Who is, pound for pound, the best fighter in the world?
This question has been thrown around often lately, but before you find out the answer, let's narrow the search fields a bit. Does one look at boxers? How about wrestlers? Maybe those submission experts? The fact is that the term "fighting" encompasses all those things (or more), so in order for someone to be labeled the best fighter in the world they need to have a strong knowledge of every important martial art out there, as well as having the athletic ability to back it up. So the best place to look is indeed the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
It's a little ironic because the first MMA fighters to burst onto the screen weren't mixing up much of anything.
Royce Gracie, for example, was a dominant champion in the early years, but he was using only Brazilian Jujitsu to defeat his opponents, which is why his first 12 fights were all won by submissions. Most of his early opponents had either never heard of this art, or weren't very well versed in it. Fast forward about fifteen years to today, and you have a new breed of fighters who are well versed in every aspect of fighting.
At the top of that list you have four guys by the names of St Pierre, Penn, Silva, and Fedor. These guys are all thought to be the best in their respective divisions, but only one can be the best in the world. So who is it, you ask. Let's start with the Russian heavyweight by the name of Fedor, or "The Last Emperor" as so many call him. He is one of the few undefeated fighters left in MMA. Someone reading this may assume that the man must be a giant, or an athletic freak, but the truth is that Fedor is neither of those. What separates Fedor from other fighters is his calm demeanor under pressure. In many of his fights, it seems that Fedor is finally going to receive that first loss, but after a few minutes it is always he who is getting his hand raised. So surely Fedor is the best, correct? Not exactly. The one argument against Fedor is that he has not faced all the top opponents in his weight class as of yet, mainly
Randy Couture, whom is also thought to be one of the top heavyweights in the world. So if Fedor has yet to prove he is the best at heavyweight, he cannot already be known as the top pound for pound fighter.
At the other end of the world resides "The Prodigy",
BJ Penn. That nickname rings very true for Penn whom after only a few years of training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu won the world championship in that martial art. Penn possesses a natural dexterity that makes him very dangerous on the ground, and near impossible to be taken down. He also possesses great boxing skills and heavy hands. He had only four losses in his career, but in those losses lies the reason as to why he is the next name to be scratched off the list. In each and every one of those losses, the argument can be made that Penn was winning the fight until he ran out of steam. He was not able to overcome his fatigue, and simply quit on himself. That inability to go an entire fight and run at a constant speed is Penn's Achilles heel, and is the reason he has already lost to another fighter on this list.
The next to be checked off the list, will be a surprise to many, but not to all. Anderson "The Spider" Silva, has been widely pushed by the UFC as the pound for pound best fighter in the world, but that should not be the period at the end of the sentence. Silva has won all of his seven fights in the UFC, and most of them in dominating fashion. He is an excellent striker, with very good submissions. Contrary to popular opinion though, he does have a large flaw in his game, and that is in his wrestling ability. This would not be as important, if wrestling wasn't such a vital part of MMA. Silva has shown that he can be taken down, and controlled. In his match with
Dan Henderson, for example, he spent half of it on his back before eventually winning the match. Anderson has yet to face a very explosive and athletic wrestler, but when he does, he will be in for a lot of trouble.
That brings us to one man, Georges "Rush" St. Pierre, who gets top honors. Why him, one asks? Is it because he is so nice and respectful? Nope. Is it because he posts on yardbarker.com? It helps, but no. The reason is simply in the fact that, where every other candidate fails, he succeeds. He is the most complete fighter in MMA, with excellent wrestling, great striking, and a very good submission game. He has defeated the best there is to offer in his division, whether it is by knockout or submission, and improves with every fight. The icing on the cake is the fact that he is one of the most athletic fighters in the world, possessing fast twitch muscles that very few do, and the stamina/heart to go five full rounds. Make no mistake; this is not to say that he is the perfect fighter. He has indeed lost two fights in his career, but he has also avenged those losses in dominant fashion, which shows that he is willing to overcome any obstacle. His biggest obstacle now will be to continue on this path without getting distracted, so that maybe in ten years he will be on someone's list for "greatest fighter in history"......
