Brock Lesnar and the Top 5 American Fighters by Division

The UFC just held one of the best international mixed martial arts events ever in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this past weekend, with overall outstanding performances from the Brazilian fighters.

No doubt Brazil is a hotbed for MMA talent, but do not forget that even though Brazil has the best fighter on the planet, many of the biggest names in the sport come from America.

Here are the top five American fighters in each division. 

Bantamweight

1. Dominick Cruz

2. Joseph Benavidez

3. Brian Bowles

4. Urijah Faber

5. Demetrious Johnson

Not only are these the top 5 American bantamweights, these are the top 5 bantamweights in the world.  Brazil's Renan Barao and England's Brad Pickett will face off in Novemer to determine the highest ranking non-American. 

Featherweight

1. Chad Mendes

2. Kenny Florian

3. Pat Curran

4. Tyson Griffin

5. Dustin Poirier

Jose Aldo and Hatsu Hioki lead the way for respective Brazilian and Japanese featherweights, with Mark Hominick constituting the elite Canadian contingent.

Still, no other country can touch the depth of the American roster, which is filled in with names like Joe Warren, Erik Koch and Mike Brown.

Lightweight

1. Frankie Edgar

2. Gray Maynard

3. Gilbert Melendez

4. Eddie Alvarez

5. Ben Henderson, Clay Guida and Melvin Guillard

The lightweight division has a good number of Brazilian and Japanese stars, but there is no doubt that it is mostly Americans waging war over the upper echelons of the division.

Welterweight

1. Jon Fitch

2. Jake Shields

3. BJ Penn

4. Nick Diaz

5. Carlos Condit

Jon Fitch does not always perform like a world-beater, but he does keep on winning.  Except when he got crushed by Canadian Georges St. Pierre, who is a world-beater.

Middleweight

1. Chael Sonnen

2. Mark Munoz

3. Brian Stann

4. Chris Leben

5. Tim Kennedy

The middleweight division represents top fighters from all over the world.  Brazil has a number of great middleweights, Japan has a couple, then England and Australia both have elite middleweights as well.

Still, America holds its ground with the top middleweights in the world.  (Nate Marquardt is excluded from the list as he now considers himself a welterweight competitor.)

Light Heavyweight

1. Jon Jones

2. Rashad Evans

3. Quinton Jackson

4. Dan Henderson

5. Phil Davis 

Phil Davis just makes the list with Forrest Griffin's disappointing loss at UFC Rio.  Along with Griffin, fellow former world champions Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin help fill in as other top American fighters in the light heavyweight division.

Heavyweight

1. Cain Velasquez

2. Brock Lesnar

3. Shane Carwin

4. Frank Mir

5. Josh Barnett

Brendan Schaub had a chance to crack this list but came up short when facing Brazilian legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Americans nipping at Barnett's spot are Roy Nelson, Travis Browne, Matt Mitrione, Mike Russow, Daniel Cormier and even Brendan Schaub.