Disclaimer:This poll is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those mixed martial artists who have chosen to participate. The MMA Authority at MMAPower.com does not promote the use of this information for any factual purposes and can not be deemed responsible for any inaccuracies in the results.

Updated May 15, 2010

	#1   Fedor Emelianenko   (31-1, 1 NC) Description: Fedor has been called the “Best Heavyweight Fighter In The World” by a host of media outlets. In recent fights, he has ripped through former UFC champions Sylvia and Alrovski solidifying his ranking. Fedor's recent decapitation of Brett Rogers on CBS was proof to mainstream what most MMA hardcores already knew, Fedor is the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
	#2   Brock Lesnar   (4-1) Description: Lesnar jumped up our ranks with three consecutive notable wins over Herring, Couture and Mir. With his tremendous size and athleticism, Brock has been a quick-study of MMA propeling him to the UFC title. He is currently also ranked the #2 by MMAWeekly.com. Lesnar is slated to take on heavy handed Shane Carwin this summer.
	#3   Cain Velasquez   (8-0) Description: Cain is a two-time All-American collegiate wrestler from Arizona State and a Junior College National Champ at Iowa Central Community College. Velasquez improved his perfect record to 8–0 after defeating Ben Rothwell at UFC 104 with a TKO at 0:58 of Round 2 followed by an impressive KO vicotory over Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 110.
	#4   Junior Dos Santos   (10-1) Description: Under the tutelage of former UFC and Pride Heavyweight Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, Cigano has quickly moved up the heavyweight ranks. He has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the UFC heavyweight ladder, with decisive wins over Fabricio Werdum, Stefan Struve, Mirko Filipovic, Gilbert Yvel and Gabriel Gonzaga.
	#5   Shane Carwin   (12-0) Description: Shane is the interim-heavyweight UFC champion. He is currently undefeated, holding the distinction of having finished all his opponents in the first round. As of April 2010, Carwin beat down Mir at UFC 111 to become the interim UFC Heavyweight Champion and is now set to face Brock Lesnar for the unified title.

	#1   Mauricio Rua   (19-4) Description: Rua is the winner of the PRIDE Fighting Championship's 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix and is the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion who holds notable wins over Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Alistair Overeem(twice), Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. His recent mauling of Lyoto Machida made it no doubt that Shogun is back.
	#2   Lyoto Machida   (16-1) Description: Machida holds notable wins over Tito Ortiz, BJ Penn and Rich Franklin. His impressive knockout of Rashad Evans at UFC 98 put Lyoto at the top of our MP rankings, but he followed that with a controversial decision victory over Mauricio Rua and then a KO loss in an immediate rematch. Shogun proved to be Machida's kryptonite.
	#3   Rashad Evans   (14-1-1) Description: Evans won the heavyweight division of The Ultimate Fighter 2 and is the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Sugar holds notable wins over Liddell and Griffin. Evans was able to grind out an impressive win over Thiago Silva to move up to 3 on our list. An upcoming showdown with Rampage Jackson looms on the immediate horizon.
	#4   Muhammed Lawal   (7-0) Description: King Mo is the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion. With his strong wrestling pedigree, this former three-time U.S. Senior National Wrestling Champion proved against Gegard Mousasi that his wrestling may be too much for anyone in the Strikeforce 205 division to handle.
	#5   Quinton Jackson   (30-7) Description: Jackson is the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion who unified the UFC Light Heavyweight and the Pride FC Middleweight Championships. A win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 91 solidified Rampage as a top contender. But a recent hiatus from his fight career to pursue acting has hurt Page's ranking on our list.

	#1   Anderson Silva   (26-4) Description: Is Silva unbeatable? There are no fighters that deserve that moniker. He is human. However, you've got to admit that Silva has been looking pretty close to unbeatable since coming to the UFC. Silva could possibly be the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. If you exclude Fedor Emelianenko from the debate, we would have to agree.
	#2   Vitor Belfort   (19-8) Description: Vitor is the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament Champion, a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and the last Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion. Vitor recently returned to the UFC with a catchweight match of 195 lbs against Rich Franklin, which he won via KO three minutes and two seconds into the first round.
	#3   Chael Sonnen   (24-10-1) Description: Chael has quietly knocked off a string of strong competitors with consecutive victories over Dan Miller, Okami and Marquardt. The Team Quest product completely dominated Nate Marquardt at UFC 109. With the victory Sonnen solidified his position for a shot at the UFC Middleweight Championship. He later went on to state "I want 12 pounds of gold around my waist".
	#4   Jake Shields   (25-4-1) Description: Jake was an Elite XC Welterweight Champion and former Shooto World Champion, and now is the current Strikeforce Middleweight Champion. Fighting out of the Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu camp makes Jake a tough opponent for anyone. Jake has ripped off 4 impressive wins over Paul Daley, Robbie Lawler, Jason Miller, and Dan Henderson.
	#5   Dan Henderson   (25-8) Description: Hendo is the only mixed martial artist to concurrently hold two titles in two different weight classes in a major MMA promotion. He is also the UFC 17 middleweight and Pride 2005 welterweight tournament champion. Hendo dropped his Strikeforce debut in April to middleweight champion Jake Shields, putting into question how much Hendo has left in the gas tank.

