on Versus 4, which will be a major bout for both fighters.

6. Diego Nunes (16-1) – Nunes has quietly emerged as one of the top featherweights in the world. He has beaten Brown and Raphael Assuncao by decision in the last year, along with Tyler Toner. Nunes has went to the cards in his last six fights, so he is lacking that exciting finish, but he will get a chance to prove his worth when he takes on Florian at UFC 131.

7. Mark Hominick (20-9) – Hominick earned a lot of fans in a losing effort against Aldo at UFC 129, but his skills are still up there with anyone. He has some of the best boxing in the division, if not the very best, and his submission game isn’t bad either. Hominick showed a lot of heart in the final round against Aldo, and came close to finishing the fight, but he struggled early with Aldo’s kicks and wasn’t able to get comfortable with his striking.

8. Dustin Poirier (9-1) – Perhaps I am reading too much into Poirier’s performance against Josh Grispi at UFC 125, but I really liked what I saw from this 21-year-old featherweight. His striking was on point and his grappling was solid as well. Being so young, the kid can only get better and now he gets a shot at Rani Yahya at UFC 131, which will test his grappling and submission ability another time.

9. Tyson Griffin (14-5) – Like Florian, I am giving Griffin some credit before actually debuting at 145 pounds. He will do that at UFC Live 4 against Gamburyan. Still, Griffin will be a tough out for this division if he can make the weight. He is a strong and compact grappler with fast hands. His striking isn’t the best, but he does have good power and he can out-wrestle most, if not all, of the division. Griffin has lost some fights in his career due to his stubborn style of wanting to trade punches, but if he utilizes his wrestling in this division, I think he can quickly become a top contender.

10. Michihiro Omigawa (12-9-1) – Omigawa has had a tough go in the UFC, as he is 0-3 in the octagon, but two of those bouts came against lightweights and the other was against Mendes. Omigawa has still had some impressive wins overseas in Dream and Sengoku, but he has yet to land that big victory in the UFC.  He gets that chance at UFC 131, when he takes on Darren Elkins.

But, to really know MMA is to know which fighters are the future of the sport.

I don’t pretend to be a psychic, but I do think I know a talented fighter when I see them. So, here is a list of one fighter in each division that is somewhat under the radar. Each of these guys has the raw ability to someday get to the UFC title, if they continue to evolve and strengthen their weaknesses.

Heavyweight – Travis Browne (10-0-1) – Browne is coming off a draw with Cheick Kongo at UFC 120, but that isn’t a terrible showing for just his second fight in the UFC. It was the first time Browne hadn’t won and he has knockout wins over Abe Wagner and James McSweeney to his credit. He also has five knockout wins that have come in under 60 seconds. If Browne can develop his grappling skills to match his punching power, he will become a very dangerous opponent in the heavyweight division. Browne will be showcased on UFC 130 as he takes on Stefan Struve.

Light Heavyweight – Matt Hamill (10-2) – In a stacked light heavyweight division, many are forgetting about Matt Hamill. Winner of five straight, Hamill has wins over Tito Ortiz and Keith Jardine, and technically is the lone black mark on Jon Jones’ career, though it was by disqualification. Still, Hamill has some of the best wrestling in the division and his boxing is getting better. He has also shown the ability to take a punch, which will come in handy at UFC 130, when he takes on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. A win for Hamill has to put him in the top five for title contenders.

Middleweight – Chris Weidman (5-0) – Weidman is still pretty raw, but he has shown good boxing skills and he trains with Matt Serra, so his jiu-jitsu is going to keep getting better. In his debut against Alession Sakara, he handled the UFC veteran to get a decision, but seemed to struggle with his conditioning. He did take the fight on short notice though, which made his win even more impressive. He will once again step up for an injured fighter at UFC 131, as he replaces Court McGee to face Jesse Bongfeldt.

Welterweight – Jake Ellenberger (24-5) – It is hard to call Ellenberger a dark horse, but he is still behind a lot of guys in a stacked welterweight division. 15 of his 24 wins have been by knockout and he has only been stopped once in his career. Ellenberger has won four-straight after his knockout of Sean Pierson last Saturday and he now awaits a top-10 opponent in his next bout. Ellenberger was lined up to face Jon Fitch at one point, but Fitch got moved up to face B.J. Penn at UFC 127. Ellenberger’s striking will make him tough for anyone, and if he continues to improve his grappling, he can be a real threat to the title.

Lightweight – Edson Barboza (8-0) – Barboza is a long lightweight that brings some of the best Muay Thai striking in the 155-pound division. He decimated Mike Lullo in his UFC debut and then gutted out a decision over Anthony Njokuani, a fellow striker. Barboza has yet to be tested on the ground, but if he passes that test, I see a title reign in his future. He will have his toughest test to date at UFC 134 in Rio when he takes on UFC veteran, Ross Pearson.

Featherweight – Dustin Poirier (9-1) – Poirier has looked good in his last two fights and he dismantled then-No. 1 contender, Josh Grispi, at UFC 125 in his last bout. His lone loss came by decision to lightweight Danny Castillo, but up until Grispi, he had finished all of his opponents in each of his wins. Poirier has great striking and solid grappling and is a guy that can take the fight anywhere. Originally scheduled to take on Rani Yahya at UFC 131, Poirier will now face Jason Young, as Young will make his Zuffa debut for the injured Yahya.

Bantamweight – Renan Barao (25-1) – His name is actually Renan do Nascimento Mota Pegado, but Renan Barao is a little easier to say. In 26 career fights, Barao has 12 submission wins and 6 knockout victories. Not much is known about this bantamweight, but in his two WEC appearances, he won by submission. He will face another contender ion Cole Escovedo at UFC 130. A win would propel Barao into the top contenders category for the bantamweight division.