Top 10 MMA Fighters - Pound for Pound
Everyone out there seems to have some sort of best fighter list, but Yahoo! Sports has done a pretty good job with their most recent pound for pound MMA fighter list. My biggest point of contention is slotting Quinton Jackson ahead of Fedor Emelianenko (#’s 3 and 4 respectively). Sure, props to Jackson for beating Liddell but his showing against Henderson (who truly belongs in the Middleweight division) wasn’t overly impressive. A KO over Hendo would have easily justified his ranking at number 3. Yes, Fedor fights another non A-level fighter which doesn’t bring him any added respect. What people don’t understand is that the guy he fought was an absolute giant. ANY other heavyweight (265lbs or less) would have had their hands full with the guy undoubtedly. If you think Couture would have done any better than Fedor then you are nuts. But enough of my opionion, on to Yahoo’s top 10 MMA fighters list:
10. Mauricio Rua Points: 9 Affiliation: UFC Weight class: Light heavyweight Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil. Record: 16-3 Last month’s ranking: unranked Most recent result: lost to Forrest Griffin, submission, Sept. 22 Analysis: Shogun sat at No. 11 since his loss to Griffin, when he dropped all the way from the No. 2 spot. But with Matt Hughes and Gilbert Melendez out, and Faber vaulting up, Shogun nudged back into the Top 10. He’s presently rehabbing after knee surgery.
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Points: 33 Affiliation: UFC Weight class: Heavyweight Hometown: Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil Record: 30-4-1 Last month’s ranking: 8 Most recent result: def. Heath Herring, unanimous decision, July 7. Analysis: Nogueira already established himself with UFC fans when he rallied from a nasty high kick against Herring and scored the win. Now he has a chance to be the saving grace of a heavyweight division with no Emelianenko, no Randy Couture, and a fan base that doesn’t want a third Tim Sylvia title reign. Nogueira faces Sylvia for the interim title at UFC 81.
8. Urijah Faber Points: 38 Affiliation: WEC Weight class: Featherweight (WEC featherweight champion) Hometown: Sacramento, Calif. Record: 20-1 Last month’s ranking: unranked Most recent result: def. Jeff Curran, submission R2, Dec. 12 Analysis: It became impossible to deny the WEC featherweight champion his spot after his live, nationally televised win over Jeff Curran on Dec. 12. Faber used world-class defense to fend off a bad situation in the first round, then showed his trademark inventiveness en route to submitting a BJJ black belt for his 12th consecutive win.
7. B.J. Penn Points: 46 Affiliation: UFC Weight class: Lightweight Hometown: Hilo, Hawaii Record: 11-4-1 Last month’s ranking: 8 Most recent result: def. Jens Pulver, Round 2 TKO, June 23. Analysis: With Sean Sherk’s steroid situation resolved, the lightweight title is finally off ice. Penn, a former UFC welterweight champ, will look to join the short list of multiple weight class champions when he faces Joe Stevenson for the vacant title on Jan. 19.
6. Dan Henderson Points: 62 Affiliation: UFC Weight class: Light heavyweight/middleweight (final PRIDE 183 lb. champion) Hometown: Victorville, Calif. Record: 22-6 Last month’s ranking: 5 Most recent result: lost to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, decision, Sept. 8 Analysis: Even with a bunch of strong cards on the horizon, Henderson’s March 1 matchup against Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title stands out as one to circle on the calendar.
MMA pound for pound top five here…
5. Randy Couture Points: 64 Affiliation: Under contract to UFC Weight class: Heavyweight Hometown: Gresham, Ore. Record: 16-8 Last month’s ranking: 6 Most recent resuls: def. Gabriel Gonzaga, Round 3 TKO, Aug. 25 Analysis: Randy won’t be fighting again anytime soon, which will eventually affect his eligibility, as fighters cannot be considered if they go a full year without fighting until they compete again. But the fact Couture moved up a spot in spite of his inactivity is a testament to the respect he holds for his tremendous accomplishments inside the octagon.
4. Fedor Emelianenko Points: 102 (2 first-place votes) Affiliation: M-1 Weight class: Heavyweight Hometown: Stary Oskol, Russia Record: 27-1 (1 no-contest) Last month’s ranking: 1 Most recent result: Defeated Hong Man-Choi, Round 1 submission, Dec. 31. Analysis: The more Emelianenko sullies his reputation by fighting cream puffs, the less his long-awaited showdown with Couture will mean, regardless of which promotion hosts the event, if it ever happens. A match with Josh Barnett, the only world-class caliber free agent heavyweight, is the only match that could turn around opinion at this point.
3. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson Points: 105 (1 first-place vote) Affiliation: UFC Weight class: Light heavyweight (UFC lt. heavyweight champion) Hometown: Memphis, Tenn. Record: 28-6 Last month’s ranking: 2 Most recent result: def. Dan Henderson, decision, Sept. 8 Analysis: Since the last poll, it was announced that Rampage would serve as a coach on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, opposite Forrest Griffin. This all but assures Rampage will defend the title against Griffin sometime over the summer, and also will give Jackson a chance to heal nagging injuries.
