Fighters who would have gone down as mythical god like people if they had retired earlier..

Aldo after the Mendes rematch. At the time, there was plenty of talk about Aldo retiring after that fight. He had cleaned out the division twice over, hadn't lost in more than 10 years, seemingly didn't like the weight cut, and had declined a bit. If he walked away before the Conor fight, many of the less-informed fans would think of him differently.
 
To change a bit from other replies, had Ken Shamrock retired earlier like Bas, he would be a legend and not a joke.
 
Morris88 said:
Rogan would still be crowing about her boxing SMH.
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I forgot why I disliked Rogan a while back. It was the love affair with Ronda.

'She can f..k any dude up. She' the Mike Tyson of The Ufc.

Ok the second quote was from moonface, but they hyped the shit out of her.

I think that's why Rogan is more passive with McGregor.
 
If Fedor would have quit after smashing two former ufc champs in Affliction.
 
The answer is BJ Penn.

Silva also but I think his dropoff, in my opinoin, was actually less steep than BJ's. The BJ right before he challenged GSP, with his history, would be a GOAT candidate. But after getting his ass kicked by every UFC fighter since then, not as much.

In my mind, the later losses dont really affect the prior track record, but I'm in the vast minority there.
 
Fedor before the Werdum fight.
Rousey before the Holm fight.
Randy after his run thru the LHW elite (Chuck, Tito, Vitor)
Possibly Mark Kerr before he entered the Pride GP (Kerr was an absolute monster back in the day)
 
Most of those are good ones, but Conor would have been the biggest what could have been, particularly after the Eddie fight.
 
If Ken never came back after his WWF stint, people would praise the fuck out of him a lot more.

The UFC would be dead, but still.
 
AP_RESURRECTION said:
The answer is BJ Penn.

Silva also but I think his dropoff, in my opinoin, was actually less steep than BJ's. The BJ right before he challenged GSP, with his history, would be a GOAT candidate. But after getting his ass kicked by every UFC fighter since then, not as much.

In my mind, the later losses dont really affect the prior track record, but I'm in the vast minority there.
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I don't get the Penn one. Yes he was a great fighter but his career was very much up and down and he didn't really have a great run like most people think.
 
FlloydMayweatherMMA said:
Stop lying to yourself bro. He's still the best known martial artist ever, and one of two people to hold two titles in the world's foremost promotion at the same time. He doesn't have the aura he once did inside the cage, but a nobody? Don't be ridiculous.
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LOLOLOL.gif
 
cookdaddy said:
I don't get the Penn one. Yes he was a great fighter but his career was very much up and down and he didn't really have a great run like most people think.
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I think his ability to fight up in weight and beat Matt Hughes, not to mention be competitive with other fighters + his ability to be dominant as champ in his weight class (until Frankie) really helped. I think you had to be around at the time watching, because it may not seem that way in retrospect. But he was very much considered dominant at 155, having defended his title, plus he was just a known celebrity for having success againsst Matt Hughes, almost beating GSP (in a fight where he did more damage) etc. He was also just considered a p4p talent because he had exceptional hands and well known jiu jitsu also, so skill wise, he ranked high p4p with no huge weaknesses. Later on, his cardio weakness really started showing, to the point where he really couldnt even grapple and became a one dimensional boxer.

In retrospect, I can see how it doesnt add up. Since the Fitch fight, he's lost literally every fight. I have no idea why he decided to fight so many times at 170.
 
AP_RESURRECTION said:
I think his ability to fight up in weight and beat Matt Hughes, not to mention be competitive with other fighters + his ability to be dominant as champ in his weight class (until Frankie) really helped. I think you had to be around at the time watching, because it may not seem that way in retrospect. But he was very much considered dominant at 155, having defended his title, plus he was just a known celebrity for having success againsst Matt Hughes, almost beating GSP (in a fight where he did more damage) etc.

In retrospect, I can see how it doesnt add up.
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I was around when Penn fought, look at my join date. I have always thought Penn was slightly overrated by his fans. I mean moving up in weight is a huge accomplishment but in all honesty, he was never the best at any weight class that he fought in. GSP beat him twice (1st fight was close), Edgar 3 times (2 if you were to exclude his most recent comeback). Not to mention he lost his first title shot against Pulver.

I think Penn is a great fighter and a legend in the sport, but I just don't see anytime he could of retired early that would put him in the GOAT/mythical god category like Anderson, GSP, Fedor.
 
The answer is Fedor Emelianenko retiring after the Arlovski fight.

TheRealWill said:
If Fedor retired after pride, people would always ask what happened if he fought real competition. Now we know.
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He defeated Nogueira twice, and Nogueira went on to defeat Sylvia (interim title) and Couture (former champion); how was Nogueira, just to name one example, not real competition?

TheRealWill said:
He died Arlovski and Mur. They we're both well passed their primes but so was he. Still sad we never saw him vs The Natural.
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Both Sylvia and Arlovski were top ten fighters when Emelianenko defeated them.

milenss said:
Get your facts straight, boy.
Arlovski was the #2 HW in the World according to Sherdog back when they fought with Fedor.
It was a still sharp version of Arlovski.
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#2 on Sherdog.

#6 on FightMatrix.

#2 on BloodyElbow.
 
cookdaddy said:
I was around when Penn fought, look at my join date. I have always thought Penn was slightly overrated by his fans. I mean moving up in weight is a huge accomplishment but in all honesty, he was never the best at any weight class that he fought in. GSP beat him twice (1st fight was close), Edgar 3 times (2 if you were to exclude his most recent comeback). Not to mention he lost his first title shot against Pulver.

I think Penn is a great fighter and a legend in the sport, but I just don't see anytime he could of retired early that would put him in the GOAT/mythical god category like Anderson, GSP, Fedor.
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I might have bought into the hype a bit, maybe you're right. Who knows.
 
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