The Pound-for-Pound Best Men in the World

Baby J is one of the fighters who utilized the wild west of the early Zuffa years to explode onto the scene.

However, B.J. can't seem to accept that he's a lightweight; as a matter of fact, I expect him to call out Anderson Silva if he wins against Ken-Flo.

His talent is unquestioned, however, it is a question now that he's likely never to be the p4p greatest ever. Will B.J. do what he does best: phone it in?

13-5-1
KWs: Din Thomas, Caol Uno, Takanori Gomi, Matt Serra, Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson, Sean Sherk
KLs: Lyoto Machida, Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver, GSP(x2)

If you mix one part Rampage, two parts Anderson Silva, and one part Matt Serra, you'd probably end up with a fighter just like Mike Brown.

Mike started his career in the lightweight division, reeling off an impressive number of wins.

He got himself into UFC 47 on the undercard against Genki Sudo, who was unknown in the States.

What UFC fans didn't know was the UFC was using Sudo to leverage B.J. back to the UFC after a contract dispute sent him to K-1.

Sudo was a fan favorite in Japan. His submission skills were extraordinary, and he was B.J.'s first choice to fight when he moved to Japan.

Brown, who has struggled with submission defense in the past, was taken to school quickly in the first round. He would never fight again in the UFC, losing his next fight to Joe Lauzon, again via submission.

Down but not out, Mike Brown would continue to work on his ground game, eventually finding a home in DEEP. He would win his first fight, before again falling due to a submission.

After a 10-month layoff, he'd start the run of 10 consecutive wins that has him holding the WEC featherweight belt.

22-4
KWs: Urijah Faber(x2) Yves Edwards, Jeff Curran, Leonard Garcia, Mark Hominik
KLs: Hermes Franca, Genki Sudo, Joe Lauzon, Masakazu Imanari

Perhaps the most electrifying fighter in the history of the sport, Jackson is a casual fight fan's wet dream.

His style is perfectly summed up by his name. He stalks fighters, senses their fear, cracks them up side the head, then looks to, "Finish da Fight!!!!"

Catch him in a submission at your own risk; just ask Ricardo Arona and Forrest Griffin who about crapped his pants when Ramage started the slam.

Rampage at 30 is starting to lose some of his explosive raw athletic ability, but pardon me if I don't give a damn.

30-7-0

KWs: Kevin Randleman, Murilo Bustamante, Chuck Liddell (x2), Ricardo Arona, Ikuhisa Minowa, Matt Lindland, Marvin Eastman, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Keith Jardine
KLs: Marvin Eastman, Wanderlei Silva (x2), Mauricio Rua, Kazushi Sakuraba, Forrest Griffin

The biggest talent to ever come out the reality series 'The Ultimate Fighter,' Rashad Evans appears to be on the road to being the next Chuck Liddell.

If you remember Chuck's early years on UFC undercards, he was a scrawny wrestler (with tight booty shorts) ground fighter. But he slowly developed his striking to the point he was actually a much better striker than he was grappler.

This allowed him to use his wrestling in reverse, founding the "sprawl and brawl" formula to MMA superstardom.

Until his defeat to Machida, Rashad Evans had looked continually better in every fight with his boxing. He's still young enough to put the rest of the pieces together.

13-1-1
KWs: Stephan Bonnar, Micheal Bisping, Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Sean Salmon
KL: Lyota Machida

Shogun's Pride career was more impressive than Anderson Silva's current march through the UFC roster.

In 13 fights, he went an astounding 12-1-0, his only loss on a freak takedown by Mark Coleman. He broke his arm and was forced to tap.

During his run, he crushed everyone in his path.

His UFC career has been side tracked by back-to-back knee surgeries, and as a result has had cardio problems in his lackluster performances against Mark Coleman and Forrest Griffin.

In his victory over Chuck Liddell, he looked a lot better. As a result he'll receive a title shot versus Lyoto Machida.

18-3-0 KWs: Akihiro Gono, Ricardo Arona, Quinton Jackson, Alistair Overeem,(x2), Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell KLs: Mark Coleman, Renato Sobral, Forrest Griffin

Owner of possibly the best nickname in UFC history, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida proved his worth very early.

