10 Patricio Freire 09 Pat Curran 08 Shinya Aoki 07 Tatsuya Kawajiri 06 Eddie Alvarez 05 Fedor Emelianenko 04 Josh Barnett 03 Alexander Shlemenko 02 Ben Askren 01 Michael Chandler #1 on the list is the reigning Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler (11-0). Chandler has made a name for himself in his last three fights, submitting Eddie Alvarez in the fourth round of their title bout, and knocking out veteran Akihiro Gono within a minute, and choking-out Rick Hawn in his first title defense. The High Ridge, Missouri native is running out of competition in BFC--which is why the company is holding on so tightly to Eddie Alvarez in hopes of arranging a rematch. Undefeated welterweight Ben Askren comes in at #2. The reigning Bellator welterweight champion was one of the first newcomers to emerge from the promotion with star potential. While his wrestling-heavy fighting style has been criticized, three straight title defenses and an unblemished record (11-0) prove that it's working for him. Like with Chandler, competition for the Hartland, Wisconsin native is looking hard to come by. Keeping with the Bellator theme, #3 on the list is dynamic Russian veteran Alexander Shlemenko. The Omsk native recently captured Bellator's middleweight championship with a knockout win over Maiquel Falcao. Shlemenko has amassed an impressive 47-7 record over his nine-year career and looks to be coming into his prime. "Storm" has ten straight victories. Not every fighter from Strikeforce has come to the UFC since the merger with Josh Barnett (#4) being one of the few holdouts. The 32-6 heavyweight went the distance with fast rising star Daniel Cormier in May, proving to many that he still has what it takes to compete at the highest level in MMA. It was the first loss for Barnett since 2006 and broke an eight-fight unbeaten streak with only one of those victories coming by decision. Barnett might be done with MMA and could choose to focus on his second love, professional wrestling, where he's had success in Japan and stateside for more than a decade. The biggest "get" for the UFC would be longtime top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko (#5), who has announced his retirement. The UFC has negotiated with Emelianenko in the past in an attempt to bring him into the fold but Emelianenko's minority ownership role in M-1 Global and easygoing nature have so far stymied their efforts. Emelianenko rebounded from three straight losses from 2010-11 to defeat Jeff Monson, Judoka Satori Ishii, and Pedro Rizzo. Fighters never truly retire and with Emelianenko being the only non-UFC fighter with huge name recognition, the 36-year old would be a great coup for the UFC if they were finally able to add him to the roster. #6 on the list is lightweight Eddie Alvarez. The Philadelphia native has been ranked in the top-10 for lightweights for several years. The UFC had an opportunity to sign him in 2009 but Alvarez was coming off a loss to Shinya Aoki at the time and Bellator was able to scoop him up. Since then he's gone 9-1 and redeemed that loss with a two-minute knockout of Aoki in April. Alvarez is caught up in a legal battle between himself and Bellator in an attempt to break his contract with the promotion and jump ship to the UFC. It's unknown how interested the UFC has been in longtime Japanese standout Tatsuya Kawajiri, #7 on this list. The 34-year old has spent most of his career fighting in Japan with all but two of his 41 fights occurring in his homeland. Kawajiri is riding a five-fight winning streak since losing to Gilbert Melendez in early 2011, making him one of the most active fighters currently on the market. #8 on the list is Shinya Aoki, who has a win over Kawajiri but was badly beaten by Eddie Alvarez in April. Aoki is a masterful grappler and is a true specialist in MMA. All of his fights are interesting to watch. Unfortunately for Aoki, when his take-downs fail him, usually his chin follows. Aoki has four brutal knockout losses on his record, as well as an embarrassing knockout mixed-rules loss to Yuichiro Nagashima. 22-fight MMA veteran Pat Curran, #9 on the list, is the current reigning Bellator featherweight champion. Curran is on a five-fight winning streak that includes huge knockout wins over ranked featherweights Marlon Sandro and Joe Warren. The Crystal Lake, Illinois native is the first fighter to win two Bellator tournaments in different weight classes (lightweight & featherweight). Rounding out the list featherweight fighter Patricio Freire, The Pitbull, not to be confused with his lightweight brother Patricky Freire. The 25-year old Brazilian began his career with a 14-fight winning streak that took him to the season two tournament final for Bellator where he lost a split decision to Joe Warren. Freire rebounded with three wins, winning Bellator's season four featherweight tournament and setting up a title fight with Pat Curran (losing, again, via split decision). The Freire's train with Team Nogueira/Black House and could transition easily to the UFC.
this super hard to determine because the best fighters in the world are undoubtedly in the ufc. so the guys on the list are beating up guys who would get their arse whopped by ufc preliminary fighters.
