Have we hit that point in MMA...

[BobVulture]

Admittedly over the last couple years I've become a much more casual watcher of mma. But with all this Covid shit going on I've found myself getting much more into the UFC/mma in general and it really hit me that I've basically been able to see close to the entire history of modern mma.

And after watching the most recent events I can't help but wonder have we passed the golden era of mma?
For instance in boxing it's widely accepted that the 60's-70's were the golden era of heavyweights and since then it hasn't really come close to that level.

Now I'm fully willing to grant that maybe I'm focusing too much on the heavier weight classes, but have we really surpassed the quality of prime Jose Aldo, Bj Penn, GSP, Anderson Silva and Fedor?
I'll 100% say that Jon Jones is the greatest light heavyweight, if not overall mmartist, of all time. But otherwise we got Jan Blachowicz, Corey Anderson and Glover Texieria in the top 5 at LHW and JDS, Derrick Lewis, Alistair Overeem, Alexander Volkov and Alexei Oleinik in the top 10. And that doesn't even factor in how you got ancient fighters like Shogun and Werdum that are still ranked.

Am I being overly nostalgic or have we really passed the golden era of mma?

 

[eternaldarkness]

all the larger athletes realised the money is shit in mma...

 

[SteveColdStone]

Yes I think we’re years past it at this point. There’s some things about modern MMA which are better though.

 

[Pakman]

Admittedly over the last couple years I've become a much more casual watcher of mma. But with all this Covid shit going on I've found myself getting much more into the UFC/mma in general and it really hit me that I've basically been able to see close to the entire history of modern mma.

And after watching the most recent events I can't help but wonder have we passed the golden era of mma?
For instance in boxing it's widely accepted that the 60's-70's were the golden era of heavyweights and since then it hasn't really come close to that level.

Now I'm fully willing to grant that maybe I'm focusing too much on the heavier weight classes, but have we really surpassed the quality of prime Jose Aldo, Bj Penn, GSP, Anderson Silva and Fedor?
I'll 100% say that Jon Jones is the greatest light heavyweight, if not overall mmartist, of all time. But otherwise we got Jan Blachowicz, Corey Anderson and Glover Texieria in the top 5 at LHW and JDS, Derrick Lewis, Alistair Overeem, Alexander Volkov and Alexei Oleinik in the top 10. And that doesn't even factor in how you got ancient fighters like Shogun and Werdum that are still ranked.

Am I being overly nostalgic or have we really passed the golden era of mma?

the golden era lasted from like 2003-2015.

 

[Gio]

Yes TS. You have a decade old sherdog account. That means you've watched and experience the highs and lows of MMA long enough. Imo you're just being nostalgic and nothing's wrong with that.

 

[Istryker]

I feel like The best of mma Hasn’t came yet

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

I think great eras come and go. It's hard to ever replace the first flush of enthusiasm for the sport though. The growth of the UFC and especially Pride were kinda gnarly but amazing and impossible to reproduce. So yeah, the golden age came and went and was pretty damn golden all things considered.

That said, I think the sport as a whole will go through ups and downs, and of course various orgs or even specific divisions will all have their highs and lows. One of the thing that made Pride so great was how many good HWs and LHWs they had. There's no doubt that everything under WW is better now though. The top guys from the past few decades might still be top guys now, but the overall talent pool is so much deeper.

Personally, my interest comes and goes as well, but 2020 has been a fantastic year for MMA imo.

 

[TheAmericanGazelle]

I don' think there is much question the lighter and more average weight divisions have gotten better over time, both in terms of the average fighters and "upper-tier" fighters. Of course, ultra-anomalies like GSP or Anderson or Fedor would be successful in this era, but I think if you matched up the top 20 or so from each of the divisions MW downwards against their "golden era" counterparts, the modern era would have a decisive advantage.

LHW and HW are probably a different story, although I think HW is slightly exaggeration as a result of people confusing versatility with effectiveness. Guys like Francis or Lewis don't have much offensive versatility but are generally devastatingly effective with the tools they do have.

