Official SportsBettingWorld Pound-for-Pound Rankings

Added on Sep 01, 2010 by Bill Jackson in

UFC & MMA

1. Georges St. Pierre

Currently on a 7-fight win-streak over about the best possible opponents you can find at 170 pounds, UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has showed no signs of slowing. Most recently, St. Pierre shutdown Dan Hardy for five rounds, nearly breaking his arm on multiple occasions. Next up is a rematch with Josh Koscheck in Montreal, after coaching on a season of The Ultimate Fighter.

2. Anderson Silva

Silva proved his mettle more so than ever with a dramatic come from behind triangle choke over Chael Sonnen, after taking an immense amount of punishment for 23 minutes. Like it or not, Chael is getting a rematch either on New Year’s Eve, or Super Bowl weekend.

3. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Shogun continues to prove himself as one of the best fighters in the world and now has the UFC light heavyweight title to add to his accolades. After losing a decision to Lyoto Machida in a fight that most felt the judges slipped up, Shogun made the most of his rematch by knocking out the previously unbeaten Machida in the first round. Next will be his first title defense against Rashad Evans in mid 2011.

4. Jose Aldo

Aldo has now blasted through the top two American featherweights with ease and made himself a budding star in the sport. In his next fight, he will defend his title against Manny Gamburyan. A win there will just further solidify his status as one of the best.

5. Frankie Edgar

I don’t know how many people could have possibly expected Edgar’s rematch with Penn to go the way it did. I know I didn’t. After a close and debatable decision in his first fight with Penn, where he won the title, Edgar completely dominated Penn in the rematch. If Edgar does nothing else for the rest of his career, he will be remembered for that outstanding performance for years to come.

6. Fedor Emelianenko

I don’t think that Fedor is done, but his stock certainly is nothing compared to what it was just a year ago. He needs to return quickly and erase the memory of him tapping for the first time in his career out of the fan’s minds. It is still very much up in the air, but his next opponent will likely either be Antonio Silva, Alistair Overeem, or a rematch with Fabricio Werdum.

7. Jake Shields

Jake Shields ruled the welterweights and the middleweights outside of the octagon. Now he enters the UFC back at welterweight with his sights set on challenging Georges St. Pierre. His first fight will not be a gimme, as the former Strikeforce middleweight champion faces the very solid Martin Kampmann.

8. Jon Fitch

What to do with Jon Fitch? It’s not an easy question. He has clearly established himself as the top welterweight in the UFC outside of the champion, and most figure him to still have no chance against his former conqueror. His style doesn’t lend itself to the average fan’s appreciation, but you can’t fault a guy for winning any way possible. I say he should get another shot at St. Pierre, and if he loses, move on to new goals like middleweight.

9. B.J. Penn

Penn has been considered one of the best fighters on the planet for near a decade, but, for the first time, he was utterly outclassed by Frankie Edgar in their title rematch. It is hard to say where Penn should go from here, but he is still a great fighter. Styles make fights and Edgar is all wrong for Penn, at least when he refuses to incorporate takedowns into his game plan. If Gray Maynard can get the title, Penn would be a good defense for him, similar to when Urijah Faber challenged Jose Aldo after losing two fights to Mike Brown.

10. Lyoto Machida

Though his hype dissolved after two fights with Shogun Rua, Lyoto Machida is still every bit as good as most thought. He ran into a great fighter and lost. He’s human, he lost. I still think Machida can handle any other light heavyweight in the world, and should eventually be given a third fight with Shogun. It’s not like the first fight wasn’t competitive.