Male Champs Can’t Go on Long Reigns Anymore

Gabe

Gabe

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Only Jones and Khabib have defended their title more than once. Why aren’t we seeing long reigning champions like we once did?
 
Because the skill level is higher. Its not one good dude in a division of cans anymore.
 
Steroids. On it, it was easier for people on top to stay on top, not to mention once they are at the top they get the best PEDs.
 
Gabe said:
Only Jones and Khabib have defended their title more than once. Why aren’t we seeing long reigning champions like we once did?
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Well woodley, Stipe, Holloway, tj and dj all lost belts this year. All of whom had significant runs. I think it’s just been a year where we see some new guys like usman, volk, and cejudo step up.
 
Holloway defended it three times

Stipe had the longest reign in UFC hw history and just got the belt back
 
Evolution of fighters bud. Back in the day we had 1 guy per division who had it figured out better than everyone else due to having a stand out gym for training.

Now everyone is training at a high level. Not just a couple of stand out gyms.

Some folks will swear evolution doesnt exist in mma. They are wrong.
 
I have a feeling Usman and Volkanovski will be champions for a while.
 
Your claims is not backed up by facts. Excepts Aldo, GSP, Silva and Jones there hasn't been any long reigns
 
Gabe said:
Only Jones and Khabib have defended their title more than once. Why aren’t we seeing long reigning champions like we once did?
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cause there are some of the best fighters in the world fighting for the belts and sometimes the champ loses.
 
Because getting many title defenses is special lmao. Is that hard to understand? What you're asking is, in the past we flipped a coin and got heads 10 times in a row, we haven't got that lately, did our coin change or something? Those people were special and not something that just happens all the time. The idea that the competition got better is hilarious.
 
I think the overall level is better but it's also true that reigns like those of St-Pierre, Silva, Jones, Khabib are just rare.
Another thing is, that it depends hugely on the fighting-style of the champion; someone who's 99% of the time on the fight is more likely to get knocked out than somebody who (normally) uses his wrestling as much as Kamaru Usman for example.
 
Ironnik94 said:
I think the overall level is better but it's also true that reigns like those of St-Pierre, Silva, Jones, Khabib are just rare.
Another thing is, that it depends hugely on the fighting-style of the champion; someone who's 99% of the time on the fight is more likely to get knocked out than somebody who (normally) uses his wrestling as much as Kamaru Usman for example.
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How many title defences has Khabib? Two? Lol. Woodley had more.
 
kuka45 said:
How many title defences has Khabib? Two? Lol. Woodley had more.
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True, but title-defenses aren't everything.
A fighter who beats everybody in a super stacked division but only has two title-defenses can be a better fighter to me than someone who has a few more title-defenses and while losses aren't everything, Khabib is still undefeated - something which Woodley couldn't even say before beating Usman. Now sure, a lot of Khabibs very early fights were against subpar opponents, but with the exception of the Tibau-fight, he dominated literally every opponent from bell to bell.
Anways: what did you want to tell me with your statement comparing Khabib and Woodley? I'm still a bit confused about it...
 
Slatersan said:
Because the skill level is higher. Its not one good dude in a division of cans anymore.
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This is the correct answer. And the fact that Khabib is being so dominant in the deepest division in MMA history is what's setting him up for potential GOAT status with a few more wins.
 
Gabe said:
Only Jones and Khabib have defended their title more than once. Why aren’t we seeing long reigning champions like we once did?
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Partly because previous champions got title shots much more quickly back in the day. For example, GSP received his title shot after his 2nd fight in the UFC i.e. his 3rd fight for the UFC was a title shot. In comparison, fighters today are going 7-0 without ever sniffing a title fight. By the time they get a title shot, they are burned out.

This is why I no longer consider title defenses as metric for ranking fighters. I only look at consecutive wins in the UFC. This way I get rid of the UFC bias of rewarding title shots.
 
If anything I think it's just that it was a numerical miracle that we had Aldo, Jones, GSP, Silva, Cain, Cruz, etc all in the same timeframe. I would think it's more likely that fighters trade belts and then every now and then we get someone who can hold a long defense streak.
 
Ironnik94 said:
True, but title-defenses aren't everything.
A fighter who beats everybody in a super stacked division but only has two title-defenses can be a better fighter to me than someone who has a few more title-defenses and while losses aren't everything, Khabib is still undefeated - something which Woodley couldn't even say before beating Usman. Now sure, a lot of Khabibs very early fights were against subpar opponents, but with the exception of the Tibau-fight, he dominated literally every opponent from bell to bell.
Anways: what did you want to tell me with your statement comparing Khabib and Woodley? I'm still a bit confused about it...
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Title reign is most important. Undeafted record is just gimmick, good for boxing fans.
 
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