I think Silva would still be a small favorite over Weidman in a rematch.
Hardy - just beat Top 10 Swick in a #1 contender fight, 7 fight win streak
Koscheck - just beat Top 10 Daley in a #1 contender fight, 3 fight win streak with 3 finishes
Shields - SF champ, 15 fight win streak, beat Hendo and Lawler at MW + Daley and Kampmann at WW
Condit - yes, probably GSP's best win since the 2nd Hughes fight
Diaz - coming off of a very close fight with Condit, beforehand was the SF champ with wins over BJ and Daley, 11-1 in his last 12, also he wasn't coming off of an injury layoff
No matter how you slice it, Georges has been facing superior comp of late.
Fedor dropped out of the Top 10 when he lost to Fabricio, but Anderson still is in the Top 5 even though he got brutally KTFO.
LMAO
Jones last meaningful fight was in April of 2012 when he won by decision, just like GSP has been doing. Before that, he stopped Machida in 2011. I would have Jones at 2 though but above GSP is a joke. The way GSP fights is a way to fight. People confuse being boring and being skillful. I can see why GSP wouldnt be the goat or p4p best if he was just barely edging out all of these decisions but he dominates everyone.
GSP has the better resume, and that's not debatable. That's what this is based on, not finishes or who you beat in the last couple of years. GSP proved he was number one, and until there is any evidence contrary to that, you can't speculate that Jones has surpassed him just based on recent wins.
Machida, Rashad, Rampage, and Shogun are excellent wins, but the division is very top heavy. There is no depth at all. WW has an extreme amount of depth. WW is comparable to LW in depth but with elite level guys at the top.
People are looking at the WW division with revisionist's history. Thiago Alves was red hot, Fitch was red hot, Matt Hughes was one of the most dominant fighters of all time, BJ Penn was a legend; and Nick Diaz, Carlos Condit, Josh Koscheck, and Jake Shields established themselves as elite contenders before getting title shots.
Yeah, a lot of those guys started slipping after GSP beat them, but we're seeing that with Shogun, Rashad, Rampage, and Machida too.
Jones may be the best, but that's only speculation at this point. People are getting too excited, and GSP is getting completely disrespected.
Hardy - just beat Top 10 Swick in a #1 contender fight, 7 fight win streak
Koscheck - just beat Top 10 Daley in a #1 contender fight, 3 fight win streak with 3 finishes
Shields - SF champ, 15 fight win streak, beat Hendo and Lawler at MW + Daley and Kampmann at WW
Condit - yes, probably GSP's best win since the 2nd Hughes fight
Diaz - coming off of a very close fight with Condit, beforehand was the SF champ with wins over BJ and Daley, 11-1 in his last 12, also he wasn't coming off of an injury layoff
No matter how you slice it, Georges has been facing superior comp of late.
It's subjective.
Not that that will stop 50 pages of futile arguing.