The Three Best Fighters In the UFC

MMA might very well be the fastest growing sport in the world and no single MMA organization is more popular than the UFC. If fact, contestants in other sanctioning bodies, such as Pride, are merely waiting for their invite to the prestigious octagon. Why is it so difficult to make it there? Because it's the most talent rich fighting organization on the planet, with the top competitiors from nearly every major combat sport looking to test their skill against a wider variety of oponents. Just think abou it, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. But who are the best? If forced to make a decision on who the top three MMA competitors are today, I would have to pick the following fighters and give the following reasons.

The Most Technically Skilled: Frankie Edgar
Frankie Edgar, in my assessment, is simply the most technically skilled fighter in the UFC. His skill set is almost perfect and it's getting better. Edgar started his fight career as a wrestler and true to his New Jersey blood, isn't afraid of a scrap. To quote the current light weight champion himself, "Everyone in Jersey can either fight or think they can fight. Most of them only think they can fight but I'm one of those few who actually can fight." After dismanteling the 155 pound devision by defeating skilled oponents such as Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffon, taking the title from B. J. Penn and successfully defending it with a dominant performance in the rematch, few would argue. And those few are probably the ones from New Jersey who only think they can fight.

Edgar showcases an amazing skill set with superior wrestling, fast hands, and great defense, topped off by the best footwork in the UFC. No one moves as much as Frankie Edgar and that's one of the reason's he's so good. Frankie Edgar understands that in the ring, you must either fire, move, or do both. He is also the only fighter in the UFC to display the use of angular attack through the use of broken rhythm. Broken rhythm is a change in speed, direction, or essence, designed to throw your opponent's focuss of track, thereby fortifying your defense and making him more vulerable to your attack. Edgar most often utilizes a change in direction, coming in at one angle and clearing at another.

Another great aspect of Edgar's technique is the lack of a gap in his offensive timing. Most fighters pause for a split second either between punches or kicks and takedowns, or after they execute the attack and just before they clear or reset. This is called a gap in offensive tming and it's what a good counter fighter (such as another fighter on this top three list) will look for. Edgar has no such gaps. He fires with expert offensive timing and never pauses before reseting. He is a finess fighter, meaning he fires from movement instead of stopping, getting set, then firing (a trademark of many heavyweights).

Lastly, Edgar turns his opponents. When working inside with short range punches or a clinch, most fighters tend to stand in one spot instead of turning their opponent from side to side with good circular footwork. Edgar always turns hs opponents on the inside and doesn't stick around for the counter. He's in witha penetrating jab, executes his double or tripple inside combinations while turning his opponent, and cleares there reach from a different angle than the one he came in with. Executing solid techiques with perfect fundamentals from a large skill set that includes excellent boxing, kicking, and wrestling, Edgar is a force to be reckoned with. I figure he will be champ for a long time.

The Smartest Fighter: Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva has had the longest rein as champion in the UFC for a reason. He's simply too smart for anyone else to deal with. I'm not talking about his IQ (although I suspect it to be very high) but his knowlege of ring generalship and ring tickery. No one in the world can cause you to make a mistake the way Anderson Silva does. He also has the best sense of distancing, to which I dedicated an entire post on this blog. Coming from Curatiba Brazil, Silva has a large and unpredictable skill set, holding black belts in Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He's a good boxer and has even shown some impressive wrestling from time to time (including beautiful switch on Nate Marquart and a very surprising takedown on Chael Sonnen, of all people). When Silva entered the octagon and destroyed Chris Leben, he earned a tittle shot against Rich Franklin, who he dismantled in one round and two in the rematch. No one had been able to beat him since. Here's why. Apart from his beautiful contol of distance and unparalelled sense of timing, Silva's biggest assests are his unpredictability and trickery.

Silva often mentions that he looks for and takes advantage of his opponent's mistakes. What most people don't realise is that Silva actually and quite according to plan, causes his opponents to make mistakes. Silva leaves his hands down because he's inviting his opponents to come after him with intentions of a knock out. Many fighters make that mistake but only Silva capatalizes on it. When you give up your solid defense for the sake of offense, you have made one of the gravest mistakes in the fight game. When fighting, you must establish your defensive gameplan first and then establish your offensive tactics. Silva is very much aware of this and takes advantage of the UFC fighter's love for spectacular finishes by coxing them into trading punches or head hunting. Silva is of course a technician and good counter fighter, just waiting for that gap in offensive timing.

Anderson Silva displays great movement. One of the reasons Silva is so hard to hit is because he moves so well. Moving not only improves your position for offensive purposes, but relocates your target for defensive purposes. Silva displays good in and out movement and great side to side movement. When he fought Chris Leben in his UFC debute, Silva continually opened up Leben for strikes using his side to side footwork. Silva also makes great use of turning his opponents, especially in the clinch.

