I’m not the biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) fan in the world but I have always kept an ear to the sport and am getting better at understanding the science of the emerging phenomenon. I’m not a complete nOOb, I remember the vicious nut punching at UFC 4, the Sen. McCain vs UFC saga in which he deemed the sport as “human cockfighting”; which led to new rules to keep fighters safe, and the Ken Shamrock/Dan Severen cross into the WWF which further expanded the sport’s appeal.
While MMA is growing at an incredible rate, not everyone has accepted the sport yet. It is still looked at as barbaric, violent, and unsuitable for children. With anything, if you take the time to understand it while putting prejudices away, you can at least come to grips with it. MMA is a science of sorts. A tactical human chess match between two competitors with mutual respect for one another. In fact, the civility and humility of MMA is what, in my opinion anyway, has led the public to embrace the sport.
The UFC is the premier brand in MMA. Call it the NFL of football or the WWE of professional wrestling, it just is what it is regardless of your liking. So for this list, most of the fighters are currently signed to the UFC brand. I don’t know if that means UFC simply has better fighters or ignorantly shows my still low level knowledge of the sport. But anyway, and this is by no means a scientific assessment, on to my opinion of the top 10 pound for pound fighters in the sport today (only includes the five main weight classes of UFC, thus excluding featherweight and bantamweight competitors from other brands).
Honorable Mention: Jon Fitch, Josh Barnett, Dan Henderson, Jake Shields, Josh Koscheck, and Eddie Alvarez.
10) Shinya Aoki 
Currently ranked as the #1 lightweight in the world by MMA Weekly, Shinya is perhaps the greatest submission force in MMA, but is lacking with his striking game. Sporting a 21-4 record in the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA), the BJJ fighter once fought #1 ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in an exhibition bout but lost.
I have Aoki back at #10 because I simply think BJ Penn has faced better competition in his career, making the two the only lightweights in my top 10. It is a down division in UFC and seemingly around the world. Could Aoki sign with the UFC one day? Perhaps. And he would probably get a title shot, but don’t count on it anytime soon.
9) Thiago Alves 
You can make a really good point that this spot belongs to Jon Fitch. After all, Alves just came off a convincing five round loss to St. Pierres at UFC 100 leaving Fitch ahead of him in line for a title shot, but this list isn’t about title shots, it is best pound for pound fighter. Truly, I think Alves is even better than #9.
Carrying a 16-4 MMA record, Alves is at a tough place in his career. He struggles making weight at 170 and just proved he probably can’t beat GSP, so he is going to need to decide how he wants to advance his career. His is brutally strong and fundamentally superior to his peers but his options are limited. I’m interested to see where he goes from here.
8 ) Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
After shockingly losing his title belt to Forrest Griffin, he now needs to get his personal life straightened out. A weird car chase and accident incident lingers over his head outside the octagon. Inside the octagon, there isn’t much to dispute. Rampage has beaten some of the best fighters in the world in UFC’s deepest weight class.
Sporting a 4-1 record in his last 5 fights against top 10 ranked light heavyweights, Jackson has beaten both Wanderlei Silva and Keith Jardine since losing the belt. Next up is Rashad Evans after they coach in this season’s The Ultimate Fighter 10 and a win there gives him a title shot that he probably should have had a lot sooner. Rampage isn’t the most technically sound fighter there is but there may be no one in MMA with as much endgame power. Not to mention his howling can be a wee bit intimidating.
7) Brock Lesnar
Typical pound for pound rankings reward lighter divisions but Lesnar is a brutal MMA force. I don’t particularly like Lesnar, I think his attitude and approach to “entertaining” the fans is disrespectful to the UFC, his opponents, and the sanctity of MMA. That said, the current UFC heavyweight champion is probably the most widely recognizable face of the sport and his impressive victories over legend Randy Couture and seasoned veteran Frank Mir can’t be ignored.
As much of a jerk as Lesnar comes off as, his WWE villain gimmick may be a great thing for MMA. He expands brand appeal and brings in PPV money. Problem is, there is no one else to fight after Mir in heavyweight’s weakest division. Fedor refused to sign with UFC last week denying MMA fans their dream match, so the likely course of events for Lesnar is a rubber match with Mir for a hopeful big payday.
6) Rashad Evans
Evans’ first defense of the UFC light heavyweight belt in May was a disaster, as he was dominated from bell-to-bell by Lyota Machida. Evans will have the chance to fight for the title again if he’s able to beat Rampage when the two face off in a great matchup after TUF 10.
Evans, with a career MMA record of 13-1-1, gets my nod over Rampage because I think he is a more complete fighter. With that, I also think he’ll be able to beat Rampage because of his superior ground game. I assume Machida will still be the light heavyweight champion which sets up a HUGE title rematch.
