By MATT MOLGAARD
MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer

Twenty years ago it was easy to assume that the big buff gym rats were the toughest fellas on the block, while the skinny gent was certainly the target of many a bully. Well, twenty years is a significant chunk of time, and thanks to the rapid growth of mixed martial arts, we now know that physique holds little weight (see what I did there?) in regards to a man’s ability to defend himself, or inflict damage upon another.

Fitness and fighting capabilities have a lot more in common with literature than one may initially perceive; you just can’t judge a book by its cover.

10. Erik Koch: Taking a look at surging youngster, Erik Koch, you’d never guess the kid has fire in his fists and footwork fit to rival a young boxer. But that’s just the case: this kid can fight! Ignore the fact that he looks like he could slide in between two closely placed boards of a picket fence, there’s genuine power and precise technique bottled up in this slender frame.

09. Shinya Aoki: Much like Koch, Shinya appears about as threatening as a three legged puppy. The guy’s nearly skin and bones, but that doesn’t change the fact that he packs one of the most lethal submission attacks in the sport today. As his striking continues to improve, casual fans will continue to be baffled by the unsuspecting Japanese superstar.

08. James Thompson: James is built like a body builder who took two weeks off. The man looks like a human wrecking machine, and he totes a moniker that echoes that idea: “Colossus”. Unfortunately for this long time veteran, his skills and general physical power don’t live up to the initial perception. For a guy who looks like he could take your head off with a simple open palmed swipe, there’s a serious power deficiency at work. Thompson owns ten stoppage victories, but not a single one of those stoppages came over a quality opponent and the majority of those victories are technical knockouts rather than sleep inducing (literally) finishes. Bigger isn’t always better.

07. Carlos Condit: Condit is a lanky chap with about as much refined muscle mass as your thirteen year old brother. That however hasn’t stopped this savage from carving his way through numerous elite foes. The kid is just deceptively strong, and while his defensive wrestling could use some work that strength is visible everywhere else the fight takes place. “The Natural Born Killer” has stopped thirteen opponents with strikes inside the distance, not bad for a guy who looks far too long to muster much power in his punch.

06. Nick Diaz: Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit are virtual carbon copies of one another. Both seem far too thin to register any dynamite in their strikes, yet both put opponents away in violent fashion, and they do so with their fists as often as their submission skills. There’s power in numbers, and Nick proves it every time he overwhelms unsuspecting foes with his dangerous (and seemingly infinite) barrage of never-ending strikes.

05. Anderson Silva: Let’s pretend for a moment that you’re completely ignorant to the sport of mixed martial arts: you may easily mistake “The Spider” for your “average Joe”. Save for some long limbs, nothing about Silva’s physical appearance suggests that he may be the most dangerous fighter on the planet. Of course we’ve come to learn that there may be no man alive south of 200 pounds that can topple the phenom, and that makes his very typical build all that more surprising. Oh how physiques can be deceptive!

04. Fedor Emelianenko: Fedor looks like your typical construction worker who prefers consuming mass amounts of Budweiser over sweating profusely in the gym. A near 10 year run as the world’s greatest heavyweight in the game should however serve as an indicator of what type of man the Russian truly is. Disregard the beer belly and mildly toned limbs: Fedor has proven himself a nightmare to handle within the confines of a cage.