Hendo wasn't 'an Olympic level wrestler' since the 90's. There's a reason the word 'Hendonitis' means a wrestler that falls in love with the hands and forgets how to grapple. I mean, the guy was badly outwrestled by welterweight Jake Shields and even got out wrestled by Shogun. He is a Leben type sprawl and brawler that tucks his chin, goes forward and throws blindly: a sniper like Andy, a guy that can strike off the rear is tailor made for that style.
Admittedly at the time, I don't think we knew enough about Andy and thought Dan would resemble his former Pride self, and tho it took him a while to find his step again, I also liked his chances more in that fight.
Again "16-0" means little when you are fighting the likes of Leben, Cote, Leites, Bonnar, Irvin, TRT less Vitor, Lutter, Xanaxed out Forrest, etc. Ronda was 12-0, also had amazing finishes, was also hyped by Zuffa and also feasted on unready or over matched opponents until she fought her first new breed fighter. Heck, Julio Cesar Neves was an amazing 30-0, but he got his ass whipped when he fought remotely decent competetion - not that I'm saying Andy is Julio Cesar Neves, record just means little when the opposition is weak. Yoel, Chris, Luke, K-Gas, Jacare and Luke have all lost, but that caliber of elite opponent is something Andy never regularly faced - and it's also the sign of a healthily developed elite top tier of a division.
With Andy taking roids, PED's and HGH, he was like the fountain of youth and got better as he aged, just like TRiTor, so I don't buy this "Andy was over the hill when he fought Teh Chris"; for I actually think the Andy that got KO'd would have beaten the Andy that beat Vitor. He was the best MW for a time, just like Royce was, no doubt, but as soon as the game evolved (which was much to his raising the bar), and as soon as he simply fought a new breed of larger athletic & complete fighter, he did not seem so invincible anymore - just like Ronda, Tyson and other over hyped fighters.
The Andy Nostalgia is strong here and I get that. Emotion clouds judgement, especially when it concerns a hero of ours, but it does not change the fact that these new breed of fighters would beat even the best version of Andy. I think the GOAT is Fedor, but I also have the frame of mind to acknowledge that these new breed heavyweights would chew him up and spit him up; everything is relative to it's time and this sport has advanced tremendously, and is a place where the slow unathletic white sprawl and brawl guys that reigned supreme can no longer cut it at the elite levels - just as a one dimensional counter striker like Andy could not hang with an incredibly athletic, explosive and well rounded guy like Yoel.
