Best Pound 4 Pound Fighters of all Time

Well, usually when they say pound for pound it doesn't include having the ability to change weight classes, but a good thread none the less.  With that criteria unfortunately we have to eliminate most of the heavyweights such as Fedor, but oh well.  Below are some that come to mind in no particular order.  I agree with your choices except maybe Ortiz or Arlovsky because Arlovsky fights at 240 and 35 pounds is significant and Ortiz never fought at HW, so I'm not sure if he could make the jump

1.  B.J. Penn - he fights at 155 and is interim champ, has been the champ at 170, and has even fought at 205, so his skills translate across weight classes.

2. Wanderlei Silva - naturally a LHW, but has fought and many HW tournaments and even fought Mark Hunt at Super HW

3.  Anderson Silva

4. Royce Gracie

5. Bas Ruten - mostly LHW but fought a lot of HW

6. Randy Courture

7. Dan Henderson

Also some Japanese fighters deserve mentioning such as Sakaruba, Funaki, and Gomi

Overall I think you have to go with Royce Gracie because he only weighed 170 lbs wet yet was able to beat guys that weighed well over 100 lbs than him in those freaky early UFC tournaments

Interesting thread, I very much disagree with some of the people mentioned but I am going to keep this on the positive note for now lol.

Sakuraba, I honestly think he could fight at 170 (definitely 185) and he has seen succes at as high as 205 with consistency.

Royce Gracie more for his impact on the sport because anyone in the Gracie family included Royce would tell you Rickson has always been the better fighter.

Randy Couture, BJ Penn, and Dan Henderson:  they are the only three fighters to hold championships in 2 weight classes in the UFC and Pride that speaks volumes to me.  Couture hasn't just held them but effectively defended them.

I despise Frank Shamrock but a strong case can be made for him.

I'll probably visit this thread later and add some more food for thought.

Excelent choices. I would like to add my choices to the list. no particular order

1. BJ Penn- if he beats Sherk he will prove that his stigma of cardio is behind him and he will become the #1 ranked lightweight.

2. St. Pierre- he will need to beat Jon Fitch and secure his spot in the welterweights, but I don't think there is a fighter as athletic or as strong as him fighting in any weight class today.  A rematch between him and Penn may be on the horizon.

3. Fedor- just because of his record, he hasn't fought anyone lately to prove for or against him so until he wins/loses to Tim he remains on top.

4. Anderson Silva- Wow enough said.

5. The California Kid Urijah Faber- he's probably the best 145 lb fighter to ever fight, in the octagon or ring.

I just had another thought i wanted to briefly add . . .

I was watching InsideMMA recently and Bas Rutten was saying that during his career he typically walked around at 197 lbs.  I have only seen highlights of Bas fighting but from everything I have heard and seen he seemed like an amazing fighter.  In the modern MMA world it would seem to me that he could easily fight at 185 and 205, and evidently he fought frequently at HW as well.  Definitely a name to be considered.

It's hard to disagree with the first four they have all proven themselves against top flight competition, but to me Faber has alot to prove.

I think at the end of 2009 we will have seen enough to have a much better view of just how good Urijah is.

I can logically see this proggression . . .

1.  The Pulver fight is already signed and ready to go.  Should be an excellent fight and intrigues me to say the least.

2.  Miguel Torres:  rumors have Torres coming up from 135 to fight Faber.  To me this kind of tells you how much depth the 145 lb class has in WEC (not much)

3.  This will be another run of the mill opponent in my opinion jsut to fill a television spot.

4.  Wagney Fabiani:  the IFL 145 champion is a special fighter.  From what I am hearing it is doubtful the IFL makes it through the year financially (It is ashamed) but when the league folds I think the WEC will sign Fabiani.

If Faber makes it through 2009 as WEC champ then I think he can be in this conversation.

Also will Kid Yamamoto ever fight in the US?

In no particular order...

Anderson Silva

Frank -- Can't stand what he's become, but he was awesome in the UFC before he left.  Also, he was one of the first, if not the first, fighters to cross train across different disciplines.  That had a huge impact on MMA.

BJ Penn --  Probably #1 on this list.  He's held titles at 155 and 170.  He's fought up higher than that.  I don't think there has been anyone more talented in MMA ever. 

Rickson Gracie -- Royce got most of the attention with his success in the UFC, but like a previous poster said, everyone knows Rickson was the better fighter.

I'd probably also stick Bas on here.  He fought a lot at 205 and was the UFC heavyweight champ at one point.  It's a shame his career was shortened.