Fedor Emelianenko Doesn't Make Dana White's Pound-for-Pound Fighter List

Dana White gives a revealing interview over at "The Daily Line" on Versus.com .

In it, they put Dana in the hot seat, asking him to compile his personal Top Five Pound-for-Pound Fighters list in MMA. (Thanks to MMAMania.com for the link ; fast forward to the 4:20 mark to hear Dana talking about Fedor and his top-five rankings.)

No surprise, Fedor Emelianenko did not make his top five. So, who did make the cut?

1. Anderson Silva

2. Georges St. Pierre

3. B.J. Penn

4. Frankie Edgar

5. Jose Aldo

It may be a bit surprising to some that three out of the five fighters in his list compete at 155 pounds or lighter. Also surprising, B.J. Penn makes the list, along with the man who beat him at UFC 113 in Frankie Edgar.

Since a large percentage of fight fans think that Penn actually won that fight, perhaps having Edgar on the list, without B.J. Penn, wouldn't have made sense.

Notably missing from the list, other then Fedor Emelianenko, is a light heavyweight or heavyweight fighter.

While putting Brock Lesnar on the list would certainly be premature, you could make a good argument that Shogun Rua should be on there, after the way he beat down previously unbeaten Lyoto Machida at UFC 113.

It would have been great if the panel had asked him for his complete top-10 list, so MMA fans, along with pundits, could match it alongside the lists generated by MMA sites.

Dana White has long put himself out there as a fan of the sport, so getting more insight into how he views the best athletes in the sport is refreshing. 

I'm not sure if Davin Stern or Roger Goodell had ever personally ranked the top five athletes in their respective sports, so it may be overstating it, but you have to give it to Dana White for putting a list out there for public consumption and debate.

No doubt, he will get raked over the coals for his actual selections.

But all is fair in love and war, as it is with top-five and -10 rankings.