Are Stipe's opponents "that" impressive in retrospect.

You can't judge HWs the same way you judge smaller fighters. No he isn't some hyper skilled DJ type fighter. What he is, is the unquestioned best HW of the current era. He's 35 years old himself, it's not like this is some young cat coming up and catching all these out of prime fighters.

The Werdum he beat was fresh off the best performance of his entire storied career. The Overeem he fought had just crane kicked Arlovski's head off and KO'd JDS. Francis was on an incredible KO streak. I'll give you JDS wasn't at his best but Stipe also fought JDS at his best before Stipe was at his best and almost beat him then too. Hunt and Arlovski are still pretty good fighters and Stipe absolutely destroyed both of them, neither guy got in even a bit of offence against him

You can't just write the guy off because the guys he's beating has holes, because they always had these holes and yet there wasn't anyone else running through all of them

You can only beat the fighters in front of you and Stipe is beating them all and doing it by either first round KO, or 5 round destruction. What more are you looking for here?

What wrestler should he have fought? Brock is suspended, Cain is hurt, Blaydes got smashed by Ngannou and DC dropped because he loves Cain. And he's about to fight one now and probably another in his next fight if he wins (Blaydes or Brock). And yet, if he does, all we'll probably hear about is how he beat a LHW and a washed up (Brock) or green (Blaydes) fighter
He's 35 years old himself
I love this argument.

The guy has been fighting for 8 years. You want to compare that to dos Santos who has been fighting 12 years and has been through some of the worst wars you'll see inside the cage? or Overeem, or Hunt, or Arlovski, or Werdum? Who've had 20 years worth of combat competition? This is simply a bad argument.
 
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I'm shocked that you would jump into a Stipe hate thread

Shocked

Stipe fought JDS pre-USADA and when he was still good and lost a close decision and a great fight

They fought again when JDS was declined and Stipe murdered him
It´s coz you´re clueless on 2 levels:

1st, I´ve always said, even in this thread, that he is :

> a Modern Larry Holmes, legacy-wise (considering Holmes was an ATG)

> technically, in Pride would have been in a Sergei situation (Sergei was great and an underachiever).

2nd: no, the 1st JDS was not that close, it was realistically close during 2.5 rounds b4 Miocis started gassing.

No way Miocic could have won Rd 3-4-5. The fact that u can even entertain the idea that he could have won this fight is ridiculous, Im afraid...
 
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I'm shocked that you would jump into a Stipe hate thread

Shocked

Stipe fought JDS pre-USADA and when he was still good and lost a close decision and a great fight

They fought again when JDS was declined and Stipe murdered him
JDS has never been the same since Cain, and you know it.
 
lol. Never gets old seeing people shit on and diminish what great fighters have accomplished.

Before Francis, Stipe was riding a 5 fight KO streak. He put on an impressive win of arguably the most dangerous guy in the division. He only lost to struve, who he would absolutely rape today, and JDS. And he avenged thatt loss to JDS

Stipe> Cain
 
So you're basically confirming that there is absolutely nothing Stipe could do that would make you respect his accomplishments and acknowledge how good he is
I believe that he needs to beat some fresher guys, maybe DC, Jones, Blaydes, Volkov.

That would be a little more like it. He has a great resume, but to rival Fedor he needs some Nog/Cro Cop type of opponents. Guys in their prime, skilled in more than one facet, and with a chin.
 
lol. Never gets old seeing people shit on and diminish what great fighters have accomplished.

Before Francis, Stipe was riding a 5 fight KO streak. He put on an impressive win of arguably the most dangerous guy in the division. He only lost to struve, who he would absolutely rape today, and JDS. And he avenged thatt loss to JDS

Stipe> Cain
Blaydes KO'd Overeem, Volkov KO'd Werdum.

It's really not that impressive anymore. These guys are finished.
 
It´s coz you´re clueless on 2 levels:

1st, I always said, even in this thread, that he was :

> a Modern Larry Holmes, legacy-wise (considering Holmes was an ATG)

> technically, in Pride would have been in a Sergei situation (Sergei was great and an underachiever).

2nd: no, the 1st JDS was not that close, it was realistically close during 2.5 rounds b4 Miocis started gassing.

No way Miocic could have won Rd 3-4-5. The fact that u can even entertain the idea that he could have won this fight is ridiculous, Im afraid...

I agree with the Larry Holmes comparison actually although he is much better than Sergei. He's not Fedor, but he's clearly the best of his era and wildly under-appreciated

Second, I didn't say he could have won I said he almost won. As in took 2 of 5 rounds and nearly took a 3rd. Which is a fact and something that happened.
 
Is there a difference between "the rest of the division sucks" and "significantly better than your peers"?
 
I believe that he needs to beat some fresher guys, maybe DC, Jones, Blaydes, Volkov.

If he beats DC I see him doing a freakshow with Lesnar and in 2019 maybe one more defense against one of those three you listed and then retire. Volkov and Blaydes have the potential to evolve to real threats for Stipe because he himself is 36.
 
I agree with the Larry Holmes comparison actually although he is much better than Sergei. He's not Fedor, but he's clearly the best of his era and wildly under-appreciated

Second, I didn't say he could have won I said he almost won. As in took 2 of 5 rounds and nearly took a 3rd. Which is a fact and something that happened.
There are similiarities btw Stipe´s & Sergei´s game...

He didnt almost win, 1st 2 Rds were close, the last 3 he was out.
 
Heavyweight only seems like a trash division because they all have brutal knock out power and lighter gloves than boxing, it is a tough tough division to fight in. I think the reason fresh new talent finds it tough is because it is such an unforgiving division when you make mistakes, why even the guys doing well in it are old enough, Stipe himself being 35.

Simple fact is none of these fighters in the other divisions , apart from LHW, would last against any of them (remember DC was a heavyweight), also LHW also isn't very strong, Sam Alvey seems to be proving that,
 
I believe that he needs to beat some fresher guys, maybe DC, Jones, Blaydes, Volkov.

That would be a little more like it. He has a great resume, but to rival Fedor he needs some Nog/Cro Cop type of opponents. Guys in their prime, skilled in more than one facet, and with a chin.

Why does he have to rival Fedor? If you aren't the greatest HW of all time you aren't impressive?

His resume is better than any other modern HW. He's earned his spot in history and the respect that comes with it. He doesn't need to be better than Fedor to warrant that

You want him to defend a title that has only been defended twice 7 times in order to impress you? Come on now

Blaydes lost to Ngannou, Volkov lost to fucking Kongo only 3 years ago. These guys aren't as good as the people Stipe has already fought
 
I believe that he needs to beat some fresher guys, maybe DC, Jones, Blaydes, Volkov.

That would be a little more like it. He has a great resume, but to rival Fedor he needs some Nog/Cro Cop type of opponents. Guys in their prime, skilled in more than one facet, and with a chin.
He needs to beat LHWs and young, unproven guys to impress you ? Ughhh
 
Why does he have to rival Fedor? If you aren't the greatest HW of all time you aren't impressive?

His resume is better than any other modern HW. He's earned his spot in history and the respect that comes with it. He doesn't need to be better than Fedor to warrant that

You want him to defend a title that has only been defended twice 7 times in order to impress you? Come on now

Blaydes lost to Ngannou, Volkov lost to fucking Kongo only 3 years ago. These guys aren't as good as the people Stipe has already fought
Blaydes is definitely better than Ngannou. Volkov is better than Werdum.
 
This thread is going to be invaded by FinalSay or whatever his name is. Guy with the scream mask profile picture. Dude has a serious Stipe hard on.lol
 
Any way you slice it, the HW champ is the baddest man in MMA.
 
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