Dave Madden’s UFC’s Pound-For-Pound Greatest List

By Dave Madden (Who else would it be by?)

Determining the top-ten pound-for-pound (P4P) greatest UFC fighters, at first glance, seems pretty simplistic, almost silly for asking. Fact is, naming and ordering the greatest mixed martial artists on planet Earth is a task in which minute factors prevent a unanimous consensus; hence, P4P should stand for Problematic (Four)boding Process. I will attempt to lay out a logical, linear thought process as to who are, in fact, the UFC’s most skilled, technical, and an all-round headache for other MMA combatants.

First of all, there are ten weight divisions, and nine of those belts do not have a vacancy sign posted on them. The available belt is the light heavyweight division’s, and the newest recipient will be determined at UFC 187; therefore, each champion from each weight class should be allotted a position in the top-ten P4P rankings. That said, the UFC at UFC.com has a differing perspective of who belongs in the P4P top-ten. The P4P rankings are listed:

1. Jose Aldo

2. Demetrious Johnson

3. Chris Weidman

4. Ronda Rousey

5. Cain Velasquez

6. TJ Dillashaw

7. Rafael Dos Anjos

8. Robbie Lawler

9. Anderson Silva

10. Anthony Pettis

10. Renan Barao

Each of these athletes’ talents and abilities are rivaled by few, but positioning three fighters in the P4P rankings who aren’t currently holding a title for a particular weight class almost devalues the importance of possessing MMA’s coveted championship marker. With ten different weight classes in the UFC, including men’s and women’s, the top-ten P4P fighters become a sifting process of tenure, technique, and toughness amongst the champs.

10. Winner of Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (19-4) vs. Daniel “DC” Cormier (15-1)

The poor choices of one led to grandiose fortunes for others, in this case the UFC’s light heavyweight championship title. Formerly, the position was held by Jon “Bones” Jones who stood at the top of the P4P rankings until his recently reported hit-and-run incident has left him caged inside the detention of law enforcement, instead of with another man and a referee. Since Johnson and Cormier will face off for the title, the winner should walk away with, not only, a newly shined UFC belt, but they should also find their name among the organizations upper echelon by ranking tenth on the P4P list.

9. Joanna “Champion” Jedrzejczyk (9-0)

Collecting the women’s strawweight title at UFC 185, Jedrzecjcyk blew the hinges off the Octagon with her performance over Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza (11-3). Jedrzejczyk presented her case crystal clear, even with a bit of a Polish accent, how she was going to take the belt away from Esparza. Having a Muy Thai background of over 100 fights, Jedrzejcyk assured her fans that she would deliver a stellar performance and bring the title to Poland, but her doubters believed that Esparza’s gritty wrestling pedigree would outdo anything Jedrejczyk could offer. In an emphatic fashion, Jedrzejcyk stuffed every takedown and was able to bring Esparza to the mat using her crushing striking technique. The nay-sayers were forced to retract their words as soon as they could roll their jaws up from the floor from witnessing her performance.

8. Rafael Dos Anjos (24-7)

The same night that the greatest women’s strawweight in the UFC was named also crowned Rafael Dos Anjos as the UFC’s newest lightweight champion. Dos Anjos wasn’t counted out but was overlooked in the wake of Anthony “Showtime” Pettis (18-3). “Showtime” had been minted onto the front of a Wheaties box, defended the belt twice, and was predicted to perform his flashy attacks that fans have come to relish. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In fact, Dos Anjos entered the contest against Pettis with a knee injury sustained in practice leading up to the fight, moved forward for the entire twenty-five minutes, and steamrolled Pettis. Holding the championship title in the UFC’s lightweight division is like holding a huge target over your head, and Dos Anjos is more than happy to give each and every fighter on the lightweight’s roster their shot.

7. TJ Dillashaw (12-2)

After living in The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) house, season 14, reaching the season’s finale against John “The Magician” Dodson (17-6), and falling short, one might have struggled to imagine Dillashaw highlighted on a list of the UFC’s highest achieving athletes. Dillashaw came back from that finale loss and went on a tear, to eventually stand across the cage from Renan “The Baron” Barao (35-2). Barao at that time was number three on the P4P list. Before this matchup, Barao hadn’t lost a bout in 34 outings. In one night, Dillashaw turned Barao’s world upside down. Trained by Duane “Bang” Ludwig, Dillashaw implemented his game-plan and used his footwork to move circles around Barao before securing the finish, and the bantamweight title in the fifth and final round. Dillashaw does not attempt in any way to hide his opinion that the win over Barao was not without merit, and he will have the opportunity to claim that the fight was not a fluke when they meet again at the United Center in Chicago for UFC on Fox: Dillashaw vs. Barao 2.

6. “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (25-10, 1NC)

“Ruthless” doesn’t begin to describe what Lawler has done since making his way back into the UFC in July of 2013. Winning six out of his last seven, Lawler registered tough win after tough win, thereby, propelling himself into the top of the welterweight division and one of the P4P best. Lawler is known as American Top Team’s (ATT) pride. At age thirty-three, it’s scary to think he is in his prime and realize how long he’s been in the game; he debuted in the UFC at UFC 37 on May 10, 2002! After experiencing the lows of leaving the greatest MMA organization to the highs of reaching its pinnacle, Lawler isn’t anticipating letting go of his welterweight gold anytime soon. Lawler will have his first title defense against Rory McDonald (18-2) as the co-main event at UFC 189.

