All Time GOAT poll

[Daniel Rosenke]

I'm surprised Jones didn't garner more votes here.
People have a tendency to question the legacies/skill of fighters because of PEDs... I would venture a(n) (educated) guess that most or all of the guys on that list were, at some point, doing the same thing. So really, it's the fact that he's had a doping sanction. I think at this point the presumption of innocence is out the window, given the numbers of guys who have tested hot in the USADA era.
But... as a Canadian, I can't argue with GSP as the GOAT. But lest we forget, there were doping suspicions swirling around GSP in the lead-up to the Hendricks fight (see emails between VADA and GSP's camp).

 

[Typrune Goatley]

Also never tested positive AND didnt have embarssing losses like Anderson and Fedor. Okay maybe Sera was a crap loss but he avenged it

So Anderson and Fedor have embarrassing losses but GSP doesn't? I would actually say his two losses were far more "embarassing" than any of Anderson and Fedor's. Everyone has losses if they fight long enough.

GSP has LESS losses than them because he has way less fights than them. He also retired at 32 and only came back for one more fight against a 38 year old one eyed Bisping. Fedor and Anderson fought into their 40's. You really can't hold their late career losses against them. They are warriors and will never quit. They didn't quit the sport at 32 like GSP did.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

He avenged those losses brutally

True but his losses also happened right in the middle of his prime. He was still young enough and prime enough to avenge those losses. First off, he should have never lost to Serra in the first place. In his rematch with Hughes, Hughes was already slowing down and already had like 45 fights by that point too.

Fedor didn't lose for the first 10 years of his career. He had no losses to avenge.

Anderson lost a couple of fights in PRIDE because his grappling was still raw, but then he switched camps to Brazilian Top Team and earned his black belt from the Nog bros. Anderson's ground game improved 100x and he used that to win quite a few fights in his epic UFC run.

 

[crodor3]

I would go Fedor, the biggest reason being he never cut weight and routinely fought guys who were much bigger than him. In this day and age Fedor would cut to lhw but he took on all comers and won every fight he had for ten years. That is insane at HW where one punch can put your lights out very easily.

 

[ThunderStruck]

So Anderson and Fedor have embarrassing losses but GSP doesn't? I would actually say his two losses were far more "embarassing" than any of Anderson and Fedor's. Everyone has losses if they fight long enough.

GSP has LESS losses than them because he has way less fights than them. He also retired at 32 and only came back for one more fight against a 38 year old one eyed Bisping. Fedor and Anderson fought into their 40's. You really can't hold their late career losses against them. They are warriors and will never quit. They didn't quit the sport at 32 like GSP did.

Serra loss is embarassing but you can't hold the Hughes loss against GSP. He was fighting the top 2 p4p in mma in his 8th pro fight at 23 years old. Even the serra loss was young at 25 years old.

Also Fedor and Silva fought into their 40s yeah and i don't hold that against them, but they lost many times before that.

And the number of fights doesn't matter when you're not fighting top guys all the time. GSP has more top 5 wins than anyone else in mma, by far.

#1 GSP
#2 Fedor
#3 Rest

 

[Typrune Goatley]

Fedor's record
Before age 33: 30-1-1
After turning 33: 9-5

Anderson's record
Before age 33: 20-4
After turning 33: 14-6-1

GSP's record
Before age 33: 25-2
After turning 33: 1-0

 

[ThunderStruck]

Fedor's record
Before age 33: 30-1-1
After turning 33: 9-5

Anderson's record
Before age 33: 20-4
After turning 33: 14-6-1

GSP's record
Before age 33: 25-2
After turning 33: 1-0

GSP wins. When GSP was 33 he had more top 5 wins than both Silva and Fedor combined.

 

[BFoe]

He avenged those losses brutally

Fedor has never been given the opportunity to avenge any legitimate loss. He did get to rematch TK in PRIDE, but TK was never a legit loss anyhow.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

GSP wins. When GSP was 33 he had more top 5 wins than both Silva and Fedor combined.

Nah. I am more impressed with the careers of Fedor and Anderson.

Welterweight was a screwy division with rankings. Serra is a top 5 win for GSP only because GSP lost to him the first time? What about Hardy? LW champ Penn? Diaz who came off a loss? Koscheck 2x? Fitch? Are those top 5 wins? They were all good fighters but would not be top 5 in the world in any other division.

GSP's wins are not any better than Fedor and Anderson's. They all beat about the same amount of ranked opponents for each division. I would say Fedor and Anderson fought more skilled fighters and more dangerous finishers than GSP did as well.

Fedor and Anderson also had longer title reigns. They also had far more finishes.

 

[Intellidamus]

True but his losses also happened right in the middle of his prime. He was still young enough and prime enough to avenge those losses. First off, he should have never lost to Serra in the first place. In his rematch with Hughes, Hughes was already slowing down and already had like 45 fights by that point too.