More generally, I'm more interested in average and typical performance than superstar performance when evaluating eras and divisions, as I think that is where the so-called "evolution" is most likely to be seen. I also think people will have a natural bias for the era when they became fans of the sport. For most of us (probably), that time was outside this era and closer or maybe in the middle of the "golden era".

 

[ShreddinMMA]

Modern MMA sees more consistently skilled fighters across weight classes.

Some of the GOATs could compete. Others couldn't. Depends on which fighters we're comparing.

Liddell in modern LHW? Tough. Not beating Jones.

Hughes at WW? Yeah, I'd pick him over plenty of current WWs.

 

[McSpikes]

I'm not fooled, this is just a thinly veiled " ufc is dying" thread

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Golden era ended over 7 years ago

 

[MMAudit]

Once Conor entered it really became shit

 

[Jose Beehive]

I'm not fooled, this is just a thinly veiled " ufc is dying" thread

Yeah I don't think so..Heavyweight is definitely worse than it has been in the past but don't think any of the other divisions are personally.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

I don' think there is much question the lighter and more average weight divisions have gotten better over time, both in terms of the average fighters and "upper-tier" fighters. Of course, ultra-anomalies like GSP or Anderson or Fedor would be successful in this era, but I think if you matched up the top 20 or so from each of the divisions MW downwards against their "golden era" counterparts, the modern era would have a decisive advantage.

LHW and HW are probably a different story, although I think HW is slightly exaggeration as a result of people confusing versatility with effectiveness. Guys like Francis or Lewis don't have much offensive versatility but are generally devastatingly effective with the tools they do have.

More generally, I'm more interested in average and typical performance than superstar performance when evaluating eras and divisions, as I think that is where the so-called "evolution" is most likely to be seen. I also think people will have a natural bias for the era when they became fans of the sport. For most of us (probably), that time was outside this era and closer or maybe in the middle of the "golden era".

You make a number of good points here, but I'd like to emphasize the highlighted one. I think every fan goes through a MMA fandom crisis when a critical mass of the fighters they started out rooting for either decline or retire. I used to back individual fighters more, but my favorite guys are mostly retired. Now, I still have a few favorites but mostly I just enjoy fights. But I've seen plenty of fans on these forums get frustrated and leave when all their old faves left the sport.

 

[Feardafighta1126]

not even comparable. There are so many shallow divisions right now.

lhw, hw

are paper thin.

gone are the days of Brock Lesnar, overeem, jds, Cain Velasquez. All we have now are geriatrics and senior citizens.

lhw is even more thin. Golden era had shogun, Jones, machida, rampage. All legends.

Modern lhw we have Anthony Smith, Jan Blackowiz, Dominick Reyes.... incomparable

 

[Cylence]

Peaks and valleys. We have some good weight classes now like lightweight and bantamweight. Things will turn up again for heavyweight and light heavyweight, it happens in different weight classes in boxing too. Like you said, the 70's are widely accepted as the gold standard for heavyweights in boxing, while the 80's kind of sucked in comparison. However, the 90's are nothing to scoff at. That was a great time for the heavyweights again.

Just gotta wait it out.

 

[TR1]

LHW and HW have been trash for years, this is nothign new.

 

[kingghidrah]

we're in the USADA era. We're seeing what real humans can do instead of rocket-boosted humans, and it's way more fair to the honest fighters but less interesting to watch.

I mean look at MLB, everyone loved McGuire vs. Sosa but that shit wasn't real.

 

[cade187]

This was the golden era:



5 Undisputed divisional goats as current champs, and Frankie is in the conversation for LW goat.

 

[TR1]

Liddell in modern LHW? Tough. Not beating Jones.
.

Actually Liddell would do well in LHW today, easily so IMO.

Sure, take aside the one roided outlier Jones, and who do we have left?

The top 10 has guys like Corey Anderson, Santos, A-Smith, Volkan, Krylov in it, Jan in it. Old man Texiera is up there, hell even Reyes has a handful of top wins.

Chuck was more accomplished than all of them. Not saying he was a lock against all of them, but he certainly had more top wins.