Size Matters in MMA, but Size Doesn't Matter to Fedor Emelianenko

Bloody Elbow has a good post up today comparing the size of Shane Carwin, Bobby Lashley and other well known heavyweight mixed martial artists, and it points to another reason that I consider Fedor Emelianenko the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA: Fedor is dominating a weight class in which he's one of the smallest competitors.

Size does matter in MMA, and while dominant smaller heavyweights of a few years ago like Randy Couture and Mirko Cro Cop have lost to bigger opponents, Fedor continues to destroy bigger men in the ring.

Here are the heights and weights of the top heavyweights in MMA, ordered from lightest to heaviest:
- Randy Couture 6'1" (220)
- Mirko Filipovic 6'2" (226)
- Fedor Emelianenko 6'0" (230)
- Cheick Kongo 6'4" (230)
- Junior dos Santos 6'4" (237)
- Gilbert Yvel 6'2" (237)
- Cain Velasquez 6'1.5" (239)
- Alistair Overeem 6'5" (242)
- Paul Buentello 6'2" (244)
- Jeff Monson 5'9" (242)
- Andrei Arlovski 6'4" (244)
- Frank Mir 6'3" (245)
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 6'3" (246)
- Josh Barnett 6'3" (248)
- Heath Herring 6'4" (250)
- Aleksander Emelianenko 6'6" (253)
- Fabricio Werdum 6'4" (256)
- Bobby Lashley 6'3" (256)
- Ray Mercer 6'1" (257)
- Gabriel Gonzaga 6'2" (258)
- Antonio Silva 6'4" (260)
- Shane Carwin 6'3" (260)
- Brett Rogers 6'5" (262)
- Ben Rothwell 6'5" (264)
- Chris Tuchscherer 6'2" (264)
- Brock Lesnar 6'3.5" (265)

I don't know if we've reached the point where we need to reconsider the weight classes in MMA, but I do think we've reached the point in the heavyweight division where even a guy like Cain Velasquez seems a little small to compete at the elite levels of the division. To get to a point where Velasquez seems "small" is kind of amazing, and the fact that we've reached that point and Fedor is still dominating is really amazing.