Fedor didn't lose for the first 10 years of his career. He had no losses to avenge.

Anderson lost a couple of fights in PRIDE because his grappling was still raw, but then he switched camps to Brazilian Top Team and earned his black belt from the Nog bros. Anderson's ground game improved 100x and he used that to win quite a few fights in his epic UFC run.

The Hughes fight wasn’t his prime and I’d say the Serra fight was at the very beginning, if at all.

 

[ThunderStruck]

Nah. I am more impressed with the careers of Fedor and Anderson.

Welterweight was a screwy division with rankings. Serra is a top 5 win for GSP only because GSP lost to him the first time? What about Hardy? LW champ Penn? Diaz who came off a loss? Koscheck 2x? Fitch? Are those top 5 wins? They were all good fighters but would not be top 5 in the world in any other division.

GSP's wins are not any better than Fedor and Anderson's. They all beat about the same amount of ranked opponents for each division. I would say Fedor and Anderson fought more skilled fighters and more dangerous finishers than GSP did as well.

Fedor and Anderson also had longer title reigns. They also had far more finishes.

How biased can you get?

LW champ penn? You mean top 3 p4p Penn?
Diaz who came off a loss? An heavily contested split decision loss against Condit which made him 15-1 in his last 16.
Koscheck was an absolute animal in his prime, same for Fitch.
You also forgot Shields, Alves (who were both ranked top 10 p4p, know your history dummy)

You idiot needs to realize that in the most competive divisions its much harder to stay ranked for a long period of time. So yeah Kos Shields Fitch all slacked down, just like everyone at WW for the history of the sport except GSP and Hughes. Theyre the only two who stayed at the top for 8+ years.

This is way more impressive than fighting in the HW division when the average top 10 is like 38 years old due to the lack of competition.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

How biased can you get?

LW champ penn? You mean top 3 p4p Penn?
Diaz who came off a loss? An heavily contested split decision loss against Condit which made him 15-1 in his last 16.
Koscheck was an absolute animal in his prime, same for Fitch.
You also forgot Shields, Alves (who were both ranked top 10 p4p, know your history dummy)

You idiot needs to realize that in the most competive divisions its much harder to stay ranked for a long period of time. So yeah Kos Shields Fitch all slacked down, just like everyone at WW for the history of the sport except GSP and Hughes. Theyre the only two who stayed at the top for 8+ years.

This is way more impressive than fighting in the HW division when the average top 10 is like 38 years old due to the lack of competition.

Heavyweight wasn't always full of old men. It has been that way for about 5 or 6 years now.

In the 2000s all the best HWs were in their 20s and early 30s.

 

[ThunderStruck]

Heavyweight wasn't always full of old men. It has been that way for about 5 or 6 years now.

In the 2000s all the best HWs were in their 20s and early 30s.

If Fedor fought them all, he would have much more top 5 wins than he has.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

If Fedor fought them all, he would have much more top 5 wins than he has.

If you followed Fedor's career, you would know he fought just about all of the elite HWs of his time and tried to fight the few he didn't. The top 5 for most of the 2000s consisted of Fedor himself, Nog, Cro Cop, Barnett and whoever held the UFC belt at the time (Sylvia or Randy, Ricco, Arlovski or Mir) We know he tried to fight Randy but UFC fought it in court and wouldn't allow it. Fedor tried to fight Barnett but Barnett pissed dirty. Fedor fought everyone he could. Even when he was already world champion, he entered a Heavyweight tournament with all the best Heavyweights in the world, risked it all, and won it all and became Champ Champ.

Spoiler

that wasn't the first time either. He was also Champ Champ in RINGS

 

[ferrisjso]

Prove me wrong!

RINGS King of King champ(beat Big Nog who won the next King of Kings and Pride HW title)
Snapped Wandy's streak
KO'd Fedor
Was Pride and Strikeforce LHW champ
Won Pride MW GP
Didn't actually lose to Jones though he probably would have cause their fight was cancelled, plausible deniability
Was UFC 17 LHW tournament champ
Fought Rampage, Machida, Evans and Shogun all of them were competitive decisions that he mostly lost because of his reliance on one punch.
Beat prime Vitor

 

[chitoortiz]

And I love Hendo, but don't be silly.

 

[Goodfella86]

I'm a huge Hendo fan, and he's got so much there that people can claim him a goat. But I don't think he's in that top echelon with those guys. That's reserved for guys with long reigns of dominance at the top of a division.

 

[faustian]

I love Hendo but he never had the run of sustained dominance that the consensus GOAT contenders have. It's kinda similar to Werdum who despite an ATG hitlist was never able to put together an extended championship reign

 

[billharford]

He bodied Bisping in epic fashion. You'll never hear me say anything against the guy

 

[GrantB13]

You included 4 loses as evidence that he could be the GOAT. Competitive or not, that's not how it works.