	#1   Georges St. Pierre   (20-2) Description: UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre is widely recognized as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Consecutive dominations of Penn and Alves solidifies his status in the pound-for-pound rankings. What's left for GSP at 170? His most recent title defense against UK's Dan Hardy was just another walk in the park for the 170 pound king.
	#2   Jon Fitch   (22-3, 1 NC) Description: Fitch sports an overall MMA record of 22-3. To put things in perspective, let's rundown a list of some of the fighters he's defeated: Thiago Alves, Brock Larson, Luigi Fioravanti, Roan Carneiro, Diego Sanchez, Akihiro Gono, and Paulo Thiago. Fitch grounded out Ben Saunders at UFC 111, giving him 20 wins in his last 21 tries, and easily cementing himself as the #1 contender .
	#3   Thiago Alves   (16-6) Description: Alves ripped off impresive wins over Lytle, Parisyan, Hughes and Koscheck. But he followed that impressive run with a disapointing lop-sided loss to GSP, dropping Alves down a spot from 2 to 3 on our list. Alves has been inactive since that loss back in July of 2009, but will look to move back into a contender seat following minor brain surgery.
	#4   Josh Koscheck   (15-4) Description: Kos made his debut with the UFC on the first season of the reality television show, The Ultimate Fighter. He is often ranked among the top ten welterweights in the world by leading mixed martial arts publications. His recent stoppages of Anthony Johnson and Paul Daley solidifies his place in MMAPower's Top 5 at #4.
	#5   Nick Diaz   (21-7) Description: Diaz is the current Strikeforce Welterweight Champion and a former WEC and IFC champion. Nick breaks into our top 5 due to his ever improving striking skills, now being trained by former WBA and WBC World Champion, Luisito Espinosa. Nick has also recently been training with Olympic Boxing Gold Medalist Andre Ward. The move has paid off as he has won 11 of his last 12 fights.

	#1   BJ Penn   (15-6-1) Description: "The Prodigy" is the clear cut #1 simply because when the name B.J. Penn enters the conversation, one thing is abundantly clear, he's a freak of nature. Penn choked out Kenny Florian at UFC 101 and then smashed Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 to remain the cream of the crop at 155. Penn hit a speed bump by dropping a close decision to Frankie Edgar at UFC 112.
	#2   Gilbert Melendez   (18-2) Description: Gil put on a dominating TKO victory performance over Mitsuhiro Ishida, followed by a unanimous decision victory over Josh Thompson capturing the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship. If that's not enough, El Nino followed that with a unanimous decision victory against Shinya Aoki retaining the Strikeforce title in the best performance of his career.
	#3   Frank Edgar   (12-1) Description: Frankie is the hottest lightweight fighter in the world right now. After losing to Gray Maynard back in April of 2008, Frankie ran off 3 straight impressive wins over Franca, Sherk and Veech. He followed that run with a decision victory over B.J. Penn for the UFC title.
	#4   Shinya Aoki   (23-5, 1 NC) Description: Aoki is the current Shooto Middleweight Champion. In his showdown with Gilbert Melendez this past April, Aoki was completely dominated from start to finish for 25 minutes. This loss to El Nino puts into question Aoki's status amongst the top 5. Expect Aoki to seek smoother skies back in Japan for the next couple of fights.
	#5   Eddie Alvarez   (21-2) Description: In an entertaining bout with Josh Neer, the sure-fisted Alvarez continued to flaunt his grappling prowess and submitted the Neer with a standing rear naked choke in the second round. The victory moved Bellator's lightweight champ to 5-0 for 2009 and thus far in 2010 with five submissions.