The Doggy Bag: Fox of a Deal

---

After reading Sherdog’s latest pound-for-pound rankings, I was just curious about Anderson Silva’s return to the top spot. I have seen, after UFC 134, most people calling him the best fighter in MMA, with no mind paid to Georges St. Pierre. I don’t necessarily disagree, but I was wondering what you think caused such a quick change in opinion. Is it just a classic case of what have you done for me lately? I think Silva is the best fighter in the world, but I think it is funny to see so many people argue he is the greatest with conviction when, just a few months ago, people were killing him for getting beat up by Chael Sonnen. -- Adam, from the Quad Cities

Brian Knapp, features editor: Personally, I consider Silva and St. Pierre virtually interchangeable in the pound-for-pound discussion. St. Pierre has faced superior competition in a deeper division; Silva has proven dominant in more than one weight class. If there is one factor that separates them, it can be found in Silva’s ability to put the exclamation point on victory.

I do not hold this against St. Pierre on the surface, but when trying to find separation between two great fighters, one has to consider all the data. In his 14 Octagon appearances, Silva has finished 12 opponents, 10 of them in two rounds or less. Meanwhile, St. Pierre has gone the distance in each of his past four outings and five of his last six. Only a fourth-round technical knockout against B.J. Penn -- a wildly skilled but undersized welterweight -- interrupted the string. Therein lies the clear distinction between the two. They are both undeniably excellent but Silva has that advantage, and it is a meaningful one.

Again, this is no knock on St. Pierre, who has been unfairly criticized for his inability to end fights. The man wins. Last time I looked, that is what mattered in sports, and the importance of victories over peers like Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Josh Koscheck and Jake Shields cannot be overlooked. Still, Silva has been so dominant and spectacular of late that he has overshadowed virtually everyone else in the sport. The fact that he submitted Sonnen after taking such a one-sided beating for four rounds -- and there is no way to quantify how much of an impact the rib injury had on his performance -- only adds to Silva’s pound-for-pound argument. The triangle armbar he snatched effectively erased the four-plus rounds that preceded it, adding another layer to his legend.

Yes, this sport, perhaps more than any other I have encountered, exists in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately bubble. People are too quick to wipe away yesterday’s achievement in the face of today’s failure. Fighters age. Skills diminish. Opposition improves. Talent pools deepen. Look at Fedor Emelianenko, a man rightly considered by most as MMA royalty. For some, it is as if his 10-year reign of dominance never existed, a champion thoroughbred ticketed for an imaginary slaughterhouse. Silva encountered similar sentiment after embarrassing outings against Thales Leites and Demian Maia in which he clowned as much as he fought. However, in his last three bouts -- the miraculous submission against Sonnen, the ridiculous knockout against Vitor Belfort and the all-out shellacking against Yushin Okami -- “The Spider” has gone a long way towards closing those once-festering wounds.

No matter which side of the Silva-St. Pierre argument one falls on, I seriously doubt St. Pierre is losing sleep over surrendering the pound-for-pound mantle to a man who may someday go down as the greatest mixed martial artist who ever lived.

Continue Reading » Silva vs. Jones