Continuing down the sample list of Top 10 pound for pound fighters in the world, you get #6 Anthony Pettis, #7 Anderson Silva and #8 Johny Hendricks. Pettis is an exciting Lightweight champion, but various knee injuries will keep him out of the octagon for the better part of a year. Though he beat former champion Benson Henderson definitively for a second time, his inactivity should keep him off the list. As for Anderson Silva, it is understandable to have him on the list, but inactivity should also keep him off. When Silva returns, as he has stated that he will, he will likely have a superfight type of scenario around his fight, and he will not be looking to make a title run. You might as well keep Georges St Pierre on the list as well, since he fought in November of last year, and that is apparently not far back enough to rule people out.
Hendricks at #8 is acceptable, as he has been competing at the highest level in the deepest weight division for a long time now. He lacks submissions in the octagon, and he has a penchant to eeek out split decisions but putting him in the bottom half is where he belongs.
The last two spots are completely subjective – #9 Benson Henderson and #10 Gilbert Melendez. Henderson is a former champion at Lightweight who has beaten top guys since dropping the title. Melendez is a top shelf fighter, but he is also on the shelf waiting to coach the UFC reality show opposite Pettis and leading up to a title shot in December. Again, that is more than a year off.
The list has changed over the years. Whereas 10-15 years ago there were fighters of a high level outside the UFC and the list showed it, but now the list is exclusively UFC fighters as they have tied down the market. Though that is understandable, the list has become a listing of the UFC’s champions and contenders and not the top 10 pound for pound fighters based on skill. Fighters outside the UFC that could be deserving of a spot are fighters such as Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki, so there still remains high skill fighters outside of the UFC.
The way the UFC dominates the list, it would not surprise me to see Ronda Rousey creep onto this very list if she scores one more dominant win. Hey, that outta get her some more attention…….