2. Georges St. Pierre Points: 118 (2) Affiliation: UFC Weight class: Welterweight (interim welterweight champion) Hometown: Ste. Isidore, Quebec Record: 15-2 Last month’s ranking: 4 Most recent result: Def. Matt Hughes, Round 2 submission, Dec. 29. Analysis: If GSP hadn’t lost to Matt Serra last year, he could very well hold the top spot right now. If he does beat Serra, in a match that could take place in Montreal on April 19 if the ailing champion can return from injury in time, voters are going to face a very tough choice on their No. 1.
1. Anderson “Spider” Silva Points: 131 (9 first-place votes) Affiliation: UFC Weight class: Middleweight (UFC middleweight champion) Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil Record: 20-4 Last month’s ranking: 2 Most recent result: def. Rich Franklin, Round 2 TKO, Oct. 20 Analysis: Does Silva deserve the top spot? We know one thing: He’s not going to back down from the toughest challenges out there. He already took on Rich Franklin in Franklin’s hometown, and now he’s preparing to take on Henderson, the No. 6 fighter in the poll.
Do you agree with the list? Who would you change up?
January 18th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
from seattle washington usa, st-pierre george and diego sanchez both best fighter in the world . Les deux meilleurs champion au monde.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:03 am
lidell liddell iddell
February 17th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
sean the sheark is the best leight weight and rich franklin is better than mattlinLAND ANDERSON silva is great nad all ! but h3 is not any wear near fedor elminiko sorry
May 12th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Fedor is #1 by far… put him and any of those guys in a ring together and he would tear them apart…. he’s a machine.
May 27th, 2008 at 3:30 am
1.Anderson Silva
2.Fedor Emelianenko
3.B.J. Penn
4.Georges St. Pierre
5.Quinton Jackson
6.Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
7.Urijah Faber
8.Lyoto Machida
9.Chuck Liddell
10.Dan Henderson
July 17th, 2008 at 9:23 am
urijah faber and bj penn should be ahead of dan henderson
July 21st, 2008 at 7:46 am
hahaha
1. Anderson Silva
2. Fedor Emelianenko
3. B.J Penn
4. Georges St.Pierre
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
6. Urijah Faber
7. Forrest Griffen
8. Takanori Gomi
9. Quinton Jackon
10. Norifumi Yamamoto
Honorable mentions: Miguel Torres, Mauricio Rua, Shinya Aoki, Eddie Alvarez
August 10th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
George is ahead of bjpenn for sure
August 12th, 2008 at 12:53 am
HOW CAN ANYONE HAVE BJ PEEN AHEAD OF GSP.
WHEN THE FINALLY MEET UP GSP WILL DESTROY HIM
October 31st, 2008 at 3:49 am
Putting BJ Penn ahead of St. Pierre is a joke.
Can’t wait to hear BJs fans trying to explain the day after his next fight why he’s been owned like that against GSP.
Just not at the same level. He wont have a whole roound to exchange with him on his feet. Last time GSP control while he was seeing in double with a bloody face… and now he will just overpower him in 5 rounds with a good game plan.
You must be Really… Reaaaallly good to be in the top 5 P4P in MMA even if your known to be weak in conditioning. Im sorry but Penn is not that good. Sick skills, but overestimate!!
well… Hope i ring some bell here!
October 31st, 2008 at 3:50 am
btw… very good list !
January 6th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Its a toss up between the number 1 IMO. Personally i think fedor should be at number because there is not a single fighter in the world whose given him much of a challenge. he hasnt even had a split descision victory out 30 fights (all were either unanimous or stopped by the ref) in fact his only loss should have been a no contest but since it was tournement rules, a fighter had to move up and the fighter with the illegal cut had to move on. When it comes to fedor and silva its like comparing Kobe Bryant (Silva) to Lebron James (Fedor), in a one on one the win clearly goes to Lebron (Fedor), but whos the mvp in the long run? The reason i think its fedor because hes never lost (legitimately) and no even poses that much of a challenge for him. Even though anderson can be #1 in a respect, there are those who can beat him(GSP, Machida etc) and i think the #1 should be some who no one can pose a threat to.
Switching topics i think shogun should be up there, the reason he didnt have such a good fight with forrest is because of an injuring going into the fight and one sustained in the fight. not saying he deserves to be above forrest, be he deserves a spot.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Miguel Torres has to be considered for the top 10. This guy is one of the most skilled fighters in the business right now. I seriously doubt anyone will beat him at 135 for quite awhile. Not only is he defending his title with relative ease, he is learning more and more as his championship reign goes on. His stand up is superb, his ground game is top notch and his stamina is second to none. On top of all that he is great to watch. He is what every mma fan wants to see in a fight. High octane and completely unpredictable. Miguel Torres, best pound for pound in the business. This list seems to be a household name list more than a accurate assessment. I mean seriously, Rampage over Fedor? What a joke.
January 19th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Also, Shogun loses and goes up in rank? Your list is invalid from the beginning.
