Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

There hasn't been a title defense, but the HardCore Gym's Brian Bowles is still MMA's top bantamweight dog.

His sudden, thudding stoppage win over former WEC bantamweight king # 2 Miguel Torres at WEC 42 has firmly entrenched him atop the world's 135lbs division. Bowles is still nursing a hand injury, but has been making the media rounds. Torres has linked up with noted trainer Mark Dellagrotte, so expect an announcement and a rejuvenated Mullet King very soon.

Shooto's "Featherweight" king #3 Masakatsu Ueda is still undefeated and holds steady at three - again - after a unanimous decision rout of #14 Eduardo Dantas at "Revolutionary Exchanges". There is still word on when or who Ueda will fight next.

#4 Takeya Mizugaki is still coasting of oof his controversial split decision win over #12 Jeff Curran at WEC 42. Curran remarkably remains in the top fifteen despite losing his last four fights. He recently competed at ADCC 2009 losing to Ryan Hall in the first round. No word yet on when Mizugaki will return to action.

Team Alliance's #5 Dominick Cruz is still basking in the glow of hisWEC 42 win over Team Alpha Male's #7 Joseph Benavidez. The rumor is that Cruz is likely to get another fight (no word on when that will happen) and should he be victorious there, he'll earn a title shot at 135lbs.

#6 Akitoshi Tamura was slated to fight #9 Damacio Page at WEC 43 next month, but due to an unspecified injury was not able to make the bout. Instead, upstart and undefeated Will Campuzano will replace the injured Tamura. 

Submission ace #8 Rani Yahya looked impressive at WEC 42 with a tremendous if somewhat expected win over previously unbeaten Josh Hosman with a nasty North-South choke. Although he recently competed at ADCC 2009, there is no word on when the BJJ ace will return to the blue cage.

#10 Manny "The Mangler" Tapia returns to action at WEC 43 when he locks horns with now unranked Eddie Wineland.

Lastly, DC local #24 Mike Easton (who is set to take on #20 Chase Beebe at UWC 7) ascends one spot, but remains in the rankings. A win over the former WEC champion could propel Easton into the top 15.

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.