" My business is hurting people. " - Sugar Ray Robinson
As we’re coming into this new year of 2009, it’s obvious that in the world of sports different kinds of expectations of various sorts are anticipated from multifarious supporters, spectators (and also sponsors if I might add).
And it isn’t different when discussing the sport that is Mixed Martial Arts.
No doubt that MMA’s Pound-For-Pound debate will be lingering on numerous minds and discussions, each having their opinions and saying (and support of the respective fighters on the consensus P4P list), and this would perhaps be a never ending subject (and it definitely will be a ‘touchy & sensitive’ topic through the whole of the year) among fans alike.
Now for this particular chapter, I’m just going to highlight what is my P4P list, and how I think it would change throughout the year (that of course would be effected by factors such as the fights the P4P fighters would be in and their prospective challenges), and on a final note how the P4P list would fare against each other.
I am not going to go into the debate whether or not all this P4P is relevant or necessary to have.
What I believe in is that such P4P list or debate/discussion is good to have so that we can gauge the performances and achievement of the top MMA fighters in having a good comparison between them and how they stand out compared to their opponents in their respective weight divisions, and that is why I am writing this chapter.
First up, let’s see the general consensus of who makes the P4P list.
There’s Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, Georges St-Pierre and Fedor Emelianenko (and I have arranged them according to alphabetical order).
And with these fighters, different people have their different list of who comes in at the top of the list, and then the remaining second, third and fourth position of such list.
Here is my P4P list (for the present moment):
And it isn’t different when discussing the sport that is Mixed Martial Arts.
No doubt that MMA’s Pound-For-Pound debate will be lingering on numerous minds and discussions, each having their opinions and saying (and support of the respective fighters on the consensus P4P list), and this would perhaps be a never ending subject (and it definitely will be a ‘touchy & sensitive’ topic through the whole of the year) among fans alike.
Now for this particular chapter, I’m just going to highlight what is my P4P list, and how I think it would change throughout the year (that of course would be effected by factors such as the fights the P4P fighters would be in and their prospective challenges), and on a final note how the P4P list would fare against each other.
I am not going to go into the debate whether or not all this P4P is relevant or necessary to have.
What I believe in is that such P4P list or debate/discussion is good to have so that we can gauge the performances and achievement of the top MMA fighters in having a good comparison between them and how they stand out compared to their opponents in their respective weight divisions, and that is why I am writing this chapter.
First up, let’s see the general consensus of who makes the P4P list.
There’s Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, Georges St-Pierre and Fedor Emelianenko (and I have arranged them according to alphabetical order).
And with these fighters, different people have their different list of who comes in at the top of the list, and then the remaining second, third and fourth position of such list.
Here is my P4P list (for the present moment):
- Fedor Emelianenko
- Anderson Silva
- Georges St-Pierre
- BJ Penn
Now we know that this year those four fighters (especially in the first quarter of the year) will be involved in MMA events that could shape up how the list would change (in my opinion). Fedor is defending his WAMMA belt at Affliction’s Day Of Reckoning on January 24th, GSP and BJ Penn will clash in their highly anticipated rematch at UFC94, and around mid April Anderson Silva will be defending his UFC MW title at UFC97.
What I think will happen is: Fedor, GSP and Silva winning their fights (and am sure some will share of the same prediction as mine).
And for me, I see the following as the P4P list come after April:
What I think will happen is: Fedor, GSP and Silva winning their fights (and am sure some will share of the same prediction as mine).
And for me, I see the following as the P4P list come after April:
- Fedor Emelianenko
- Georges St-Pierre
- Anderson Silva
- BJ Penn.
I think that should both GSP and Silva win their respective bouts, I would give the edge to GSP since he would beat a fellow P4P contender and no doubt top fighter of a division (you have to say that GSP faces a much tougher opponent in BJ than Anderson Silva would in facing Thales Leites – a fight that I believe that everybody believes in having the ‘easiest’ fight out of those four fighters). Thus for GSP in moving up the list.
I still think Fedor is ‘unquestionable’.
Now, the other big thing is when the first quarter would be over, we would then see the next challenges for the P4P contenders. As according to my predicament, I think that Fedor will be matched up with Barnett come mid of the year (at last…) and GSP will clash with Thiago Alves and BJ would face Kenny Florian. The only question mark would revolve around Anderson Silva as at this moment it’s blurry and undetermined to see which MW fighter will go up next to face the Spider.
I still see Fedor at top (beating another top comp and another former UFC HW champ), and GSP still on second (if he beats Alves, then that’s another top and tough rival in his division). The rest of the list would remain the same, Silva at third and BJ at forth.
Their events would most probably take place during summer, and there would then bring to possible events at late of the year.
Fedor would perhaps be back in Japan (Overeem maybe?) or maybe then finally signs with the UFC (?!).
Maybe Dana White, (Joe Silva) and the UFC would then make another P4P big match pitting up GSP and Anderson Silva, and for BJ,…. perhaps would face another LW contender at UFC’s last event of the year.
If that were to happen, I see Fedor, Silva and BJ winning.
And thus bringing to my P4P list come end of the year:
I still think Fedor is ‘unquestionable’.
Now, the other big thing is when the first quarter would be over, we would then see the next challenges for the P4P contenders. As according to my predicament, I think that Fedor will be matched up with Barnett come mid of the year (at last…) and GSP will clash with Thiago Alves and BJ would face Kenny Florian. The only question mark would revolve around Anderson Silva as at this moment it’s blurry and undetermined to see which MW fighter will go up next to face the Spider.
