Honorable mentions: Carlos Newton (UFC champion, 1-3 in title fights), Matt Serra (UFC Champion, 1-1 in title fights), Hayato Sakurai (Shooto Champion, 2-3 in title fights), Carlos Condit (WEC, Interim UFC Champion, 5-2 in title fights)
5. Nick DiazRecord: 26-8 (1)
Years Active: 2001-present
Championships Held: IFC, WEC, Strikeforce
Title Fight Record: 7-3
Against UFC/Pride Champions Record: 2-2 (1)
I hate this. I really do. More than you know. Nick Diaz is my absolute least favorite fighter ever. When he said he was leaving MMA for boxing, I did a little dance. Same thing when his title shot was taken away. While I do not wish physical harm on any fighter, I sure hope GSP beats him so bad that he just quits MMA. Diaz encapsulates everything I dislike about MMA. He has that arrogant thuggish attitude that non-fans expect to see. His behavior would find him collecting unemployment checks if he was in any other career field. And Stockton? Come on son, you don't see Andre Dirrell running around screaming "810! what b****!" All right, beyond that he still deserves to be on this list. Diaz's iron jaw and triathlete endurance have served him well. He wears opponents down, gets under their skin with his mean mugging and trash talking, and forces them to do something stupid. We will see shortly if he deserves to be bumped up on this list by beating GSP.
4. BJ Penn
Record: 16-9-2
Years Active: 2001-present
Welterweight Title Fight Record: 1-2
Against UFC/Pride Welterweight Champions Record: 3-3
The #1 all-time lightweight is also the #4 welterweight of all time. Why is a guy with a losing record at welterweight even on this list? Well, first off it's my list and I can do whatever I want. The real reason is what I wrote about earlier. BJ Penn helped to make this division the premier division that it is today. His win over Matt Hughes at UFC 63 not only shocked Hughes, but also the rest of the world. Hughes was the world beater at the top of his powers. Penn was the guy that couldn't even win the lightweight championship, how was he going to move up a weight class and take out possibly the top pound for pound fighter in the world? By RNC, actually. Since then, Penn's battles with Hughes and GSP has piqued the interest of the casual fan in fighters that don't look like they should be playing the D line for the Cowboys. While most diehard Penn fans wish he would just stay home at 155, the contributions he made at 170 cannot be forgotten.
3. Pat Miletich
Record: 29-7-2
Years Active: 1995-2008
Championships Held: UFC 16 Tournament, UFC
Title Fight Record: 6-1
Against UFC/Pride Champions: 0-2-1
The Croatian Sensation might be better known for his coaching and commentating nowadays, but he had himself a pretty good little career before all that. Miletich was the original UFC 170 lb champion, then called the lightweight division. Miletich was one of the first to combine skills to have a multi-faceted attack. He was a junior college wrestler as well as a midwest Muay Thai champion. Miletich once even fought UFC Hall of Famer and Super Fight Champion Dan Severn to a draw. Miletich won the UFC 170 lb title in a barn burner over Mikey Burnett and defended it four times (although he lost twice in Japan during this stretch) before submitting to a Carlos Newton bulldog choke. Forced to move to middleweight to make way for his student Matt Hughes, Miletich lost to the much larger Matt Lindland and then took a four year break. Miletich, even during the pinnacle of his career, coached three future UFC champions in Hughes, Jens Pulver, and Tim Sylvia.
1a and 1b. Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre
These men, equally dominant are only equalled by each other. If GSP takes out #5 on this list, Carlos Condit, I'll put him on his own at #1. For now, these two titans are equal in my eyes.
Georges St. PierreRecord: 23-2
Years Active: 2002-present
Championships Held: UCC/TKO, UFC
Title Fight Record: 12-2
Against UFC/Pride Champions: 7-2
It is hard to remember a UFC welterweight division without GSP being the dominant champ. GSP's two losses were probably the best things to ever happen to him. His first fight against Matt Hughes proved to him that he could compete at the highest level of the sport. It also taught him to stop with his hero worship. His loss against Matt Serra taught him to never take an opponent lightly. Since that turning point, Rush has not looked back. GSP ranks second behind Hughes in UFC wins. Second behind Anderson Silva in title wins. He easily outdistances everyone in significant strikes landed, BJ Penn is a distant second, behind by almost 200. He also ranks first in takedowns and takedown success percentage. GSP entered primarily as a karate fighter that had picked up BJJ and converted to become the greatest MMA wrestler in the sport. He never wrestled competitively, but his timing and combination of striking and takedowns has led to a 78% chance of him putting the other guy on his butt. GSP is simply one of the greatest pound for pound fighters of all time.
Matt HughesRecord: 45-9
Years Active: 1998-2011
Championships Held: UFC
Title Fight Record: 9-3
Against UFC/Pride Champions: 9-4
I wrote an expose over Mr. Hughes career in an earlier blog post after he officially retired a few weeks ago. However, it would be wrong of me to not do a write up here as well. With the controversial smash win over Carlos Newton in UFC 34, the Hughes reign started. Hughes and GSP are tied for a welterweight record (and second overall behind Anderson Silva) seven title defenses. Hughes is first in UFC wins and second in UFC fights. He is the prototype for all high level wrestlers to follow. He combined his high flying slams with black belt level BJJ to become a terror on the mat. Hughes was also involved in a match that showed the changing of the guard when he very well should have submitted Royce Gracie. Late in his career, Hughes finally got that stand up KO that he'd always wanted in his TKO over Renzo Gracie. At his peak, Hughes was the greatest pound for pound fighter in the world and stands as one of the true greats in MMA history.
Next week, I'll count down the top middleweights in MMA history.
No comments:
Post a Comment