Ok so this is my first blog on the sport of mma. Heck this is my first blog on anything so I hope this goes well. I want to discuss the absurdity of the idea of who is the best "pound for pound" mma fighter in the world. People make these rankings and then argue them like they mean anything. How does anyone know or even begin to argue that a fighter is better at his weight class than another is at his. Ok so George St. Pierre mauled BJ Penn in their rematch at the end of January. Does this make St. Pierre better pound for pound? No, it makes him a better 170 lb fighter than Penn. If St. Pierre attempted to cut to 155 he would be emaciated and lose much of his conditioning and some of his strength. I know now people will say that its hypothetical, what if a 155 lb version of St. Pierre existed, then he could defeat Penn at that weight class. Well, no that wouldn't be the case. Penn is obviously a stronger, faster, more well conditioned fighter at 155 lbs than he is at 170 so this mythical 155 lb version of St. Pierre would be fighting a different animal. A different animal that actually exists in the real world. I know I've been focusing on a Penn-St. Pierre match up but this idea would work for any fighter listed in this mythical pound for pound weight class. What if anyone mentioned in the pound for pound discussion were to fight Fedor at heavyweight or if Fedor dropped to fight anyone on that list. What would happen? Well in the real world Fedor would drop any of them at heavyweight because they would be horribly out of shape to fight at that weight, would have bulked up so much that they lost their speed, or would be fighting at a huge weight disadvantage. In the mythical world we would be led to believe that a heavyweight version of Penn, St. Pierre, or Anderson Silva would keep their smaller version's speed at that weight. How does Fedor deal with a heavyweight Penn or St. Pierre that possess the speed of the 155 lb or 170 lb versions. But on the same token do they keep that speed but their strength as well because then they would be fairly weak for a 206 lb or higher fighter so they probably would be unable to hurt Fedor. I know, this all sounds ridiculous but that is what the pound for pound fighter argument should be considered. There has been discussion of St. Pierre eventually stepping up to 185 to fight Anderson Silva. If Silva would win this fight would it make him a better pound for pound fighter? No it makes him a better fighter at 185. The fight would most likely be completely different at 170. If St. Pierre would win that fight does it make him a better pound for pound fighter? Not really. Sure he would be better at 185 that night but Silva has shown an ability to fight at 205 and he could move up and dominate there. Could St. Pierre follow and remain as good a fighter? I think not. I like to give fighters credit for being great at their weight class and keep it at that. Sure a fighter like Penn has held titles at 155 and 170 in the UFC and that is part of his legacy that should be celebrated but that doesn't make him "pound for pound" the best because he is a great 155 lb fighter that is good but not great at 170. I'll stick to who is best at each weight class. I personally feel that Miguel Torres is the best fighter in the world at 135; Uriah Faber is the best at 145 and will beat Mike Brown when they fight a rematch; BJ Penn is the best fighter at 155 especially when he is focused on that weight class; George St. Pierre is obviously the best at 170 lbs with or without the vaseline; Anderson Silva is without a doubt the best at 185; Quinton Jackson is the best in the world at 205 and when he gets the chance will take back that title in the UFC; and Fedor Emelianenko is the best at heavyweight, sorry Lesnar fans but no he isn't. That makes all of these fighters, in my opinion, great, but as far as who is the best fighter pound for pound it's a pointless discussion that goes nowhere. That being said I'm not one to avoid a pointless argument so here is my pound for pound top 10:
1. George St. Pierre
2. Fedor Emelianenko
3. Anderson Silva
4. Miguel Torres
5. Quinton Jackson
6. Rashad Evans
7. BJ Penn
8. Uriah Faber
9. Forrest Griffin
10. Jon Fitch

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