Hit The Mat 12.01.08: Pound for Pound Opinions

Posted by Matt McEwen on 12.01.2008

411's Matt McEwen well, he kind of hates fighter rankings. So in the latest edition of Hit the Mat, Matt has decided to be a masochist and give you his version of the top 10 pound for pound fighters!

The calm before the storm…

Last week, I talked about how December is going to be a big month for MMA (though I forgot all about Wednesday's WEC show), but the other side of that coin is that the last half of November is a bit of a dead zone. There has been a few interesting stories popping up in the past week, but nothing earth shaking and nothing that will mean much in a few weeks.

So, that left me scratching my head a bit this week with what to write about. So, looking back, I stirred up a lot of discussion when I said my top three heavyweights in the world are Fedor, Barnett and Lesnar, and in that order. So, me being the captain of the obvious that I am, I figured everyone would love it if I put together my top 10 pound for pound list.

Now, if you're a regular reader, you probably would have noted that I said I don't normally do rankings, nor do I care that much about them. That holds true. But, in the interest of fun, I figured I'd put together a list which is completely subjective and completely non-scientific.

With all due respect to Dustin James and the hard work he does around here, here goes:

1. Georges St. Pierre

And no, I'm not picking him just to be different. I'll get to the reasons why Silva and Fedor aren't my #1's in a minute, but let me first tell you why GSP is.

Yes, he got caught by Matt Serra and was made to look like a fool. Consider that the wake up call that a lot of guys who reach the championship level eventually get. Since then, he's out wrestled Josh Koscheck, destroyed Matt Hughes and Serra in consecutive title matches, and then won a dominating five round decision over the super tough Jon Fitch. He's been fighting top guys for the past 18 months and no one has shown to be in his class lately, and that is why he's #1 in my book. If you can find a legit hole in his game at this point, please let me know what it is. His wrestling is probably the most MMA-functional in the sport, his submissions are good and striking is very effective as well.

If he beats BJ Penn for the second time in their upcoming rematch, I don't think I'll be the only one out there who has GSP in the one spot.

2. Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor is the only other guy in the sport besides GSP who has shown top level skills in all three aspects of the sport, but where the seemingly indestructible Russian comes up a bit short in comparison to my fellow Canadian is in quality and amount of competition.

We've all heard it a thousand times, but it's still true – Fedor hasn't fought enough recently or against enough top competition when he does to be ranked as high as he should. If he'd fought comparable talent in the past 18 months to that which GSP has, he'd be #1 without a doubt. Hell, if he dominates Arlovski in January (and I'd be fairly surprised if he doesn't) he most likely jumps to #1. But handing Tim Sylvia his third loss in four fights, no matter how impressively just isn't enough for a guy who should be considered the best fighter of all time.

3. Anderson Silva

Does anyone else out there have him this low? Now, I'm sure I'm going to get destroyed for saying this, but Silva is behind both GSP and Fedor right now. Yes, he's on an incredible streak right now, has amazing stand up and insane power in both hands, but we still haven't seen his wrestling or jiu jitsu really tested in the Octagon yet.

Well, that's ½ wrong. We saw Travis Lutter control the jiu jitsu game for the first half of his fight, but ½ a fight is about as much of a fight as Lutter seems able to put up, so Silva submitting him isn't as impressive as it seems at first glance.

So, dominant? Yes. KO power? Yes. Documented, MMA-practical well rounded skill set? Not recently.

And even when it comes to his stand up, what the hell was up with the fight with Cote? I went on record at the time as saying that he was respecting Cote's power and not showboating, but did he need to respect him that much? With all the stories and rumors about Silva becoming somewhat bored with his dominance of the MMA world, you have to wonder if Silva is about to pull a Humpty Dumpty and have a great fall.

4. BJ Penn

Honestly, you could list GSP, Fedor and Silva as 1a, 1b, and 1c, and Penn is just a step below these guys, and his upcoming title shot against GSP will give him a chance to get a step ahead.

We've yet to see the in shape, motivated and eager BJ at 170lbs, and there's no guarantee that the stamina and patience that he's shown in his last three lightweight fights is going to carry over. But if it does….