5. Winner of Cain Velasquez (13-1) or Fabricio “Val Cavalo” Werdum (19-5-1)

The man who carries the heavyweight title has most typically been reffered to as the world’s baddest man on the planet, but circumstance has created two of these baddest men who will club it out to determine the rightful surname. Valasquez and Werdum were slated to meet in Mexico City back at UFC 181, but an injury forced Velasquez to pull out of the fight, which left Werdum to battle Mark “The Super Somoan” Hunt (10-9-1) for the interim heavyweight title. At UFC 188, the heavyweight championship will be unified when the UFC returns to Mexico City, entrusting both can remain healthy. When these heavyweights clash on June 13, 2015, they must be cognizant of the other’s stand-up attack, cardiovascular endurance, and work on the canvas. A well-rounded game from both of these heavyweights forces one to imagine that a win etches their name in the middle of the P4P list.

4. Chris Weidman (12-0)

It’s difficult to not place Weidman at the top of the P4P list because of how he slugged and submitted his way to the top of the middleweight food chain and who he manhandled to wear the championship belt around his waist; he defeated the former greatest P4P fighter to ever grace the Octagon, Anderson “The Spider” Silva (34-6), not once but twice, and he plans to continue to show UFC fans around the world that no lucky shot or unfortunate events will keep him in position at the top of the P4P rankings. Weidman, with dominant wrestling and superior striking, will put his championship pedigree to task when he defends his belt for the fourth time against “The Phenom” Vitor Belfort (24-10), who has been phenomenal since returning to middleweight after attempting a run at light heavyweight. With friends, family, training partners, and an ever-growing fan-base, Weidman will seek out to receive the stamp of approval of UFC fans around the world as one of the P4P top UFC fighters in the co-main event UFC 187.

3. “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey (11-0)

Don’t let looks deceive you. Catching a recent photo shoot displaying Rousey’s ear-to-ear grin is a much different appearance than the one she enters the Octagon with. When Rousey comes to fight, there are no bones about it, she is looking to disconnect every joint in her opponent’s body from their sockets. Rousey entered the Octagon as the women’s bantamweight champion, as she was rested upon the top of the women’s division prior to her inaugural women’s UFC fight at UFC 157. Rousey hasn’t relinquished the belt since, nor does she plan to. The ex-Olympian in Judo makes the remarkable resemble simplistic as she has recorded two wins over tough females, Alexis Davis (16-6) and Cat Zingano (9-1), in a combined thirty-seconds worth of work. For each day that Rousey puts in the gym, she views the deposited time as a down payment to her future and remain rooted as one of the UFC’s P4P greatest athletes, female or otherwise.

2. Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson (21-2-1)

Small in stature, though monstrous when it comes to mixed martial arts technique, Johnson is the only fighter who has been blessed to decorate his home or gym with the UFC’s flyweight championship of the world. Coming off his seventh title defense against Kyoji Horaguchi (15-1), “Mighty Mouse” didn’t cap off the victory with an accumulation of points, enough to have earned a unanimous decision; instead, he maneuvered magnificently for the last second armbar submission. Some try to devalue what Johnson has done in the flyweight division, but the only thing he has done is clean house. The argument against him being such a highly ranked P4P fighter is that the division isn’t as deep as some of the other weight classes, though Johnson doesn’t let this vantage point of his weight class’s inferiority stop him from making mince meat out of anyone who stands across from him. Masterfully, Johnson exhibits his MMA competence and will continue to model for the masses that he is a marquee fighter, deserving of this place atop the P4P rankings.

1. Jose Aldo Junior (25-1)

Brazil’s only UFC champion is hailed as the greatest P4P fighter, so it may just be the best kind of champ to claim. Not only ruler of the featherweight division, Aldo justifies his position at the top of the UFC’s P4P roster with crushing leg kicks and and a toughness that can be overcome by none. Exiting the WEC and entering the UFC as the featherweight champion, Aldo has compiled a total of ten championship defenses. In the UFC alone Aldo has rejoiced in raising his belt above his head seven times and aims for his eighth when he will face “The Notorious” Conor McGregor (17-2), who Aldo considers a Joker. Joker or not, McGregor’s following is building up a ton of hype as a means of collecting what Aldo considers his, the strap. Every time Aldo steps inside the Octagon, fans can’t pull themselves away as they take notice of new wrinkles that he has added to his game, and everyone is in for a treat when Aldo puts his belt on the line again against McGregor as the main event at UFC 189.

The UFC is the top of MMA’s food chain, and the champion at each weight class is the king of the Octagon. If the top-ten P4P fighters in the UFC doesn’t include all the champions, the dot-to-dot connection that comes with becoming and wearing the title belt loses all its luster, dulling the ability for the holder to see their P4P smile looking back!