Rankings compiled by Richard.

Despite B.J. Penn's best efforts to blow up the division, first in the Octagon and then in front of the NSAC, #1 Georges St. Pierre moves forward at the top of the toughest division in MMA. He'll next defend his title against #2 Thiago Alves at the gala UFC 100 on July 11. If GSP puts a convincing beatdown on Alves, the talk of his moving to middleweight will only increase.

#3 Jon Fitch will return on that same card, looking to avenge his teammate #7 Josh Koscheck's KO loss to then unranked, now #12 Paulo Thiago. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end, Joe Silva and Dana White have certainly not brought Thiago along slowly. On the other hand if he beats Fitch, Paulo will be a rising star in the division.

#4 Jake Shields is signed to fight #6 middleweight Robbie Lawler at Strikeforce's May show. It's a big improvement from the post-EliteXC limbo that he was in for several months. I'd prefer to see Shields in the UFC facing the best welterweights in the world, but I think being the biggest fish in the smaller pond is probably a better career path for him at this point.

#5 Carlos Condit will be making his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann at Fight Night 18 on April 1.  Kampmann is still ranked #25 as a middleweight after moving down in divisions a few months back. This will be a good test for both fighters and should put the winner on the fast track to contention.

#6 Matt Hughes and #10 Matt Serra will finally have their grudge match at UFC 98. I find it hard to imagine any scenario where either former champion returns to relevancy in the division, but both should continue to get fairly high profile fights for some time to come. #7 Josh Koscheck will face the tough Chris Wilson on that same card.

Only time will tell what becomes of #8 Karo Parisyan after his suspension by the NSAC for pain pills at UFC 94. Sadly, the man who brought high flying throws to MMA and proved that judo techniques could be effective in the Octagon is now likely to wind up remembered as a warning parable for young fighters. Karo chronically under-trained, didn't rehab serious injuries and now appears to have wasted as much potential as any fighter in the sport. I sincerely hope he uses his enforced time off well to heal up, train and refocus himself. Come back Karo!

#9 Mike Swick will face an impressive Ben Saunders at UFC 99 in Germany on June 13. I would love too see the winner of this one get the winner of Condit/Kampmann en route to a title shot in early 2010.

Based on the premise that all MMA rankings are subjective but that it’s still useful and informative to know who the online MMA community as a whole ranks as the best fighters in MMA, we collect and average the rankings of the top MMA websites to produce our consensus rankings.Show more "

We compile the top MMA rankings from each of our sources and award 25 points for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to "normalize" the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. This formula ensures that each ranking site awards the same number of total points regardless of how many fighters they choose to rank. Each fighter’s total is divided by the number of possible points to determine their standing in the Consensus Rankings.