The worlds best pound for pound fighter?

It has been debated widely throughout the Mixed Martial Arts World as to who is the worlds top MMA fighter. After an impressive knockout win over James “The Sandman” Irvin in UFC Fight Night 14, many believe that Anderson “The Spider” Silva is the best pound for pound fighter in the world. Although I agree that Silva is without a doubt the best middleweight in the world, he has yet to prove to me that he’s the best pound for pound fighter in the world.

Silva, although incredibly successful in the middleweight ranks, has never held a title in any other weight division. “The Prodigy” BJ Penn and “The Natural” Randy Couture are the only fighters who can stake claim to titles in two weight classes in the UFC. With Couture vacating his heavyweight title and leaving the organization, Penn now reigns supreme.

Penn currently holds wins over such notables as Takanori Gomi, Matt Serra, Renzo Gracie, and Caol Uno and has beaten former UFC Champions Jens Pulver (155), Sean Sherk (155), Matt Hughes (170), and Joe Stevenson (155). Penn was even willing to step up and fight light heavyweight Lyoto Machida who is still considered one of the best at 205 although being clearly outweighed by nearly 35 pounds.

With the title in hand at 155, Penn remains a force to be reckoned with, and as long as he remains focused on his conditioning and training, I see no reason why he can’t hold both titles at 155 and 170 consecutively in the near future.

The only other fighter besides Anderson Silva who one could argue is better than Penn is none other than “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko. Based on his record alone, Fedor is the best in the world. After a recent layoff and a couple lackluster opponents, he lay waste to former UFC Champion Tim Sylvia in just 36 seconds to re-solidify his rank as the #1 Heavyweight in the World.

Fedor had defended his title in Pride for a total of six years until the buyout by the UFC, and his only loss on his resume comes from a unfortunate cut just seconds into the first round of his fight against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka back in 2000.

However, at the end of the day and regardless of his impeccable record, Fedor has really only fought in a single weight division. Based on the pound for pound argument, Penn still reigns at the top. Until I see Fedor or Silva win a title in another weight class, the term “best pound for pound fighter” will belong to our current UFC lightweight champ, The Prodigy BJ Penn.