Jose Aldo
Brian Bowles
Fedor Emelianenko
Lyoto Machida
Gegard Mousasi
Jake Shields
Georges St-Pierre
BJ Penn

- Organization: WEC
- Titles: WEC Featherweight Champion
- Career record: 16-1
- 2009 record: 4-0
- 2009 results: TKO win over Rolando Perez (WEC 38), TKO win over Chris Mickle (WEC 39), TKO win over Cub Swanson (WEC 41), TKO win over Mike Brown (WEC 44)
- 2009 accomplishments: After scoring first-round TKO wins over Perez and Mickle, Aldo needed just eight seconds to top Swanson, earn a title shot and win the event's "Fight of the Night" award. In fact, the fast-rising Brazilian earned three of the KO awards in 2009 alone. Aldo, who topped Brown to earn the WEC featherweight title, is now 6-0 in the WEC with six knockout wins and is widely regarded as one of the sport's top-10 pound-for-pound fighters.
Brian Bowles

- Organization: WEC
- Title: WEC Bantamweight Champion
- Career record: 8-0
- 2009 record: 1-0
- 2009 results: KO win over Miguel Torres (WEC 42)
- 2009 accomplishments: Although he fought just once in 2009, Bowles made the most of it and upset Torres for the WEC bantamweight title. As a 3-to-1 underdog, Bowles ended Torres' remarkable 17-fight win streak and picked up a "Knockout of the Night" award with the win. None of his eight career wins have gone the distance.
Fedor Emelianenko

- Organization: Strikeforce
- Title: WAMMA Heavyweight Champion
- Career record: 31-1
- 2009 record: 2-0
- 2009 results: KO win over Andrei Arlovski ("Affliction: Day of Reckoning") and TKO win over Brett Rogers ("Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers")
- 2009 accomplishments: Emelianenko viciously knocked out a top-three Arlovski at Affliction's final show and a top-15 Rogers in Strikeforce's heavily hyped debut on CBS. A planned bout with top-five Josh Barnett fell apart soon before Affliction's demise this summer, and though talks between the fighter and the UFC took place afterward, Emelianenko eventually signed with Strikeforce, which marks his first extended stay with a U.S.-based promotion. The 2009 Russian Athlete of the Year has now posted 27 consecutive victories, though a win in an August exhibition grappling match with Gegard Mousasi doesn't factor into the record.
Lyoto Machida

- Organization: UFC
- Title: UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
- Career record: 16-0
- 2009 record: 3-0
- 2009 results: KO win over Thiago Silva (UFC 94), KO win over Rashad Evans (UFC 98), unanimous-decision win over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (UFC 104)
- 2009 accomplishments: After viciously knocking out Silva to earn a title shot and Evans to win the belt (and picking up "Knockout of the Night" awards with both wins), Machida became the first UFC 205-pound champ in two years to make a successful title defense. Despite the controversial win over Rua (who many felt had won the fight), it was a breakout year for Machida, who used the two early-year KOs to put behind him a reputation as a boring, decision-prone fighter that dogged him during his first few fights in the UFC.
Gegard Mousasi

- Organization: Strikeforce
- Title: Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, DREAM Middleweight Champion (vacated)
- Career record: 27-2-1
- 2009 record: 3-0
- 2009 results: Submission win over Mark Hunt (DREAM.9), KO win over Renato "Babalu" Sobral ("Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg"), TKO win over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou ("Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers")
- 2009 accomplishments: After vacating his DREAM middleweight belt to compete in heavier weight classes, Mousasi entered the eight-man DREAM "Super Hulk" tourney (as the lightest of the eight open-weight competitors) but had to bow out after a first-round submission of Hunt due to an injury. However, Mousasi then signed with Strikeforce and knocked out Sobral for the Strikeforce light heavyweight title and then scored a TKO win over Sokoudjou in a CBS-televised non-title bout. He's now won 14 consecutive fights and 22 of his past 23.
Jake Shields

- Organization: Strikeforce
- Title: Strikeforce Middleweight Champion
- Career record: 24-4-1
- 2009 record: 2-0
- 2009 results: Submission win over Robbie Lawler ("Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields"), unanimous-decision win over Jason "Mayhem" Miller ("Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers")
- 2009 accomplishments: After solidifying himself as one of the world's top 170-pound fighters as the final champion of the now-defunct EliteXC promotion, Shields signed with Strikeforce and found few worthy opponents. So, he moved up to 182 pounds to submit Lawler and then topped Miller via decision to win the Strikeforce middleweight title that had been vacated by Cung Le. Shields has now won 13 consecutive fights. With the CBS-televised Miller fight, a pair of appearances on MTV's "Bully Beatdown," involvement in the upcoming "Fight Life" documentary, and a possible April bout with Dan Henderson, Shields' career prospects have never been brighter.
Georges St-Pierre

- Organization: UFC
- Title: UFC Welterweight Champion
- Career record: 19-2
- 2009 record: 2-0
- 2009 results: TKO win over B.J. Penn (UFC 94), unanimous-decision win over Thiago Alves (UFC 100)
- 2009 accomplishments: St-Pierre put his title on the line and earned his second career win over Penn when the lightweight champ moved up a weight class in January. St-Pierre dominated the fight and earned a fourth-round TKO, though the victory was slightly clouded by "greasing" allegation from the Penn camp. (St-Pierre was never found of any wrongdoing.) Six months later at the UFC's milestone UFC 100 show, St-Pierre dominated Alves, who was considered the clear No. 1 contender, in a lopsided unanimous-decision win. The 2009 Canadian Athlete of the Year continued to make waves outside the cage, as well, with a pair of high-profile endorsement deals with Gatorade and Under Armour.
BJ Penn

- Organization: UFC
- Title: UFC Lightweight Champion
- Career record: 15-5
- 2009 record: 2-1
- 2009 results: TKO loss against Georges St-Pierre (UFC 94), Submission win over Kenny Florian (UFC 101), TKO win over Diego Sanchez (UFC 107)
- 2009 accomplishments: In what was being build as the 'biggest fight in UFC history', BJ Penn went up against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 94. After a hard-fought, highly controversial fight, BJ Penn would lose via Corner Stoppage before entering the 5th and final round. However, BJ Penn would quickly bounce back from the defeat 6 months later, when he would put his Lightweight Championship up against #1 contender Kenny Florian. Though Florian put up a valiant effort, he was unable to take Penn down one down throughout the fight after many attempts, and when the fight finally did go to the ground, Penn submitted Florian in the 4th Round with a rear naked choke. Unsatisfied, and looking to fight again as quickly as possible, Penn accepted a fight against Diego Sanchez for UFC 107, and he would go on to completely dominate 4 and a half straight rounds against Diego, until finally the fight got stopped due to a cut in the 5th Round. Though starting the year off with a loss, BJ Penn proved that he was still the best the Lightweight in the World, by defeating two top contenders in very impressive fashion.