In his second fight, he viciously KO'd Rich Franklin with a big leg kick in Japan. It was Rich's first career loss, and it would be the first of Machida's four career wins over undefeated fighters.

Chronically underrated, Machida's brutal KO of former UFC LHW champion Rashad Evans has propelled him to stardom.

If GSP proved you could adapt a karate base to MMA, Lyoto's success has proved that you can also adapt its principles as well. That coupled with his black belt BJJ ground game make him possibly the most complete fighter in the UFC, and potentially a champion for a long time to come.

15-0-0 KWs Rich Franklin, Stephan Bonnar, BJ Penn, Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans: KLs: N/A

About the time Chuck Liddel hit the canvas at UFC 88, GSP had already passed him as the UFC's biggest draw, and for good reason. Nobody has fought the consistent caliber of fighter on his UFC resume from his first fight against Karo, to his last fight against B.J.

The only hole that seems to be left for him to fill, are worries after the Serra fight that GSP may have a soft chin. Those questions will likely get answered at UFC 100 as he takes on lethal Muay Thai striker Thiago Alves.

18-2-0 KWs: Karo Parisyan, Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, BJ Penn(x2), Matt Hughes(x2), Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Matt Serra KLs: Matt Serra, Matt Hughes

On one night in February, Miguel Torres went from being a relatively unknown fighter from Indiana, to being the WEC bantamweight champion and considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

Although there is much contention about what his actual record is, (as many of his fights are unsanctioned and therefore will not be listed, for convenience sakes), nobody can question he's currently the baddest man to ever step into the cage at 135.

And at 28, the Gracie black belt, and potent Muay Thai striker's career is just getting started.

37-1-0(49-1-0)
KWs:Joe Pearson, Ryan Ackerman, Rich Nancoo, Jeff Berard, Chase Beebe, Yoshiro Maeda, Manny Tapia
KLs: Ryan Ackerman

Nobody in MMA history has benefited more from moving from the ring of Pride to the octagon of the UFC.

As a matter of fact, he wasn't good enough for Pride. Remember that?

He lost his last two fights to Ryo Chonan in spectacular fashion and Daiju Takase after being caught in a triangle choke. It seemed that "The Spider" lacked submission defense.

The UFC would snap him up to rip off a record nine-fight win streak that would take him from PRIDE reject to UFC superstar.

Questions will have to be answered with his move to 205, but for now at least, he's the most feared fighter in the UFC, and No. 2 on my board.

24-4-0
KWs: Hayato Sakurai, Carlos Newton, Jeremy Horn, Chris Leben, Rich Franklin(x2), Nate Marquardt, Dan Henderson, Thales Leites
KLs: Ryo Chonan, Daiju Takase, Luiz Azeredo, Yushin Okami*(DQ)

It's an insult to your own intellect to consider anybody else. If you wear crowning the baddest man on the planet, you would look no further than this man. If you don't agree just listen to Dana White, about a month ago.

"You can just tell when you see this guy -- I will tell you, he's a bad motherf***er. You can just tell by looking at him."He's been considered one of the best in the world for a long time," White said of Fedor. "I'd put him in there against whoever's the top guy at that time. I'd put him in against whoever the top guy is. ... There's a lot of possibilities for Fedor."

Fedor's game is near flawless, 1 punch KO power, good chin, solid cardio, impressive submission skill, solid ability to pass.

It's tough to find many negatives.

The point of contention is a bout held in a RINGS Grand Prix early in his career against Tsuyoshi "TK" Kohsaka, the bout lased less than 20 seconds when a straight left from "TK" misses wide, Fedor steps forward, TK's elbow instinctively recoils catching Fedor right on the eye.

The fight was stopped as the doctors couldn't stop the bleeding, and correctly deduced he would have been unable to see out of it even if they could.

They would rematch in Pride fittingly it was also stopped due to a cut, this time in Fedor's direction.

What's often overlooked in this discussion is the fact had Fedor advanced in the tournament, he would have met 5 time UFC champion Randy Couture, a bout I think we all would have like to have seen.

30-1-0 KWs: Renato Sobral, Ricardo Arona, Semmy Schilt, Heah Herring, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira(x2), Mark Coleman(x2), Kevin Randleman, Mark Hunt, Mirko Filipovic, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Alovski, KLs: Tsuyoshi Kohsaka