[W.Silva>C.Norris]

Originally Posted by rivethead

It's the same as soares or Zahabi or Dolce trying to pick and choose as well.

If it's coming from anyone from the fighters themselves, it's because someone has something to gain from their sweat. The hangers-on get money, and fans get entertainment...but really, it comes down to the fighters and the matchmaker from the org, everything else is varying levels of bullshit. The best thing I can say about Zahibi or Dolce as they actually work to make their fighters better, as opposed to straight out parasites like soares, dana and other promoters.



In all sincerity, I don't know that I can say that Georges or Anderson are better than Penn p4p, at least, not the way that I was taught to interpret the concept--long before any of the fighters I'm talking about were coming into play.

If everything is equal in terms of size, weight/reach I think Penn has potential to beat anyone on the planet. He also has potential to lose to anyone on the planet, and that's what kills his acceptance into common perception as elite. But I think him stepping up pwn Hughes when Matt was considered elite p4p, stepping up to face an even larger Georges, that's something that simply isn't done by most fighters, and certainly not "smart" champions. It eclipses anything Georges has done in a pure pound-for-pound setting, and outstrips Anderson's wins at LHW, and Jones doesn't even get a mention as a runner up.

Then again, Penn is so inconsistent--not to mention polarizing--he's his own worst enemy, so it's difficult for most people to acknowledge the skillset he possesses.

I'm sure it'll be easy to dismiss my perception as coming from a Penn fan--although he's not one of my top 5 favorite fighters, and I often cringe at his interviews--or as hating on other fighters, but I think the concept of how people look at p4p is predecated entirely on whether they're winning--often against smaller opponents and not at the skillset that they actually illustrate.

But to put it another way, if Frankie drops down to FW and is dominant there, it will be an illustration of the exact opposite of the approach most of the UFC champions have taken.

rh

Guys like Penn and Dan Henderson are pretty much the only p4p greats we've ever seen in MMA, for exactly the reasons you've stated. Both are willing to fight above their "natural" weights, and are very successful there.