One Style That Could Beat Each Current UFC Champion

Believe it or not, every current UFC champion is susceptible to defeat.

That includes that ever-so-elusive Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva.

The fact of the matter is that anything can happen on any given night.

Now while each champion serves as an efficient titleholder for their rightful divisions, there are plenty of fighters out there that can handle the load of knocking them off their pedestals.

But they need to have the right recipe. That's the first step.

Here is one specific style that can end up suffocating the reign of each current UFC supremacist.

Dominick Cruz

KO Specialist

If it wasn't for an ACL injury, bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz would have proven once again that Urijah Faber is no threat to his title reign.

The bottom line is that Faber doesn't possess the natural power in his hands to put pressure on Cruz when standing.

Because there's one aspect about the current champion that has prolonged his stay atop the division. 

It's that his standup is so unorthodox that it becomes precise maneuvering, weaving in and out of strikes while ducking and dodging his opponent's best shots.

It also helps that Cruz is one of the longer fighters in the division. He uses that advantage to land jabs by the bunches.

However, the 27-year-old has never really faced an opponent with serious KO power. I mean I respect Demetrious Johnson, Joseph Benavidez and Faber, but those guys are no Chris Leben.

If anybody has the chance to stand and bang with Cruz and come out successful, it's going to be a brawler who can throw bombs, similar to what Michael McDonald does.

And if everything falls into place, Cruz will probably meet McDonald inside the Octagon somewhere down the line.

Jose Aldo

Takedown Tactician

Jose Aldo has never lost under the Zuffa umbrella, including three straight UFC title defenses against the likes of Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes and Mark Hominick.

He has arguably become the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today, save for fellow Brazilian Anderson Silva.

What makes Aldo even more dangerous within one of the UFC's weakest divisions is his age. He's only 25.

While that may scare future title contenders, Aldo is not superhuman.

His bout with Florian was fairly close and his title fights with Hominick and Urijah Faber both went five rounds.

With that said, it's going to be difficult to beat the reigning featherweight champion. 

His standup is unorthodox, he possesses some of the best cardio in the weight class and has the natural ability to finish opponents where they stand.

However, Aldo is not the greatest of wrestlers. He has a pretty good takedown defense, having not given up a takedown to wrestling specialists Faber and Mendes, but if somebody is going to beat him, that's exactly how.

I'm sure the champ can handle himself on the canvas, but nobody will last five rounds and steal a decision if they decide to stand and bang with Aldo.

Benson Henderson

Polished Brawler

The last time Benson Henderson lost was against Anthony Pettis in 2010 for the WEC Lightweight championship.

In fact, that's the only loss "Smooth" has endured during his stints in the UFC and WEC.

However, Henderson hasn't been unstoppable inside the cage, eking out close decisions against Clay Guida and Donald Cerrone in their first matchup.

Don't get me wrong. Henderson is one of the best all-around fighters in the lightweight division, but considering the contender pool is so deep, it's more or less inevitable that he loses his title sooner than later.

You really need to take his victory over Frankie Edgar at UFC 145 with a grain of salt, due in part to Henderson's inability to finish fights during his four-bout stint within the UFC.

With that said, in order for someone to beat Henderson inside the Octagon, they'll have to possess the natural ability to bring the fight to the champ.

That type of polished brawler is the perfect recipe for championship disaster. 

My man Nate Diaz could be that guy. His in-your-face style and hard-noised striking abilities are the exact ingredients needed to put Henderson on the back burner.

Georges St-Pierre

Crisp Striker

I could sit here and poke fun at Georges St-Pierre and say the perfect counterpart to his welterweight championship reign is a soft towel (greasing), but I'll refrain from doing so.

The more obvious choice for St-Pierre's demise down the line is by pinning him against a similarly talented groundsman and well-rounded striker.

Because when you look at the champ's last eight fights, which were all title bouts (seven defenses), he has been the far superior wrestler.

Now while many people ridicule St-Pierre for not finishing fights, he has done what has been asked of him. That includes taking down his opponents and using his lunging jab to subdue them on their feet.

The problem with that is that there's going to be a better, more explosive standup specialist that comes along. Someone that can get to St-Pierre and put some leather on his chin, albeit defending the champion's numerous takedown attempts.