An on top of his game BJ offers probably the most well rounded skill set in the sport, and if he is able to simultaneously hold titles at different weight classes for any length of time, then he could very well hopscotch over Fedor on that "Greatest of All Time" list.

5. Lyoto Machida

He's more of an interesting fighter to watch rather than an exciting one, but that shouldn't take away from the fact that the guy is undefeated with wins over BJ Penn, Stephan Bonnar, Rich Franklin and Tito Ortiz on his record. In my opinion, you can add whoever he faces in the light heavyweight division to that list.

Until someone shows me that they can break down his defense and beat Machida, he's the uncrowned 205lb champ.

6. Forrest Griffin

What's that you say? TUF fanboy am I? Newby, you say?

That's fine, but if those are the only reasons you can come up with to say that Griffin doesn't belong this high, then you had better look again.
Ever since his loss to Keith Jardine, Griffin has taken every ounce of advice Randy Couture has given him and turned into a sort of Randy, Jr. The game plans that Randy puts together and Griffin follows to a tee have led to back to back wins over men considered the best in the weight class at the time and put the light heavyweight title around his waist.

Often forgotten in a)the general hate of all things TUF related, and b)Griffin's previous propensity to get into brawls, is the fact that he offers a wide range of skills that allow him to hang with just about anyone in the division in any situation.

A win over Rashad Evans isn't going to be enough for most people to consider him at this level, but a 3 or 4 title defense reign would. Time will tell…

7. Miguel Torres

Stop me if you've heard this one recently…The hyped champion of one the WEC's top divisions steps into the cage against an opponent he should easily beat en route to a bigger fight on the horizon.

We'll find out Wednesday if Torres gets to keep marching on to his big fight with Jeff Curran, or if he'll get Faber'd (more on that in a bit) by Manny Tapia. Even if he does though, Torres has shown an impressive array of skills, headlined by his fantastic jiu jitsu. He's also a young veteran, so hopefully his new found stardom hasn't had the effect that it has had on other in the past.

8. Josh Barnett

I know he hasn't fought a lot lately, and hasn't fought against the top competition either, and maybe I just have a man crush on his dimples, but Barnett represents the most likely heavyweight to take out Fedor.

He has KO power, good boxing, good wrestling and good submissions. His defense from his back sometimes leaves a little to be desired, but then again, the times he's been on his back have been against some of the best fighters in the world.

If he were to be getting some more top level fights, I'd rank him higher.

Let the screaming begin.

9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogeuria

I know everyone is going to say I hate Big Nog for ranking him so low. I don't. I love the guy. How can you enjoy MMA and not?

That being said, his UFC career hasn't been the most stellar so far. He came as close to getting KO'd as possible without actually taking a snooze as possible in his debut against Heath Herring and then got pounded on for a fair bit before catching and submitting Tim Sylvia. Yes, the same Tim Sylvia who got his ass handed to him by Randy Couture, bored out a bland victory over a one handed Brandon Vera and then went on to get choked out in 30 seconds by Fedor. Yeah….that guy went into the third round with Nogueria.

All that being said, Nogeuria can beat anyone, anytime, anywhere. His submissions are so good that there is not a heavyweight even in his class, with all apologies to Frank Mir. His stand up is good enough to get by, but I hold to my assessment that it certainly doesn't strike fear in the heart of his opponents, but it doesn't matter that much. He's good enough to get a fight down to the ground no matter what his opponents want.

And once it's there, it's often over. A big win should be forthcoming over Mir, and he represents a real threat to the beast named Lesnar.

10. Urijah Faber

Yeah, he got caught and he got beat. He made a mistake trying to get a bit fancier than he should of, but that doesn't change the fact that he's the best 145lber in the sport and one of the most well rounded guys in all of MMA.

He's still the good wrestler who was able to submit jiu jitsu black belt Jeff Curran in a fantastic showing, out strike Jens Pulver for five rounds and put the WEC on the map for a lot of fans.

One shot doesn't change all that.


There you go….my top 10 pound for pound.


As I've said before, let the screaming begin!