January 27th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
thats probably one of the worst top 10 ive seen, if anyone else seen Shoguns fight against Coleman then they know that Shogun shouldnt be in the top 10.
Also Rampage is good but not better than Fedor.
1.Fedor Emelianenko
2.Anderson Silva
3.GSP
4.BJ Penn
5.Rashad Evans
6.Urijah Faber
7.Quinton Jackson
8.Brock Lesnar
9.Frank Mir
10.Thiago Silva
January 29th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Who comes up with these ridiculous lists?
1. Fedor
2. Nogueira
No one has done more than those two fighters. Please start doing some research.
February 17th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Anderson Silva walks at 215 pounds which is a heavyweight. So unless Silva fights Fedor (230 pounds). Then Fedor should always be ahead of Silva.
If you are saying pound for pound why do you put guys who cut weight to dominate 2 weight classes lower than they should be fighting in. He blows back up to heavyweight the day after the weigh in. Gee I wonder why he is dominating middleweight.
March 27th, 2009 at 9:40 am
i find it funny no one really mentioned wanderlia silva who owned pride like it was his bitch and kicked the shit out of rampage 2 out of 3 times litterally knocked him the fuck out just saying
April 25th, 2009 at 8:45 am
1- Anderson ‘the spider’ Silva
2- Fedor Emilianenko
3- George St. Pierre
April 25th, 2009 at 8:51 am
1- Anderson Silva
2- Fedor Emilianenko
3- George St. Pierre
4- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
5- B.J. Penn
6- Quinton Jackson
7- Chuck Liddell
8- Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua
9- Dan Henderson
10-Lyoto Machida
April 25th, 2009 at 8:55 am
but we need to remenber wanderli silva he is the beast and i believe he will react and fight like he did in pride again when he just KO’ed twice qinton jackson
May 12th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Where is Miguel Torres!? He is 37-1. He is consider the best 135 and is the bantamweight champion in the WEC . He should be in the top 5 pvp for sure and is a exciting fighter to watch.
My top fighters:
1. Fedor Emelianenko 30-1 NC 1
2. Miguel Torres 37-1
3. Anderson Silva 24-4
4. George St. Pierre 18-2
When Lyoto Machida wins the the light heavyweight title, I will include him but first he needs to prove it against Rashad Evans.
May 13th, 2009 at 11:52 am
BISPING
May 18th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
im sorri but who still thinks nogueira is one of the best in the world come
at the moment have think my top 10 would be
1-Anderson Silva
2-Georges St Pierre
3-Fedor Emilianenko
4-BJ Penn (at lightweight)
5-Rashad Evans
6-Lyoto Machida
7-Rampage Jackson
8-Brock Lesnar
9-Miguel Torres
10-Thiago Silva
May 19th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
You folks are crazy…as of 5-20-09,the list would look like this.
(1)Fedor Emelianenko
(2)Georges-St. Pierre
(3)Anderson Silva
(4)BJ Penn
(5)Rashad Evans
(6)Michael Bisping/Brock Lesner
(7)Jon Fitch
(8)Josh Barnett
(9)Diego Sanchez/Takanori Gomi
(10)Matt Hughes
(11)Sean Sherk**
Not enough fights for Lesner yet.
#21
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:01 pm
anderson silva got the two worst loses inn mma history 1 of them from the worst fighter iw ever seen
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:04 pm
adreson silva wgot 4 loses
2 of the worst loses ever no way for him to be poun for pound
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:22 pm
1-fedor 30-1
2-mashida 15-0
3-tores 37-1
4-gegard mousasi 28-2
4-GSP 18-2
5-anderson silva 24-4
July 14th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
BJ is lucky if he even makes the top ten and will be out of it after Kenny whoops him
August 11th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Those are not great top 10 picks 1-GSP 2-Anderson Silva 3-fedor 4 Lyoto Mishida 5-Bj Penn 6-Tores 7-Urijah Faber 8-Dan Henderson 9-Mike Brown 10-Brock lesner
August 26th, 2009 at 4:46 am
1 lyoto machida 15-0/ 2 miguel torres 37-2/ 3 fedor emilianenko 31-1/ 4 antonio nogueira 31-5/ 5 anderson silva 25-4/ 6 rich franklin 25-4/ 7 uriah faber 22-3/ 8 georges st pierre 19-2/ 9 wanderlei silva 32-10/ 10 dan henderson 25-7
August 30th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Fedor Emelianenko
3. Anderson Silva
4. Diego Sanchez
5. Lyoto Machida
6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
7. Brian Bowles
8. Miguel Torres
9. Randy Couture
10. B.J. Penn
September 1st, 2009 at 10:12 pm
umm y is wanderlei not on this and y is urijah faber on this
October 12th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
1. fador emelianko
2. anderson silva
3. gsp
4.lyoto machida
5. miguel torres
6.diego sanchez
7.shane carwin
8.cain valesquez
9.brock lesner
10. rashad evans
this should be the real top 10 list for this time and date
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:15 am
1 fedor
2 musassi
3 gsp
4 lyoto
5 brett rogers no loses
6 carwin
7 tores
8 gono
9 shogun
10 silva