That sort of style is the exact mismatch that non-Canadians are looking for.

And believe it or not, legal issues aside, Nick Diaz suits the bill.

I know Diaz lost to Carlos Condit for the interim championship at UFC 143, but he's much better than that.

Diaz is a crisp striker, possesses submissions for days and never seems to get overwhelmed on his back, which is exactly where St-Pierre would try to put him.

It may take time, whether it's Diaz or somebody else, but the current welterweight champ will have his hands full come the day a more versed striker and takedown defenseman takes center stage.

Anderson Silva

Superior Wrestler

At first this was hard to gauge, but when I stepped back and looked at which fight Anderson Silva has struggled the most in, it was incredibly easy.

I honestly don't need to mention Silva's Octagon presence over the past six years, because everybody should know by now that he is the greatest fighter ever.

But when I look at where he is today, still the middleweight champion, I can't help but shake my head.

Bottom line, if rounds were 30 seconds shorter, Chael Sonnen would have been victorious over Silva at UFC 117.

Sonnen absolutely destroyed the champion for four straight rounds, wrestling him around like a rag doll while landing shot after shot from the top.

If it wasn't for Silva's lengthy limbs, that triangle choke never would have happened.

Since that fight, "The Spider" has trapped every title contender in a paralyzing web, securing TKO victories over Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami.

But when Silva meets Sonnen for a second time in July at UFC 148, the power wrestler will have his shot to prove that he deserves to be the middleweight cash cow.

It's the perfect recipe for disaster, and the 37-year-old future Hall of Famer could see his time at the top come to an end by August.

Jon Jones

Patient Veteran

Jon Jones is on the fast track to becoming the greatest champion in UFC history, maybe even the best fighter ever.

Only having trained in mixed martial arts for almost five years now, it's incredibly terrifying to witness what Jones is doing to some of the best fighters in the world: Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida.

But even though Jones is seemingly gaining more steam and knowledge every time he enters the Octagon, he's only a man.

Evans proved last time around at UFC 145 that Jones can be tagged, even though the light heavyweight champ displayed a solid chin.

Heading into the future, which is a bright one for Jones, title contenders need to take their time and make their strikes count.

Jones loves to wait and see what his opponent are looking to do, which is a big reason why he has become a sensational counter-striker on top of dictating the pace of the action.

So my question is, why not beat Jones at his own game?

The perfect style to beat Jones is in fact his own. If a fighter stays patient, mixes in some good clinch work and lets Jones make the first move, they may have a puncher's chance to land significant strikes.

Dan Henderson has all those tools, but he's sometimes overzealous when he tries to knock out everything that walks.

However, if "Hendo" can stay patient and pick his shots, Jones could be in trouble.

With all of that said, the phenom could simply be that damn good and never truly be tested inside the cage, making this slide entirely pointless.

Junior dos Santos

Good Striking Submission Expert

Quite frankly, it's plausible that Junior dos Santos can use his outstanding boxing skills to run the heavyweight division for the foreseeable future.

After knocking out Cain Velasquez to win the title at UFC on FOX and picking apart Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson, Dos Santos has incorporated world-class boxing skills into a sport that usually battles that same combat outlet in the mainstream stratosphere.

But the Brazilian possesses more than what meets the eye.

He's powerful, can block takedown attempts by the handful, lands power strikes in the clinch and possesses a very useful chin.

However, similar to every slide you've just read, every fighter has a weakness.

Dos Santos' weakness is presumably on his back, or more specifically, any uncomfortable position that could lead to a submission.

Now trust me when I tell you, I didn't line these unique styles up on purpose to debate already scheduled title defenses, but Frank Mir has a serious chance to upset Dos Santos this coming Saturday at UFC 146.

Mir possesses some of the best submission techniques ever seen in the heavyweight division, having tapped Minotauro Nogueira, Tim Sylvia, Cheick Kongo and the recently retired Brock Lesnar.

But besides his literally bone-crushing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu submissions, Mir has showcased a solid striking arsenal in the past that has tested the chins of Roy Nelson, Mirko Cro Cop and yes, Nogueira.

However, Dos Santos has never faced a more complete fighter than Mir.

The style that the former champ brings to the table is exactly what's going to be needed to knock off the UFC's newest perennial champ.

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