|
From MMATorch.com Staff Columnists
In MMA there are plenty of champions within all of the different promotions in the world. So I ask you; who is currently the most dominant champion in all of MMA? Who above all others has completely shut out their competition and won every fight unquestionably? When I think of this question I also think of people asking, "Who is the best pound-for-pound fighter of the world?" They are very similar to each other depending on what the fighter does throughout his career. I will start off with some of my favorite dominant champions (not in any particular order) and finish off with the most dominant champion of all MMA. My first guy is Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor is the WAMMA heavyweight champion (206-265lbs). (I would call it a made up belt, but that is my opinion. WAMMA stands for World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts. WAMMA is supposedly the unified and undisputed champion of the world, but UFC would not agree to use or even acknowledge the belts exist. WAMMA still decided to use the belt though.) Fedor has an outstanding MMA record of 31-1-1 (all fights have been at heavyweight). Fedor won the WAMMA heavyweight belt in July of 2008. Fedor is currently on an 11 fight win streak. He has only lost one fight at heavyweight and he later revenged that only loss. Fedor has not been defeated since 2000. He has defended his WAMMA belt twice and both fights ending in knock out. Unfortunately, Fedor has not fought great competition in his past eight fights. Fedor has only fought two top ten current heavyweights (and I do not consider Rogers to be one, so honestly only one, and that is Nogueira, and he fought him back in 2003). The last three promotions that Fedor has fought for are now out of business. If Fedor would have fought at one place his entire career he could have very well been the most dominant champion of all time. Fedor has only defended his belt twice, has not had immense competition, only fights twice a year (if we're lucky), and in his past two fights he was tested very heavily; until they met his fist that is. With all of that being said, he is not the most dominant. (I do not consider Sylvia, Rogers, or Arlovski top ten opponents). Our next superior fighter is Georges St. Pierre (GSP). GSP is the current UFC Welterweight Champion (170lbs) and has a MMA record of 19-2 (all fights have been at welterweight). GSP lost only two fights in his career and has revenged both of his losses (he even avenged Hughes twice). Unlike most fighters GSP has fought 75% of his fights in the UFC. Most MMA fans have watched GSP progress into the supreme fighter he is today. GSP won the welterweight belt for the second time in December of 2008 and has defended his belt four times. He lost the welterweight title the first time to Matt Serra. This loss is considered the upset of the decade, in which Serra caught GSP with a punch then unleashed a flurry of punches to get his TKO victory. GSP is currently on a six fight win streak and has dominated his last four title defenses. GSP has fought four current top ten welterweights and is scheduled to fight a fifth in March. GSP has fought the best in his division and conquered them all. GSP might be one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world; however, he had a bad loss to Matt Serra and does not always finish his opponents (this might just be to his level of competition, but nevertheless). He will continue his slaughter of the division until he moves up weight classes or tries out for the Olympics in wrestling (which he will have to decide this year). Next we have Anderson Silva. Silva is the current UFC middleweight champion (185lbs) with a MMA record of 25-4 overall and a middleweight record of 23-4. (Note: One loss was a DQ.) Silva has lost four times in his division and after being defeated, he has yet to fight any of those four again. Silva is on a current 11 fight win streak and 10 of those being at the UFC (Silva has the longest winning streak in the UFC). Anderson Silva won the UFC Middleweight Championship in October of 2006 and has defended his belt five times since then. He also has had one non-title fight and two fights at light heavyweight (205lbs) since being the middleweight champion. All but one of his fights were stopped (not going to the judges). The only fight that went to the judges was against Thales Leites, who ran from Silva and through himself on the ground the entire fight (shortly thereafter the UFC released Leites). Anderson Silva has fought four current top ten middleweight opponents and one top ten light heavyweight opponent while holding his middleweight belt (he even fought Rich Franklin twice). It has been said, since Silva has been in the UFC he has only lost one round (a regular match consist of three five-minute rounds and a championship fight consist of five 5-minute rounds). If you add them up, he has fought 19 total rounds in the UFC. To have only lost one round and to have fought in two different weight classes Anderson Silva is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. However, that does not make him the most dominating champion. Silva has had three men beat him in his division and has not revenged his losses. Silva finishes fights, almost always looks impressive, and fights the best in his division. Silva has only three fights left on his contract and has said he is retiring (But that is what they all say). I know plenty will think he is the most dominant fighter of his division and in my opinion it was very close between Silva and my top fighter, but Silva does not get the award. Now for the most dominating fighter of his division: B.J. Penn. Penn is the current UFC Lightweight Champion (155lbs) and has a MMA record of 15-5-1 overall, but his lightweight record is 10-1-1 (when you consider the people he has fought that's impressive). Penn stands out among most because he made his MMA debut in the UFC and has fought 80 percent of his fights with the UFC. lthough we seen him lose recently to Georges St. Pierre (fought at 170lbs), we are talking about division champions and how dominant they have been inside there division. Penn has only lost one lightweight fight in his career. He lost the fight to Jens Pulver and he later revenged his only loss at lightweight. With that being said, B.J. Penn has not tasted defeat at lightweight since 2002. Penn won the UFC lightweight belt in January of 2008 and has defended his belt four times. In his reign as lightweight champion, a fighter has never gone the distance (five 5-min rounds) with him, he has finished them all. At lightweight, Penn seems to be untouchable and in a class of his own. The best possible test for B.J. Penn would be to fight Shinya Aoki, and that is not happening anytime soon. Even though his MMA record shows his blemishes at welterweight, he is very dominant at 155lbs. Penn has fought great competition consisting of five top ten lightweights and he has stopped each and every one (NO decision victories). Penn has never had an "off night" at lightweight and he always goes out to not just win, but win impressively. With all of these things combined he is currently the most dominating champion. Although B.J. Penn might not be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, he is a very dangerous man at 155lbs. Every time Penn steps in the cage he dictates his opponent to a stoppage and he will continue his supremacy of the lightweight division for quite some time. Sorry, Lyoto Machida did not make the list; he has only defended his belt once. I know individuals will disagree with whom I chose. Let me know who you think should be on the list, who should not be, and your top dominant fighter(s). Please fill free to leave me comments at the MMATorch website and I will respond to each one of your comments. © Copyright by MMATorch.com |