5) Fedor Emelianenko
Dana White threw the bank at Fedor when he became a free agent this past month which would have given Fedor, by far, the biggest contract in MMA history. White knew his heavyweight class was weak and the demand for a Lesnar-Fedor fight would have been massive. But alas, Fedor signed with Strikeforce, a lesser brand with lesser talent. The problem I have with Fedor is this: He is widely considered not only the best heavyweight in MMA, but the best pound for pound fighter in MMA. Thing is, he doesn’t have that many great wins over great competition. Watch his fights on YouTube, he’s undoubtedly technically sound, but where is the greatness that being ranked #1 comes with?
Maybe I am just one of the many Fedor doubters that doesn’t quite have the appreciation of MMA, but until I see him fight and beat a great heavyweight (That is in their prime), Fedor goes no higher than #5.
4) BJ Penn
The “Prodigy” may be the most naturally gifted fighter on this list. He showed exactly why the MMA world anointed him from day one, as he put on arguably his most consummate performance as a prizefighter, manhandling Kenny Florian at UFC 101 for 15 minutes before finishing him with a beautiful rear naked choke. To his credit, Florian looked great and put up a decent fight, but Penn just has too much talent.
If Penn stays at the lightweight level, as everyone but Penn wants, I don’t see anyone beating him. His next challenger would probably be Diego Sanchez, another great fighter that probably would ultimately just come up short to Penn’s greatness. Penn draws the ire of some for his almost mocking of opponents but I chalk it up to supreme confidence. His record is deceiving because his losses always come from higher divisions, sometimes giving up as much as 30 pounds to an opponent. Penn is just simply bored in the lightweight division because there is no one that can touch him. Losses to GSP and Machida should almost be ignored. With his natural talent and flexibility, it is a reach to say anyone can compete with him at the lightweight level, let alone beat him. And he jumped out of a pool!
3) Lyota Machida
When Machida shocked many by beating Rashad Evans for the light heavyweight title, he delightfully exclaimed, “Karate is back!” The undefeated champion reigns over UFC’s best weight class like a watchful predator keeping eyes on his prey. Next up is Shogun Rua at UFC 104, and then likely a title fight against the Rampage/Evans winner or a dream match against his pal, middleweight Anderson Silva.
Machida takes little to no damage in his fights and has pin-point accuracy in his strikes along with a sound jiu-jitsu game. The problem for Machida is that a lot of fans don’t like his cautious, defense-oriented style. Which in turn limits his exposure, as Dana White wants to put PPV sales as his top priority. Fortunately, as MMA fans became more educated in the sport, they learn to appreciate Machida’s style as graceful and elegant. As difficult as his division is, I really think Machida will retain the title for many fights going forward.
2) George St. Pierres
GSP is simply the best athlete in MMA. He has taken on all competition and disposed of them all, most recently the amazing Thiago Alves at UFC 100. He has beaten BJ Penn, Jon Fitch, Matt Serra, Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck, Sean Sherk, you freakin name it. The guy is simply a beast and until last Saturday was my #1 fighter. He boasts a current 6-fight win streak and dominates the welterweight division.
For now he awaits his next challenger. It could be the winner of Swick-Kampmann at UFC 103. It could be Dan Henderson coming off a devastating KO of Michael Bisping at UFC 100. Or it could be the mother of all fights and decide MMA’s pound for pound king, a bout against Anderson Silva, provided they can make weight one way or the other. It seems like GSP is hesitant to deviate from his weight class though and remains keen on defending his title, and that is all well and good. We are watching one of the greatest ever when GSP fights.
1) Anderson Silva
What makes Silva number one is his pure domination of his weight class and ability to move up and still dominate. After lackluster efforts in his middleweight title defenses against Cote and Leites, Silva drew the scorn of fans, fighters, journalists and even UFC President Dana White. However, last Saturday at UFC 101, Anderson Silva went up in weight class to fight a former light heavyweight champion in Forrest Griffin, and simply embarrassed Griffin in historically brutal fashion.
His display against Griffin was astounding. Brilliance in motion. A cerebral assassin picking apart an over-matched opponent. Griffin is done in the UFC as a real threat. He can make some cash against Tito Ortiz or something like that, but the way he bailed out of the ring before the official decision and skipped the post match press conference was pathetic.
Silva finds himself on a record 10 fight win streak in the UFC. He has repeatedly shown that he just is not going to lose in his weight class. He has recently beaten Rich Franklin (twice), Dan Henderson, James Irvin, and obviously Griffin, all convincingly.
So what’s next for the Spider? There is talk of a dream match between light heavyweight champ Machida but Silva will probably not fight his good friend. They know each other too well as both spar and train together often, not to mention Machida presents real problems for Silva. There is hopes of a match against GSP but the logistics might be too tough for either to contend with. There are continued rumors that Silva is content staying in his division from now on and just beating any challenger that comes forward for his belt. And there are also rumblings that Silva may simply give up his middleweight title and try to focus on the 205 weight class, which would further cement his legacy as the world’s best.
A couple points:
Last week: 9-7
Having used Twitter for a few months now, I have some preliminary opinions and analysis of the site.
“Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance.” — Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it.” — Agatha Christie
