Best Set Of UFC Champs

UFC Champions have come and go throughout the years.  There are those who dominated their eras like Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell and Anderson Silva.  There have been undisputed champs and there have been interim champs. A lot of us wonder who is the best of all time, who is the most dominant champion, who is the pound for pound champ.  A lot of questions and a whole lot more answers.

With that common curiosity with UFC fans, I took time off to know who were the champions these past few years and who were their "co-champions" during their reign. The list I made are those whose title reigns overlapped each other. I also made it a point that all weight classes, lightweight to heavyweight, have champions (including interim champs).

I did the honor of listing down the different sets of complete champions.  With that, my choice for the best set of UFC Champions are the ones we have now.  What's yours?

LIGHTWEIGHT - BJ "The Prodigy" PENN

BJ Penn is perfect in the lightweight division.  He will be a monster in this weight class, if he isn't yet.  He has defended his title twice already against guys who I'd say the best lightweights not named BJ Penn.  Against those two, Penn showed how far the gap of his skills are compared to any other fighter in this division.  His boxing is superb, his jiu-jitsu is world class, his ground control is out of this world (do you see him use his feet like they're his hands), his flexibility is phenomenal, his take down defense is probably second to Chuck Liddell's.  His only weakness, and he has been much criticized for this, is his conditioning.  But wait, yes, he did improve this in his last outing.  More of the same conditioning training and he will tear down the division.

He will be defending next against Diego Sanchez who is not a natural lightweight and probably his most dangerous opponent so far in the division.  I am not a Penn fan and I'd love Diego to win this one but he has to overcome or equal Penn's skills and ability to dictate the fight and he better wish that Penn will not be as conditioned as him.

WELTERWEIGHT - GEORGES "Rush" ST. PIERRE

It's like written in books that GSP will be the most dominant welterweight of all time, surpassing the future Hall of Famer Matt Hughes.  Well who would argue with that?  He's already a two-time welterweight champion and has cleaned so far in dominant fashion the welterweight top 5. Arguably the best wrestler in the UFC, jiu-jitsu black belt and uses his kyokushin karate style to setup his takedowns making him the perfectMMA fighter.  It's really unfortunate, for his opponents, that he has no knockout power as he gets to beat them up for 5 rounds.

His next defense is against the winner of the Swick-Hardy bout.  C'mon, is this the Cote-Leites era?

MIDDLEWEIGHT - ANDERSON "The Spider" SILVA

A record breaking 10 straight UFC wins, 7 KO/TKOs, 2 submissions, only one went the distance (against a non-deserving challenger I might say).  In those 10 wins, Five(5) title defenses (should've been 6 already if not for Travis Lutter's irresponsibility), 2 trips in the Lightheavyweight division, defeated four(4) MMA Champions (Griffin, Henderson, Franklin and Marquardt).  Need I say more?

Vitor Belfort will be his next challenger for the middleweight belt.  Looks like he's going to have a 6th former champion under his belt and pad his winning streak to 11 straightUFC wins.

LIGHTHEAVYWEIGHT - Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida

Undefeated, 15-0-0 in his MMA record, 7-0 in the UFC.  Never lost a round.  Lyoto said he has been doing this since he was 3 years old.   I'd say he's lying.  I think he's been doing this since he was in his mother's womb.  His movement is so uncanny that nobody can catch him.  A puzzle in everyone's head.  He started in the UFC with 3 boring decisions and rolled to 4 successive impressive wins, with his latest a wonderful KO of Rashad Evans.

I am not a fan of Machida, but his game is so good, I bet it scares the Lightheavyweight Division.  He will be facing Shogun Rua in UFC 104 for his 1st title defense.  If he dominates Shogun, it's sure is the "Machida-era", as Joe Rogan said.

HEAVYWEIGHT - BROCK LESNAR

His record, at 4-1, may not say much, but he has beaten three quality opponents in the UFC and has evened his score with the man who first beat him (Frank Mir).  An all-state wrestler who has shown what being an all-state wrestler is all about, he glides fluidly on the ground and effortlessly shifts position. His combination of strength, size and speed are just unfair.  A behemoth with heavy hands should not be moving as fast as he does. He is so huge that the UFC makes customized gloves for him because the standard sizes just won't fit.

Well, he has a lot more to prove in his upcoming matches.  He will defend in UFC 106 against Shane Carwin, a man that offers the size and strength to match his.  This bout is really interesting and will show a lot if Lesnar can continue to improve and be that first dominating Heavyweight Champion.

Here is the list and my rankings from the earliest to the latest set of champs in the following order of fighters (LW, WW, MW, LHW, HW).  Have fun picking yours.

a. Pulver, Newton, Menne, Ortiz, Couture - 14

b. Pulver, Hughes, Menne, Ortiz, Couture - 13

c. Pulver, Hughes, Bustamante, Ortiz, Couture - 12

d. Sherk, Hughes, Silva, Liddell, Sylvia - 4

e. Sherk, GSP, Silva, Liddell, Sylvia -3

f. Sherk, GSP, Silva, Liddell, Couture - 2

g. Sherk, Serra, Silva, Liddell, Couture - 10

h. Sherk, Serra, Silva, Jackson, Couture - 11

i. Penn, GSP/Serra, Silva, Jackson, Couture - 6

j. Penn, GSP/Serra, Silva, Jackson, Couture/Nogueira - 7

k. Penn, GSP, Silva, Griffin, Nogueira/Couture - 9

l. Penn, GSP, Silva, Griffin, Lesnar/Nogueira - 8

m. Penn, GSP, Silva, Evans, Lesnar/Mir - 5

n. Penn, GSP, Silva, Machida, Lesnar - 1