I still see Fedor at top (beating another top comp and another former UFC HW champ), and GSP still on second (if he beats Alves, then that’s another top and tough rival in his division). The rest of the list would remain the same, Silva at third and BJ at forth.
Their events would most probably take place during summer, and there would then bring to possible events at late of the year.
Fedor would perhaps be back in Japan (Overeem maybe?) or maybe then finally signs with the UFC (?!).
Maybe Dana White, (Joe Silva) and the UFC would then make another P4P big match pitting up GSP and Anderson Silva, and for BJ,…. perhaps would face another LW contender at UFC’s last event of the year.
If that were to happen, I see Fedor, Silva and BJ winning.
And thus bringing to my P4P list come end of the year:
- Fedor Emelianenko
- Anderson Silva
- Georges St-Pierre
- BJ Penn
Basically, the same as what my P4P list is for the beginning of this year.
Whatever it is, I would like to stress that the above writing are my views on the P4P matter, and my personal opinions and predictions. MMA (just like in any sport), nothing is conclusive, and anybody can win or lose any given fight.
Thus whatever outcomes would occur in the fights the fighters in the consensus P4P list would be involved in will strongly affect that list. I am sure that any lost that any of the fighters would have would drop their position downwards the list. And a devastating win would surely helps up the cause for any one of them to go up further.
If BJ were to beat GSP in a devastating fashion, then that would make a real strong argument to perhaps bolster BJ going all the way to the top of the P4P list.
And should Silva some how lose to Leites, ….., well, that would change tings drastically (!).
(And if Fedor loses, that just doesn’t matter with the P4P list, it would matter the entire MMA community.)
There’s also the other things to consider such as some other fighters coming in the scene (shaking things up differently). For instance, Rampage with his win against Wanderlei Silva last December might be poised to be involved in important battles in the UFC’s 205 division this year, and he might move up the rankings. Lyoto Machida’s another potential 205 and P4P contender as well…….so there’s many factors that would revolve around the (forever endless) MMA P4P debate, and thus the fans and the critics will forever talk ‘bout it.
And there’s other factors such as how competitive BJ, Fedor, GSP or Silva would be against their challenges, how tough their probable opponents could be, and there’s also the matter of how active they would be (injuries happens).
Anyway, the P4P discussion will always be on the performance of the respective fighters in their respective divisions, and how they dominate their respective divisions (as that’s the credible circumstance that people are talking about them in the P4P debate/discussion), and this is where uncertainties arise as who is truly the P4P king (as time and fights go by).
But there’s always the fantasy that fans and critics alike like to imagine out, that how they’d do if they were to fight amongst each other. And the MMA world will be seeing how the fight between GSP and BJ Penn to turn out as that’s an important fight in P4P discussion.
However, one can make the argument that if they were to be matched up against each other in a fight (regardless of the fighters’ weight component), then this is how things most probably could turn out:
Now, I'm expecting BJ Penn to put a good fight at UFC 94;
but I'm picking on St-Pierre to win that fight:
Whatever it is, I would like to stress that the above writing are my views on the P4P matter, and my personal opinions and predictions. MMA (just like in any sport), nothing is conclusive, and anybody can win or lose any given fight.
Thus whatever outcomes would occur in the fights the fighters in the consensus P4P list would be involved in will strongly affect that list. I am sure that any lost that any of the fighters would have would drop their position downwards the list. And a devastating win would surely helps up the cause for any one of them to go up further.
If BJ were to beat GSP in a devastating fashion, then that would make a real strong argument to perhaps bolster BJ going all the way to the top of the P4P list.
And should Silva some how lose to Leites, ….., well, that would change tings drastically (!).
(And if Fedor loses, that just doesn’t matter with the P4P list, it would matter the entire MMA community.)
There’s also the other things to consider such as some other fighters coming in the scene (shaking things up differently). For instance, Rampage with his win against Wanderlei Silva last December might be poised to be involved in important battles in the UFC’s 205 division this year, and he might move up the rankings. Lyoto Machida’s another potential 205 and P4P contender as well…….so there’s many factors that would revolve around the (forever endless) MMA P4P debate, and thus the fans and the critics will forever talk ‘bout it.
And there’s other factors such as how competitive BJ, Fedor, GSP or Silva would be against their challenges, how tough their probable opponents could be, and there’s also the matter of how active they would be (injuries happens).
Anyway, the P4P discussion will always be on the performance of the respective fighters in their respective divisions, and how they dominate their respective divisions (as that’s the credible circumstance that people are talking about them in the P4P debate/discussion), and this is where uncertainties arise as who is truly the P4P king (as time and fights go by).
But there’s always the fantasy that fans and critics alike like to imagine out, that how they’d do if they were to fight amongst each other. And the MMA world will be seeing how the fight between GSP and BJ Penn to turn out as that’s an important fight in P4P discussion.
However, one can make the argument that if they were to be matched up against each other in a fight (regardless of the fighters’ weight component), then this is how things most probably could turn out:
Now, I'm expecting BJ Penn to put a good fight at UFC 94;
but I'm picking on St-Pierre to win that fight:
Anyhow, I don't think either of these two guys:
can win in a fight against this guy:|
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and none of these guys:
could win against this guy: |
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END of discussion.
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