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BJ Penn, Georges St Pierre Or Anderson Silva - Who is the Best Pound For Pound In the UFC?
July 1st, 2008 by John Campea
It is in our nature to draw comparisons, and UFC fans are no exception. Thankfully we usually get a chance to see “who would beat who” quantitatively settled before our eyes in the octagon (like when we finally got to see Chuck Liddell take on Wanderlei Silva).
But sometimes the debate gets into fighters in different weight divisions which lowers the chance we may ever see the fight (However, unlike boxing, fighters in the UFC seem to have no qualms about switching weight divisions at the drop of a hat).
When asking about who is the best fighter in the UFC, it usually comes down to 3 names. George St Pierre, BJ Penn and Anderson Silva.
It looks more and more likely that if St Pierre is able to survive John Fitch’s challenge to his title, that a GSP vs. BJ Penn fight may be in the cards quite soon which will settle that part of the debate, but for now, I’d like to know how you guys would rate these guys?
So, from 1-3, tell me in the comments how you would rank these 3 fighters. Now, just to get the discussion going, I’ll be the first to throw my two cents in there:
#1 - George St Pierre
#2 - Anderson Silva
#3 - BJ Penn
Why would I rant them like this? Well, as for BJ Penn, the beating he took at the hands of Matt Hughes was not all that long ago, and GSP completely dominated Hughes the last 2 times they fought. In my opinion, GSP is a stronger striker and wrestler than BJ as well. With Anderson Silva, I would rank him at #1, but his recent fight with Lutter (which he won) left some question marks in my mind. My rankings could chance very quickly once we get to see any combination of these three actually fight though.
So how would you rank them and why? Or, would you replace any of these three with another fighter I didn’t include?
Tags: Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, GSP
July 6th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I’d flip your list upside down. Penn is the smallest of the three but on balance the best athlete and fighter. Stand up, take down/take down defence, and ground. Penn scores the best average.
Silva, has poor take down and take down defence;
GSP is good in all three but his strength lies in his speed and strength and endurance; making him a great fighter; but as his years tick by he will lose that and his true skills (which are good but not great) will show through.
BJ Penn is gifted in all three areas.
July 27th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
1. bj penn 2. g.s.p 3. anderson silva penn vs. g.s.p needs to happen to determine, because its way to close to call. their both better than they were they’re first match, so… anderson silva really has no competition at 185 (the one weight class that needs more favorable fighters). his to exceptable wins were hendo and franklin, and thats not sayin alot, but i’ll give him credit, pound for pound he is #3.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
1. BJ PENN
2. GSP
3. SILVA
The only thing that GSP has over Penn is his conditioning. Yes, Hughes beat Penn and GSP dominated Hughes but if i remember correctly Penn took that fight on short notice. He also dominated Hughes until he got tired. Even though GSP beat Penn on a split decision anyone that has seen the fight will tell you that it could of gone either way. Yes you score points for takedowns, etc but if you asked anyone who hurt who the most that fight they will say Penn. GSP was bloodied bad….
August 6th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
1.GSP
2.BJ Penn
3.Anderson silva
The one and two spot i am unsure of though i think GSP beats BJ Penn with his speed but if BJ Penn got into shape GSP would be in for a rude awakening. BJ Penn has the better ground game also. Anderson Silva still remains unproven with a weak weight class i think both GSP and BJ Penn would beat Anderson Silva
August 11th, 2008 at 9:44 am
I’d have to agree with the original ranking: St. Pierre, Silva, Penn.
Personally, I find it amusing that so many Penn fans make exceptions for Penn gassing out. The fact of the matter is that his cardio is weak and even at peak cardio is no match for St. Pierre, who has been like a machine lately.
Take the Penn/Sherk fight for example. Penn dominated, but only because Sherk decided to keep standing for some reason. Aside from that, Penn was content not to push the pace at all.
As for Eric’s comment, about who gets hurt the most, the last time I checked, blood split wasn’t a criteria for earning points…otherwise fighters with a lot of scar tissue would never win decisions, just because they bleed more easily.
My two cents…Penn is hungry for the re-match with St. Peirre because a few years ago, everyone was calling him the best pound-for-pound fighter and now, it’s all about St. Pierre and Silva. He’s desperate to make a mark, but he won’t do it at 170 lbs.
September 7th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Respectfully, imho
1. Penn
2. GSP
3. Silva
for the reasons that Penn has won belts in 2 classes, was dominating Hughes until a rib injury (his only stoppage loss ever), had already shown he could stop Hughes in his prime, avenged his loss to Pulver (which was ages ago), and his only other losses were close decisions to GSP (whom he battered and bloodied visibly more than he was hurt by) and undefeated Lyoto Machida (who never had him in any trouble and outweighed him by 35 pounds).
Silva has great striking but imho needs to prove himself against more top-shelf competitors with a range of styles. Hendo was a tough fight for him and went a long way toward justifying his position as one of the p4p best.
As long as UFC wants Silva to continue winning he’s right where he needs to be in UFC at 185, taking on the James Irvins of the next division up if anyone else, and talking about Roy Jones Jr. because it’s good safe hype for a fight he won’t actually have to take until Jones is well into his 40’s. I’d love to see someone like Akiyama or Matt Lindland in UFC b/c if that happened, the 185 division would have more depth.
One thing about Penn, he’s proven himself pretty consistently outside the UFC as well.
As for GSP, hey, he survived a decision vs. Penn, and both of them have improved since. It’ll be very interesting to see what happens in Penn-GSP-2. Silva moving up in weight makes it less likely that he’ll face either of his p4p rivals, though.