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Let's say that it started with Royce, regardless of how bad his stand up game was.
Then ,of course it would be easy to see that it was Sakuraba who sort of received that title of the complete fighter, him being a wrestler, and was slick from the bottom position as well and could do anything, a wrestler who could do it all.
Obviously, there are millions of wrestlers who came into MMA and achieved considerable successes, but to think of someone who came later and was a wrestler and was good off his back, I'm not really sure if there ever was a wrestler who could do it all like Sakuraba. I am sure I obviously thought about whoever you may come up with, but their bottom games probably we didn't see much, or just as good.
Then, came the BJJ guy who could do it all, BJ PENN obviously, and Fedor....Judo/Sambo background, and Shogun.......
Personally, in this era, I really still like Weidman. He is a strong wrestler, good stand up game, and good bjj game. He can do it all, and unfortunately, Weidman came out at a wrong time, when Silva was able to dominate in the weakest division of all time, even weaker than heavyweight division with Tim as a champion, he is competing at the toughest division, possibly of all time, comparable to the lightheavyweight division in the past, and also guys like Mousasi, Jacare and Rockhold are type of fighters who can pretty much do it all.
And Jose Aldo. He can do it all as well, comes from a strong BJJ background, can take guys down, can hang with anyone on the feet, etc.
Thing is, when it comes to being complete, I want someone who can do it all, do as well off his back as he can on the stand up and taking guys down. You could come up with guys like Jon Jones, Gus, GSP, MM, Edgar, but I don't think we have seen their skill sets enough to really say that they are as complete as some, just because they are so dominant with their other skill sets.
I don't think it's a bad list to say something like
Royce - Sakuraba- BJ Penn/Fedor/Shogun in 2005 - Aldo - Weidman/Mousasi/Rockhold/Jacare
Then ,of course it would be easy to see that it was Sakuraba who sort of received that title of the complete fighter, him being a wrestler, and was slick from the bottom position as well and could do anything, a wrestler who could do it all.
Obviously, there are millions of wrestlers who came into MMA and achieved considerable successes, but to think of someone who came later and was a wrestler and was good off his back, I'm not really sure if there ever was a wrestler who could do it all like Sakuraba. I am sure I obviously thought about whoever you may come up with, but their bottom games probably we didn't see much, or just as good.
Then, came the BJJ guy who could do it all, BJ PENN obviously, and Fedor....Judo/Sambo background, and Shogun.......
Personally, in this era, I really still like Weidman. He is a strong wrestler, good stand up game, and good bjj game. He can do it all, and unfortunately, Weidman came out at a wrong time, when Silva was able to dominate in the weakest division of all time, even weaker than heavyweight division with Tim as a champion, he is competing at the toughest division, possibly of all time, comparable to the lightheavyweight division in the past, and also guys like Mousasi, Jacare and Rockhold are type of fighters who can pretty much do it all.
And Jose Aldo. He can do it all as well, comes from a strong BJJ background, can take guys down, can hang with anyone on the feet, etc.
Thing is, when it comes to being complete, I want someone who can do it all, do as well off his back as he can on the stand up and taking guys down. You could come up with guys like Jon Jones, Gus, GSP, MM, Edgar, but I don't think we have seen their skill sets enough to really say that they are as complete as some, just because they are so dominant with their other skill sets.
I don't think it's a bad list to say something like
Royce - Sakuraba- BJ Penn/Fedor/Shogun in 2005 - Aldo - Weidman/Mousasi/Rockhold/Jacare
