Why do they call it pound 4 pound?

[Koro_11]

I dont know what criteria people try to use when they make these silly rankings, but it seems that on Sherdog or UFC site it's basically just popular opinion, "this fighter is on a good streak right now so lets make up another fake title for him to carry".

It's the pound 4 pound part that just sounds silly to me, what the hell do pounds have to do with it. If for example you wanna find a reason to rank Mighty Mouse #1 in something, then call him the most dominant champion at the moment, or the longest title defense winstreak, or whatever.... but all he's doing is beating up guys his size, what does weight have to do with it?

The only true pound 4 pound greats were the small HW's who took down much bigger guys, like Randy, Mirko, Igor, etc... guys who were weighing in under 220, and fighting guys 50 lbs heavier at times.

Actually in the beginning it was guys like Royce Gracie, and later someone like Sakuraba too, and all those other little guys who didn't care about size and believed they could beat anyone.

Honestly, someone like Ikuhisa Minowa is more deserving of the p4p title than anyone on sherdog's current list.

 

[Gambit MMA]

its a meme and it has been for a while. its pretty much just a top 10 list consisting of the best fighters across all weight classes, and most people rank those 10 based on title defenses, competition, skill etc.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Pound for pound communicates the concept fairly well. First time I ever heard someone talking about a pound for pound great fighter (they were talking about Sugar Ray Leonard) I had a pretty decent idea what they were referring to.

 

[MrCoffee]

Value of meat, by the pound, in mma.

 

[markys00]

well, in current times its a bit weird how the term has been changed.

typically, p4p used to refer to guys who moved between weightclasses as well as being dominant in their weight class

 

[Koro_11]

Pound for pound communicates the concept fairly well. First time I ever heard someone talking about a pound for pound great fighter (they were talking about Sugar Ray Leonard) I had a pretty decent idea what they were referring to.

Really?

Would you care to explain it to me cause I really dont get it?

Are we imagining that if someone like Leonard was Tyson's size, that he would beat him?

Are we pretending that a smaller guy gaining all that muscle will somehow magically still maintain his speed, agility, or whatever attributes made him excel at the lower weight?

 

[Was at Pride GP 2000]

Troll thread ??

 

[RiseAboveHat]

Just another term that MMA borrowed from boxing just because. It doesn't mean shit

 

[Shishio]

pound for pound is about as literal as it gets......it means if fighter x was 6'6 and 330 pounds he would be a fucking monster and the best fighter in the world.....as opposed to saying DJ could show up and knockout the heavyweight champ cus he feels like it one day

 

[yekmurat]

It compates for example DJ s 1 pound with Ngannou s 1 pound

 

[Metallicalabran]

should be kilogram4kilogram imo

 

[binny]

pound for pound. as in MM couldn't beat Bobby Knuckles, but for his size he has dominated more.

 

[loyalyolayal]

Because they can't measure correctly and are too stubborn to adapt to the metric system.

 

[Metallicalabran]

Is useful to give notoriety to fighters who are very dominant and skilled despite being small

 

[Vikassi]

i think of it as if they all were the exact same weight. Mighty mouse would be the best.

 

[Codpiece]

Really?

Would you care to explain it to me cause I really dont get it?

Are we imagining that if someone like Leonard was Tyson's size, that he would beat him?

Are we pretending that a smaller guy gaining all that muscle will somehow magically still maintain his speed, agility, or whatever attributes made him excel at the lower weight?

Taken from Wikipedia:

"Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing[1] or mixed martial arts,[2] of who the better fighters are relative to their weight (i.e., adjusted to compensate for weight class). As these fighters do not compete directly, judging the best fighter pound for pound is subjective, and ratings vary. They may be based on a range of criteria including "quality of opposition", factors such as how exciting the fighter is or how famous they are, or be an attempt to determine who would win if all those ranked were the same size. In boxing, the term was historically associated with fighters such as Benny Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson who were widely considered to be the most skilled fighters of their day, to distinguish them from the generally more popular (and better compensated) heavyweight champions.[3] Since 1990, The Ring magazine has maintained a pound for pound rank of fighters."


Essentially pound for pound is a method of ranking who the best fighter is based on skill set or achievements. Comparing two fighters who compete in different weight classes (hence the use of the term pound for pound) can only be done in this manner since the two fighters will likely never fight and since mere physicality advantages the larger and heavier fighter.

It's fun to talk about sometime but totally imaginary and therefore it's impossible to arrive at a concrete conclusion about who really is better P4P. Even moreso given that there aren't any fixed criteria for the determination of such a ranking. Best not to worry too much about it.

 

[TripTictonic]

These borderline troll posts on Sherdog are getting out of hand.

 

[Judoka1532]

I dont know what criteria people try to use when they make these silly rankings, but it seems that on Sherdog or UFC site it's basically just popular opinion, "this fighter is on a good streak right now so lets make up another fake title for him to carry".

It's the pound 4 pound part that just sounds silly to me, what the hell do pounds have to do with it. If for example you wanna find a reason to rank Mighty Mouse #1 in something, then call him the most dominant champion at the moment, or the longest title defense winstreak, or whatever.... but all he's doing is beating up guys his size, what does weight have to do with it?

The only true pound 4 pound greats were the small HW's who took down much bigger guys, like Randy, Mirko, Igor, etc... guys who were weighing in under 220, and fighting guys 50 lbs heavier at times.

Actually in the beginning it was guys like Royce Gracie, and later someone like Sakuraba too, and all those other little guys who didn't care about size and believed they could beat anyone.

Honestly, someone like Ikuhisa Minowa is more deserving of the p4p title than anyone on sherdog's current list.

It's basically who is the best among their division (like which MW fighter is the best), in comparison to the best of the other divisions. Not comparing a flyweight to a heavyweight meaning a flyweight can beat a heavyweight. That's not what pound for pound is. It's also not saying, well if mighty mouse was 30lbs heavier he could beat a light weight. Simply because skill and talent doesn't translate well across huge weight class jumps. Basically, what mighty mouse can do at 125 he can't do at 155.
But p4p is saying how much better mighty mouse is in comparison the other 9 guys in his divisions to how much better stipe is in comparison to the other 9 guys in his weight class. So if mighty mouse was 10-0 vs ranked opponents, and stipe is 5-5, it's safe to say that mighty mouse is better in that weight class than stipe is in his.

 

[Pitier of Fools]

It refers to British pounds.

So saying someone is pound 4 pound #1 means they're the surest bet for your money.

 

[Codpiece]

well, in current times its a bit weird how the term has been changed.

typically, p4p used to refer to guys who moved between weightclasses as well as being dominant in their weight class

Certainly this is not my understanding of how the term was historically used. That doesn't mean this method of determining how a person ranks fighters "pound for pound" it really serves to underline the point I was making in the last paragraph of my previous post.

There are no fixed rules about how to determine who is better P4P. It's subjective. People use several criteria or a combination of them:

- success in multiple weight classes
- success against strong opposition in a "stacked" division over a long period of time
- dominance in weight class or in wins over opposition
- skill set
- being an undersized fighter who is successful in a division, e.g. Frankie Edgar, Daniel Cormier and Dan Henderson



For this reason consensus is impossible to reach.