How would the top 2000s LWs fair vs today’s division?

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Specially 2002-2006 fighters like Bj Penn, Takanori Gomi, Hayato Sakurai, Joachim Hansen, Yves Edwards, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Marcus Aurelio, Jens Pulver, Clay guida, Josh Thomson and Caol Uno
Doesn’t have to be just against UFC fighters either.
 
Juicy Jon said:
Skill wise they would do fine, the main issue would be new gen LWs having 15-20lbs+ on the old gen come fight night.
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Yeah, that's an issue. BJ is really the only of those listed of similar size to the guys now, and even then he'd be more suited to FW today.
 
Clay Guida wasn't a top LW

I think Jens might be too small, same with Caol Uno, but Uno was amazing at getting the fight to the ground when he was younger. Kawajiri could contend for a title as long as it wasn't Penn or Gomi at the top. Those two in their prime are just nightmare match ups.
 
Boss HM-2 said:
Clay Guida wasn't a top LW
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His fights with Pettis, Maynard and other elite LWs say otherwise. Probably a top 15 LW who maybe flirts with top 10 depending on the matchup
 
Half would cut down to 145, and they’re going to struggle with people being more well rounded than before and with new fads and crazes like calf kicks and leg locks being utilised by more people, and people being familiar with more aspects of the game.

Individual attributes will be a deciding factor in their success against modern guys, plus catching up with modern forms of strength and conditioning. The ones who will succeed the most are the ones who would adapt to the current meta of MMA the best.
 
BJ and Gomi would be unranked or swimming around the 15th

The game has evolved, and current LW is ridiculous... I'd argue the top 15 are just as dangerous as the Top 5 guys, if not more.
 
Gomi had the power to put mostly anyone out and one of the best chins ever
BJ's jiu jitsu ability was ahead of it's time in the sport
Sakurai was well rounded and explosive
I think any of these 3 would be top 10 today, and maybe even Joachim Hansen too, he had some brilliant wins/wars
 
Al-Musoroah said:
Hell no. We are talking about the year 2000 mate. You think the skilllevel is still the same? Hell no! The old guys would all get annihilated.
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Those fighters are all extremely well rounded . So yes the only issue would be the weight they give on the current crop of lightweights.

Gaethje is tailor made for Gomi. Gomi takes his head off or stops him with body shots.

Bj excellent Bjj and striking . He’d definitely give guys a lot of problems.

Sakurai and Kawjiri are excellent rounded grapples with solid stand up .
 
Heelhook71 said:
Those fighters are all extremely well rounded . So yes the only issue would be the weight they give on the current crop of lightweights.

Gaethje is tailor made for Gomi. Gomi takes his head off or stops him with body shots.

Bj excellent Bjj and striking . He’d definitely give guys a lot of problems.

Sakurai and Kawjiri are excellent rounded grapples with solid stand up .
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Theres levels to this mate. We agree to disagree.
 
UkraineFreightTrain said:
Gomi had the power to put mostly anyone out and one of the best chins ever
BJ's jiu jitsu ability was ahead of it's time in the sport
Sakurai was well rounded and explosive
I think any of these 3 would be top 10 today, and maybe even Joachim Hansen too, he had some brilliant wins/wars
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Gomi, Hansen, and BJ would be feathers. Sakurai an exciting lw who would get beat by wrestlers but beat strikers maybe
 
Gomi is one of my absolute favourite fighters of all time, but I think the game has evolved past him now. We can say with some degree of fairness that MMA might not have evolved drastically with HW's, but in weight classes like LW and below it's night and day compared to 20 years ago.

Prime Gomi would be in massive trouble against someone like Gamrot.
 
BJ would be lw champ. Ww champ too.
 
Epicman1324 said:
Yeah, that's an issue. BJ is really the only of those listed of similar size to the guys now, and even then he'd be more suited to FW today.
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I'm guessing it depends on how you transport those athletes across time. If you bring them to a modern fight camp, with modern coaches, I think they'd do ok. Otherwise it wouldn't be a fair fight.
 
Marco Tropoja said:
I'm guessing it depends on how you transport those athletes across time. If you bring them to a modern fight camp, with modern coaches, I think they'd do ok. Otherwise it wouldn't be a fair fight.
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Somebody get Marco some likes :eek:
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That 0 is painful for such a nice poster :mad:
(I would but I'm tapped out and I can't give any) :confused:
 
Kawajiri was a more skilled wrestler than most of the current LW roster today.

He's the size of most bantamweights though which would be his disadvantage.
 
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