Pound for Pound

[Slim Pickns]

Simple question that can be debated until the end of time. Who is the best pound for pound fighter in the world? Even more, what criteria do you use when deciding?

Right now, its hard for anyone not to say Fedor Emelianenko is the best fighter in the world. He has beaten every top ranked fighter not named Randy Couture in the world. However, some people will counter and say that Anderson Silva is the best pound for pound fighter in the world due to his destruction of the UFC's middleweight division. Should Anderson automatically win that argument due to his lighter frame? I for one, wish more people would judge not just by their weight in comparison to the other fighter, but by their dominance of their division.

I like to factor in weight when deciding the best, because guys like George St. Pierre and BJ Penn could never beat Fedor in a fight. However, if they run through everyone in the lightweight and welterweight divisions they should still seen as the best pound for pound fighters.

Right now, despite being a heavyweight, I think Fedor is still the best pound for pound fighter in the world. The guy just utterly destroyed the UFC's second ranked heavyweight in 36 seconds. All Tim Sylvia could talk about in the post fight interview is that he has never been hit that hard in his life. In Fedor, you have a guy with brutal ground and pound, top notch standup, and great submission and submission defense. This guy is so good I would not be surprised if he turns out to be a robot.

Anderson Silva and GSP get some mention, but they haven't had long enough runs that compare to Fedor.

 

["Rush" GSP]

Hands down Anderson Silva.

You said you like to factor in wieght when deciding the best pound for pound well in the eyes of almost everyone the UFC is the WWE to every other promotionbeing a TNA. The best top to bottom weight classes are in the UFC. Anderson Silva has mauled through the middleweight division. In many eyes he beat his top two competition in Franklin and Henderson a total of three times. All of which were domination, just ask Ace's nose. He is as well rounded as it gets...black belt in jiu jitsu, in the clinch his knees are terrifying, and he has pure knock out ability. Hes dominated so much hes moved up a weight class. No fight of his has lasted more than two rounds. You might be able to say the samee about Fedor but who is fighting the top competition in the UFC and who is not?

Fedor is very good if not great but i think its easier to dismantle a Sylvia whne you have puss fight after puss fight for a few years. Yes you may get slighlty rusty but your body isnt taking a pounding.

In a bar fight obviously fedor has an advantage because of size but this is sanctioned fighting.

Heres my top 5:
1 Anderson Silva
2 Georges St. Pierre
3 Fedor
4 BJ Penn
5 Randy Couture

 

[Slim Pickns]

The thing is that Fedor was fighting top competition in PRIDE. The UFC may be the big leagues, but as far as heavyweights go, they have none. Minatauro is one of my favorite fighters, he's hgihly skilled and deserves all the credit he gets as their champion. However, Fedor beat the piss out of him twice, yet he was still able to go to UFC and capture the belt with relative ease. Now who is his top competition? Frank Mir, a guy who is 3-2 since returning against mediocre competition. Then, Sylvia (the former champ) tries Fedor and gets beat in a flash as well. The Fedor not fighting top competition argument is bogus because the guy has mauled everyone except Couture that is in the UFC heavyweight division.

 

["Rush" GSP]

To me it sounds as though you are saying who does Fedor have left to beat besides Randy. but at the same time who does The Spider have left to beat at midleweight..no one he has dismantled the whole division to where his top competitor arguably in Franklin may move to Light Heavywiehgt cause he knows he cant beat Silva. ANderson has demolished that division so bad that he is fighting at Light Heavyweight now and it wouldnt suprise me if he won that title too

 

[Slim Pickns]

Anderson Silva has yet to beat Yushin Okami, Thales Leties, or Patrick Cote. I'm not saying he can't beat those guys, I'm just saying thats three guys who are on a roll that he hasn't crossed paths with.

Fedor came across Minatauro when NOG was heavyweight champion and had just beaten Cro Cop. Fedor dominated that match big time. Then Cro Cop went on a rampage until he came across Fedor and got annihilated. Fedor beat anyone ranked in the top ten other than Randy at one point or another. Again, Silva is great, a definite two and as you have shown maybe even one. I think however those who have seen Fedor's run would agree with me.

 

["Rush" GSP]

All three guys you mentioned Silva could role through, yes you can say Okami has a victory over Silva but that is a bs victory. Not one of them fighters has any legitamate shot at beating him. He has dominated the super promotion UFC and there entire weig;ht class to the point they dont know what to do with him. Honetstly i'm not a huge Silva fan but i give credit where credit is due. Dana White is in a tough spot, i read he doesnt even think a main event on ppv involveing Silva is a huge draw because peopel think he will just dominate his opponent. I heard he might have a title fight in september against somebody. this makes sense to me cuase i would not buy a ppv with him as the only headliner fighting. Atleast if he is on that card he is fighting on the smae card as the returning Chuck Liddell. I think Dana White is in a real tough spot with Silva cause he doesnt have much competition at middleweight, and what if he would win a light heavyweight title too???

Would he then be considered the top pound for pound fighter in the world in your eyes as well as everyone elses....becuase that has a real legit shot of happening in my eyes cause he isnt gonna have to go through all the light heavywieghts to get a title shot becuase he already has the credibility of the middleweight division. I honestly give him two wins at light heavyweight then he will get a title shot.

What if he ends up beign the middlewiehgt and light heavyweight champ at the smae time???

 

[Marquis]

Im gonna have to say fedor because hes had more matchs to back up hes the pound for pound best figther. But i do think over time gsp or silva will take that tittle from him maybe even bj penn. Silvas probably the closest to getting named pound for pound best figther if he captures lhw belt he will definitely be considered for it. I dont see it happening so easily though i think lyoto machida will give him a good challenge or who knows maybe even beat him i do see him running threw forest as durable as he is.