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Pound for Pound : The Ongoing Discussion

Who is the world’s greatest mixed martial artist? How would this fighter fair against this fighter? How is this guy the pound for pound best? These questions will always be asked in a sport that has more than one champion. But who is the best-every MMA fan wants to know. What I do know , is that there are four fighters that are in everyone’s top pound for pound list. These fighters are Fedor Emelianenko, who is the former PRIDE heavyweight champion of the world and current WAMMA Heavyweight champ, Anderson “The Spider” Silva who is the current UFC Middleweight champion of the world, George “Rush” St.Pierre, who is the current UFC Welterweight champion and BJ Penn, the current UFC Lightweight champion/former UFC Welterweight champion. As far as being top pound for pound, most people in the MMA world consider the number one to be Anderson Silva or the man simply known as Fedor.

The argument can be made for all four of the fighters to be number one but let’s clearly identify the strong points for each argument as well as the weaknesses that they have shown.

Many people see Fedor as being undefeated though he has recorded one loss at the hands of Tsuyoshi Kohsaka by cut stoppage in the RINGS organization in Fedors fifth professional bout. The cut came at only 17 seconds into the opening round and it was thought to be caused by an illegal strike delivered by Kohsaka, though the outcome stood nonetheless. If one was to look at Fedor’s resume , it would seem spotless . Some say he has not faced tough competition lately while the other fighters in this discussion have. This cannot be said anymore with his signing to a deal with Affliction. There he has already disposed of Tim “The Maineiac” Sylvia in 36 seconds by rear naked choke. If you look at his past resume, Fedor has beaten a who’s who of mixed martial arts including ,two wins over current UFC Heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera,K-1 Grand Prix champion Semmy Schilt, feared Croatian striker Mirko Crocop and two wins over hard headed Kazuyuki Fujita. Most fighters cannot say they have beaten these guys. They are not pushovers. Not only does Fedor win, he finishes quickly. Nineteen of Fedors twenty eight wins have come in the first round. Adding to the list of Fedors victims , he has beaten PRIDE heavyweight Grand Prix champion Mark Coleman twice , Olympic wrestler Matt Lindland and popular fighter Mark Hunt.

Now on to at what Joe Rogan calls “The ballet of violence” that is Anderson “The Spider” Silva. He is the current UFC Middleweight champion of the world and is considered by most to be the most devastating striker in MMA. He is world famous for his Muay Thai skills and his Brazilian Ju-Jitsu prowess. Best known for his knees in the clinch and his precise and deadly strikes that seem to be unanswered by his opponents. Many people know about the striking skills that Silva possesses but what they need to know is that he also has deadly Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, holding a black belt under Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera and a submission victory over The Ultimate Fighter 4 winner and Ju-Jitsu specialist Travis Lutter. Taking a look at the record of Anderson Silva , we see that his best wins are over the former UFC Middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin twice and Former PRIDE Middleweight champion Dan Henderson. His utter decimations of Rich Franklin at UFC 64 and UFC 77 is what sticks in most peoples minds as his biggest wins. Due to the fact that Franklin had looked so impressive up to then in his UFC career and the fact that he still looks good when he is not in the cage with “The Spider”. His unification title bout with Dan Henderson was supposed to be a war in which Silva would be tested and pushed to the limit. Henderson delivered with a good first round but feel into the Spiders web in the second round, losing by rear naked choke. Other notable wins for Silva include a first round tko over 7 times King of Pancrase Nate Marquardt, a knockout of under one minute of Chris Leben and a victory over James Irvin in the 205 pound division. Anderson also has a highlight reel back elbow knockout over Tony Fryklund in Cage Rage. Silva sports only four career losses but two of them have been strange ones. The first coming at PRIDE Shockwave 2004 against Ryo Chonan. Silva had control of the fight until the middle of the third round when Chonan came flying in and executed a successful flying scissor heel hook submission. The other is a loss at Rumble on the Rock 8 by DQ to Yushin Okami, Silva was on the ground and delivered an up kick towards Okami, which was an illegal strike in the organization.
Now moving on to George St.Pierre, the UFC Welterweight champ. Some consider him to be the best because of his well rounded skills and the way he blazes through all competition in his weight class. He is known to be the best wrestler in the UFC with wins in which he took wrestler Matt Hughes and National champion wrestler Josh Koscheck down at will. He Is also known for his relentlessness and great stamina. He holds strong wins over many MMA veterans such as Judo specialist Karo Parisyan, Sean Sherk, BJ Penn, two wins over Matt Hughes and a win over Matt Serra. His only two losses are to Hughes and Serra, although he redeemed his losses by defeating Hughes twice after and Serra once after. He lost to Matt Hughes at UFC 50,but after that point won six straight fights to gain the UFC Welterweight title until losing a stunning fight by KO to Matt Serra. His loss to Matt Serra asked questions of St.Pierre, which he soon answered in a dominating rematch where he won by TKO in the 2nd round. He has seemed to beat every contender in the Welterweight division thus far but he still has to prove his skills are better than Jon Fitch whom he will be taking on at UFC 87 in august. In addition to his notable wins he holds victories over Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Frank Trigg and Jay Hieron. The most important thing about the record of St.Pierre is the fact that all of his losses have been redeemed.

Taking a look at “The Prodigy” BJ Penn ,he is someone with a great fighting spirit and who will take on anyone regardless of size and skill. BJ currently holds the UFC Lightweight championship of the world and is the former UFC Welterweight champion of the world. The fact that he has held belts in different weight classes makes him an obvious choice to some to be top pound for pound. His best wins are over former Lightweight champ Sean Sherk, former Welterweight champ Matt Hughes, former PRIDE Lightweight champ Takanori Gomi and lightweight rival Jens Pulver. He won the UFC Welterweight championship at UFC 46 and then vacated the title but fought for it again at UFC 63,losing to Matt Hughes. He won the vacant Lightweight championship at UFC 80 against Joe Stevenson and defended at UFC 84 against Sean Sherk. Recent losses in Penns career have been to Matt Hughes and a controversial split decision loss to George St.Pierre. His loss to Lyoto Machida was a fight in which BJ was fighting in the Light Heavyweight division where he was oversized by Machida but still made it to a decision. His fourth loss was at UFC 35 to Jens Pulver in his fourth pro fight where he also made it to a decision. BJ has fought at four different weight classes which is an incredible feat. BJ has fought in the 155,170,185 and 205 pound divisions. Adding a draw against Caol Uno to his resume at UFC 41, Penn also has more notable victories against Duane “Bang” Ludwig, Renzo Gracie and Caol Uno.

The argument will continue to be made for any of these fighters until some clear evidence is proven to us who is the best, hands down. This answer can only come by the fighters above fighting each other, which is unlikely because of weight differentials. There has been speculation of Silva vs. St.Pierre or Penn vs. St.Pierre 2 and all sorts of dream matches but the question is when, if at all, will we see them. All that can be known is that this argument will be ongoing as long as we have strong champions at different weights.

Article Source: http://MMAWriters.com

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