Silva sees openings that other fighters tend to miss or not be brave enough to take. Who ever saw anyone side kick a guy in the leg (Silva vs. Mia), front kick a standng opponent in the face (Silva vs. Belfort), or use a reverse lead elbow to the chin like Tony Jaa did in Ong Bak (Silva vs. Fyrklund, pre-UFC)? Silva has no problem trying out strange tactics and because of this, combined with his very diverse martial arts background, nobody knows what he's going to do. That's just one more way he gets inside of people's heads. Think abou it. Of all the fighters in the UFC, anderson Silva does the least amount of pre-fight trash talking but is the one fighter garunteed to get inside his opponent's head. It's all because of his tricky ring tactics.

A perfect example of Silva's crafty state of mind is his victory over Chael Sonnen. Many people say Anderson got lucky with that last minute triangle. I dissagree. I say it was pure brilliance. Silva knew he was losing that fight and had to submit Chael to win. In the fith round with three minutes left, Silva grabs Chael's left wrist from the guard but does not attack. Chael has postured up and is throwing punches with his free hand. Silva gradually pulls Chael's left hand down to his stomach were a fighter in the top position would not want it. But Silva did it so craftily without drawing attention to it by attacking off that side, that Chael never noticed. After a full minute of lulling Chael into a false sense of security and missdirected attention by simply punching a few times with his right hand, Silva waits for the perfect moment. Silva did not attack for a full minute because he wanted that right wrist controll and he wanted Chael to throw his weight at him with a left punch (you cannot submt someone with a traingle easily if they are postured up). And then, BAM! Just as Chael leans forward to punch, Silva slaps on the triangle over the hand he has been controlling for a full minute and has the incredible sense of mind to grab Chael's left arm, preventing him from defending properly. That was simply the single most well thought out submission in any UFC fight to date. It shows that where most people would panich and use uneducated technique, Silva use his mind and causes you to make that fatal flaw. And that is all he needs.

The Hardest Worker: George St. Pierre

In the UFC, you work hard or go home empy handed and bloodied up. And it's been over five years since the current welterweight champion George St. Pierre went home empyhanded and bloodied up. In fact, int the last five years, he has only lost one round. And that's because he works harder than anyone in his sport. Growing up in Quebec Canada, GSP worded multiple jobs to support himself, trained at night, and often slept in the gym because he had nowhere else to go. That alone is more hard work than most of us are willing to consider, but he was just getting started. Having originally studied Kyokoshinkai Karate (a brutal, no nonsense martial art) since the age of seven, George St. Pierre has since developed one of the most well rounded games in the sport. He can box, he likes to kick of both legs (it's rare to see UFC fighters kick off their forward leg), and has what many fight anylists consider the best wrestling in MMA, which is phenomenal, considering he has never competed as a wrestler. Making a name for himself by beating B. J. Penn and a host of other fighters, GSP took the tittle from Matt Hughes but lost it to Matt Cera. That loss sparked the hardest and most focussed regimen in mixed martial arts today. GSP often sites the loss as the best thing to happen to hs career. I believe him. After completely dominating Cera in the rematch and winning back his belt, he has continued to work harder than anyone else.

GSP is a perfectionist. If he makes a single mistake in a fight, you will see him with his coaches, running through the situation again in the dressing room just minutes after the bout. GSP doesn't celebrate in victory after he is anounced the winner, he thinks over in his head how he could have done better and will next time. While other fighters take time off between fights, GSP travels the world seeking the best of the best in order to imrove. He travels to Thailand to practice Muay Thai, to Brazil to practice his Jiu-Jitsu, and even wrestles with the Canadian Olympic Wrestling Team. Most of us would comment that if we made as much money per fight as GSP, we would train like that also. But we forgett that GSP came from humble beginnings and got to where he is be relentless hard work. He has earned it and continues to earn it.

GSP has tremendous conditioning. With a physique that would shame Atlas, it's obvious that GSP is on to something. His fitness regimine is second to none and more importantly, it's constant. GSP does not rest between fights or slack off the nutritional rules. He lives and breathes physical fitness, working out every day. He never has to get back in shape. he also never cuts weight through the use of a sauna. He loses it through dieting, which is it's own form of hard work, as anyone who has made dietary sacrifices can tell you. In the end, GSP is a fanatical perfectionist who never stops working to improve. Nothing is good enough for him, it can always be better. Bruce Lee once said that we must never have limits, that we may have plateus but we must rise bove them. If Bruce Lee where alive today, I can tell you that one of his favorite fighters would be GSP.

What Do They All Have In Common?

All three of these magnificent fighters share similar attributes. (1) They each continue to improve every time we see them. They strive to be better then they were the fight before. (2) Each man also has a large and unpredictable skill set, truely demonstrating the full range of mixed martial arts at it's best. (3) They each train outside their comfort zone. Each man listed will use what works, regardless of where the information comes from. Too many fighters and martial artists in general will only stick to their comfort zone, afraid of venturing into new territory. These three are not ordinary martial artists and they go searching for whatever it is they find the most uncomfortable, because they know it will help them improve. (4) They learn from their mistakes. If something doesn't go as planned, there is work to be done. See how many times each of these men make the same mistake twice. It isn't often. They learn, adapt, and move foreward, which is what mixed martial arts is all about.