Currently in the MMA world we have three people who can make a claim on being the heavyweight champion of the world. Those are Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Randy Couture, and Fedor Emelianenko. For the sake of argument I am looking at Nogueira as interim world champ, Couture as UFC champ (since he never lost the belt and is still considered under contract with Zuffa) and Emelianenko is the newly crowned WAMMA Heavyweight Champion, which I consider an accomplishment since he will have to defend the title against top contenders in what may be the deepest heavyweight roster in MMA, over at Affliction.

   Looking back at the last 5 fights these guys have had, they have all faced one similar opponent (Tim Sylvia), and all three have beat him:

Emelianenko (5-0) has wins over Tim Sylvia, Hong-Man Choi, Middleweight Matt Lindland, Mark Hunt, and Mark Coleman.

Nogueira (4-1) with wins over Tim Sylvia, Heath Herring, Josh Barnett, and Fabricio Werdum w/ one loss to Barnett

Couture (3-2) with wins over Gabrial Gonzaga, Tim Sylvia, and Mike Van Arsdale w/ two losses, both to Chuck Liddell.

So out of these 3 who is the real heavyweight champion of the world? All three men have beaten Tim Sylvia (1-3 in his last 4 fights w/ the only win against a guy who should be a light heavyweight (Brandon Vera). Emelianenko has beaten Nogueira, while Couture and Nogueira have never met. Couture is almost closing in on the one year mark since he last fought, while Emelianenko and Nogueira have fought twice in that same time frame. It would be unfair to not recognize Couture as a champion since he never officially lost the belt, but it’s hard to recognize a guy as a champion who has not fought in a year. Emelianenko holds two wins over Nogueira, but lately has not been fighting top competition. Nogueira looked sloppy in both his fights with Herring (where he looked finished in the 1st round) and took a pounding for two rounds before submitting Sylvia.

From my perspective, and I am a huge UFC fan, I think Emelianenko can lay claim to the claim of being the top heavyweight champion in mixed martial arts. Nogueira has looked a little sloppy his last two fights and also is 0-2 against Emelianenko. Randy Couture has not competed in over a year so we don’t know how well he could have done against a guy like Nogueira. Overall, Emelianenko holds wins over more notable heavyweights (Cro Cop in his prime (2x), Mark Hunt, Mark Coleman, Ricardo Arona, and Heath Herring) than Nogueira and Couture. He also finished Tim Sylvia quicker than either one of them (Couture dominated a 5 round unanimous decision, while Nogueira took a pounding for two plus rounds before submitting the big man).

I am sure this debate will continue until all the fighters are under the same promotion's banner. A return to the octagon by Couture, and a subsequent win over Nogueira, could eventually lead down the road to a super fight with Emelianenko. That seems unlikely to happen for now, so it seems we may be debating “Who is the undisputed heavyweight chamption” on message boards for a few more years to come.