Yesterday Dan Doyle of Yahoo! Sports put out an article listing the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in MMA with a little help from some other writers covering mixed martial arts.  You know, you’re never going to please everyone and I’m sure tons of fans will vehemently disagree, but all in all, the list isn’t too bad and it’s getting coverage one on of the top sports sites on the Internet.  Drum roll…the list and some of their comments:

10.  Randy Couture - 43 years old and sitting in an announcing booth thinking “I bet I could win the heavyweight title,” and then you go out and do it in convincing fashion, then, guess what? You earn a spot in the Top 10.”

9. (tie) B.J. Penn -  Some balloters had Penn high on their list. Some left him off entirely. Such is the enigma that is Penn.   Pulver in June. Last year, at 170, Matt Hughes and Georges. St. Pierre both used heart to overcome Penn’s fast starts. Which Penn shows up the next few times he fights will determine whether his poll ranking matches his skill level.

9 (tie).  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - Perhaps voters couldn’t shake the image of Big Nog getting nearly taken out by Herring. Regardless, Nogueira needs to come up big next time out to stay afloat in a fast-changing world.

7.  Chuck Liddell - Is “The Iceman” past his prime, or does Rampage simply have his number? Word on the streets is that Liddell took his title loss as a wake-up call and has cut out the partying.

6.  George St. Pierre - From a pure skills perspective, many believe GSP has the most well-rounded tool kit in the game. But his stunning upset at the hands of Serra has knocked him down in the polls.

The rest of the list continues on the next page

5.  Anderson Silva - Has largely answered the questions about perceived weaknesses against takedowns. The Spider dismantled Rich Franklin, beat Lutter despite a knee injury, and looked lethal in his win over Marquardt.

4.  Dan Henderson - Became the first man in MMA history to hold major titles in two weight classes when he KO’d Silva. Henderson who is going to have a chance to add more gold to his collection when he faces Quinton Jackson in the most-anticipated match on the horizon.

3.  Quinton Jackson - One big right hand and four hammer fists were all it took to vault Rampage up toward the top of the list.

2.  Mauricio Rua - Rua has won 12 of his past 13 fights, including a KO of Qunton Jackson, and his only loss was due to a stoppage because of a broken arm.

1.  Fedor Emelianenko - It doesn’t get more clear-cut than this. The only real question is, when will UFC president Dana White bring the world’s best fighter into the UFC?

Complete Yahoo! Sports article here.

What are your thoughts on this list?  Add some comments below.

Friday, July 27th, 2007 | File under MMA Fighters, MMA Polls