Fedor-Silva: Narrowing the Gap

Six months ago, on July 19, fight fans were treated to an evening of pound-for-pound bliss, with Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko headlining counter-programmed cards between the UFC and Affliction.

With each promotion’s respective pound-for-pound king taking center stage, Silva dealt the first blow at around 10:30 that evening, making short work out of James Irvin and finishing the vaunted knockout artist in 61 seconds.

Not to be outdone, Emelianenko would counter one hour later with a 36-second shellacking of Tim Sylvia.

The evening only intensified discussions as to who should lay claim to the title of the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter and while there will likely never be a consensus to the debate, I can’t help but feel that the gap between the two may be closing.

In the past, if a fighter ever fell from the ranks, it was usually due to some kind of performance shortcoming, be it a loss or a long-winded string of inactivity.

We all know the case against Emelianenko: While Silva was tearing through the likes of Rich Franklin, Nate Marquardt, and Dan Henderson, Fedor was content soundly beating Hong Man Choi, Mark Coleman, and Matt Lindland, who was competing two classes above his normal weight.

When PRIDE folded and talks between the UFC and Emelianenko’s management broke down, the masses began to question the Russian’s legitimacy as the world’s top heavyweight.

After wrecking shop in Japan and dispatching heavyweights stalwarts like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko Filipovic, the fight fan wanted to see how Emelianenko would fare against the UFC’s 1-2 punch of Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski.

Well, the last six months have gone a long way in answering those questions.

The Hong Man Chois of the heavyweight scene have been put on the backburner and in a matter of three minutes and 50 seconds, Fedor took out arguably the UFC’s two premier heavyweights of the past five years.

Meanwhile, Silva is just under three months away from a title defense against Thales Leites, a stout grappler who is a fringe top-10 middleweight. Beyond that, Silva’s line of opposition could range from a rematch with Henderson, to bouts against either Michael Bisping or Yushin Okami.

If there’s anything to be learned regarding the infamous MMA ranking system, it’s that it preys on the “what have you done for me lately” premise.

If memory serves correctly, it’s reaching the one-year mark since Silva last competed against a consensus top-tier middleweight (Henderson). Within that time frame, Emelianenko has soundly bested Sylvia and Arlovski, and aims to complete with 1-2-3 punch by defeating fellow PRIDE veteran Josh Barnett at a future card.

To Silva’s advantage though, the options for Emelianenko are slim once the Barnett fight passes. While there’s always the outside chance of a fight with someone like Alistair Overeem or Sergei Kharitonov, the relevant remainder of the heavyweight division competes under the Zuffa banner.

Still, with Emelianenko’s dominance over the past six months, the gap between he and Silva is closing and while some may see them as ranked 1a and 1b, there’s reason to believe it’s more than just a two-horse race.

There’s a certain dream rematch on tap for this Saturday and the winner of Georges St. Pierre-B.J. Penn will have as much right to the pound-for-pound crown as either Silva or Emelianenko.

It’s the subjective debate to end all subjective debates, but I liken the pound-for-pound argument to a train wreck: you know it’s going to look ugly, but you just can’t turn away.