Lyoto Machida: The New Pound-For-Pound World Champ

The more popular mixed martial arts becomes among hardcore fans, Dancing With the Stars viewers and sportsbook aficionados, the more often we see pound-for-pound debates raging across TV panels, online forums and bar stools.

Who is truly the best in the world?

Is it Fedor Emelianenko, unstoppable heavyweight, submission specialist, and slayer of giants?

Is it Georges St-Pierre, wrestling dynamo and well-spoken ambassador for the sport?

Is it Anderson Silva, the UFC's answer to "Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee"?

Any of those men are valid picks, but it's time to add a new name to that list -- and maybe even to the top of it.

Lyto "The Dragon" Machida.

It may be early to crown him the greatest in the world -- we'd love to see him fight Anderson Silva first -- but we can at least say no fighter has ever had a more dominant start to his career.

Fedor suffered his first loss in his fifth pro fight. St-Pierre lost in his eighth. Silva lost his first and 11th fights.

Machida is 15-0 and has never lost a single round in the UFC. He hasn't cruised to that record either.

Among his victims are Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn (seriously), Tito Ortiz, Thiago Silva and Rashard Evans -- the last two of which were undefeated before facing Machida.

As much as some pundits, fellow fighters or online sports betting fans say it's too early to hype Machida that much, can anyone deny that his career is literally perfect through 15 fights?

Thanks to his trademark, upright karate stance that keeps his chin far away from opponents, Machida has been hit less per strike attempt than any fighter in UFC history. No one in the world has tougher defense to penetrate. He can submit opponents thanks to his Black Belt in Jiu-Jitsu, grind out decisions with his crisp technical strikes, or drop guys with his underrated punching power, as he showed Silva and Evans.

For good measure, the guy drinks his own urine to cleanse his system and reportedly punches a block of wood up to 500 times a day.

We can thus make a case that Lyoto Machida is the greatest pure warrior in mixed martial arts today -- the guy you'd take into battle if you could only choose one fighter to protect you.