Are Today's HWs Really Better than Yesteryear's?

[NoBiasJustMMA]

The gap between Prime Jordan and Wizard Jordan ... is it one year like Crop Cop???

No ... so your comparison is invalid.

People lose their prime SLOWLY ... not overnight like CroCop did.

Stop basing your argument on Cro Cop being in his prime during the OWGP because he wasn't, he had the easiest seeding in that tournament everyone he fought was either an easy match up or was naturally a weight class below him or both.

This is also blatantly false, there are plenty of boxers that went from their prime to being washed up in 1-2 years, Mike Tyson, and RJJ are examples of guys who's primes ended quickly. Generally the guys who rely mostly on speed and reaction time tend to go down hill fast because speed and reaction time are the first things to go when you age or get worn down from years of fighting.

I just remembered another boxer who lost his prime fast, it was in 1 fight in fact Fernando Vargas's prime ended in his fight with F

 

[5H3RD0G]

More overall skill by today's fighters. Only a few complete HW's back then but they were damn good in their craft. Best sub guy in Nog, leg kicks Mirko. It would have been nice to see Mirko vs JDS or Cain vs Fedor and mix and match.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

How would Cain be able to contend with prime Cro Cop, I wonder?

Or JDS with prime Fedor?

Cain would take CroCop down and brutalize him. It is not even close.

JDS against prime Fedor seems like a great matchup.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Yeah, in particular wrestling. Coleman was second in WC in 1991, 7th in the Olpympics in 1992 and was PanAm Champion. All above 100 Kgs. Cormier was third in WC in 2007, was a olympian and won PanAm too. All at 96 Kg. Wrestlers are not "better" today then they were in 1990. Karelin from the 80ies would still kill all competition.

This however, does not apply to boxing. The so called "golden era" of HW boxing was in the 70ies. But these guys were mostly blown up cruisers. The HWs from the late 90ies up until today are fully grown HWs (Klitschko, Lewis etc).

HW MMA fighters from the golden age (late 90ies to 2006) are complete HWs like today. There is no difference in height or weight. Thus, these parameters don't count. Skillwise there is no difference among at least the TOP 20, you can even make an argument that the yesteryears HWs were better. I call it the golden age of MMA.

I don

 

[Mufasatheking]

Stop basing your argument on Cro Cop being in his prime during the OWGP because he wasn't, he had the easiest seeding in that tournament everyone he fought was either an easy match up or was naturally a weight class below him or both.

This is also blatantly false, there are plenty of boxers that went from their prime to being washed up in 1-2 years, Mike Tyson, and RJJ are examples of guys who's primes ended quickly. Generally the guys who rely mostly on speed and reaction time tend to go down hill fast because speed and reaction time are the first things to go when you age or get worn down from years of fighting.

I just remembered another boxer who lost his prime fast, it was in 1 fight in fact Fernando Vargas's prime ended in his fight with F

 

[Taric]

I don

 

[Nihilism]

Obviously. Did Mark Coleman strike like Cain does now? No. Did Cro Cop roll like Junior does now? No.

There was only one well-rounded heavyweight, and he destroyed all the rest.

 

[osudude]

The culture of weight is different now. I think a lot of LHWs today would actually be HWs from yesteryear. Given that, I think today's HWs have more top end talent but much less depth.

 

[Jew Jif Shoes]

I would say yes minus a Prime Fedor and Nog.

Today's heavies are much more well rounded then the ones in the past who only had 1-2 skill sets.

This. MMA Fighters are better on average these days than they were 8 or 10 years ago, that's pretty clear. But I don't think today's top HWs are head and shoulders above the top HWs of the past like Fedor, Nog, and Cro Cop, which is true for most other divisions. As a whole though, HW is stronger now than it's ever been.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Cain just recently said he could make 205 if he really wanted to.

He also said that he did not finished JDS because he did not wanted to.
And Bigfoot also said that he was thinking in going to LHW to fight Thiago Silva.

Fighters say stupid things.

 

[ayiio]

Not "better" but more adapted to MMA .

 

[Bargey]

How would Cain be able to contend with prime Cro Cop, I wonder?

Or JDS with prime Fedor?

With ease.

 

[Peregrine01]

Cain would take CroCop down and brutalize him. It is not even close.

Coleman, who probably had the best double leg in MMA, could not put CC on the mat. CC's TDD was exceptional and he was also excellent at keeping range on wrestlers. And even when he was put on his back, he proved to be very good defensively and difficult to control.

So it's far from a foregone conclusion that Cain would win, especially if the fight took place in a ring.

 

[Jodocus_Quak]

Cain is short but his frame is way bigger than Mirko and Fedor.

A prime and perfect example of someone exposing himself to ridicule. Fedor was short, but had huge frame. People who know their stuff usually cite Fedor as the best example of a hugely framed man, not Cain. There are pics out there of the younger Fedor that nicely display his body type. The older Fedor from 2007 and onwards did look a little bit different though.

 

[Reel Box Fen**]

JDS, Brock, Cain and all these so called "NEW BREEDS" would get exposed in a 10 minute first round.

 

[jjjjjjjjjjohnny]

I actually think Barnett and Fedor are better all around fighters than guys like cain and jds - the latter are more one dimensional, albeit, very good at it.

 

[RodrigoAldo**]

JDS and Cain beats Cro Cop and Fedor in a tag team match IMO

 

[Hans Gruber]

PRime Fedor Cro Cop and Big Nog would do fine. Fedor could be champ, but the rest of the pride hw's would get tooled.

Like Werdum, Hunt, Barnett, Overeem (mainly fought at LHW in Pride)

Those guys are still around and are doing pretty good.

Some guys like Sergei and Alexs never went to the UFC unfortunately.

 

[Tyx]

IMO the PRIDE elite would still be top three with JDS and Cain at 4 and 5...People seem to forget that Mirko with 103 fights under his belt and 35 years tagged Junior numerous times in their match,now imagine Mirko with 3x speed and reflexes,Junior wouldn't stand a chance...

 

[lapollarecords]

Coleman, who probably had the best double leg in MMA, could not put CC on the mat. CC's TDD was exceptional and he was also excellent at keeping range on wrestlers. And even when he was put on his back, he proved to be very good defensively and difficult to control.

So it's far from a foregone conclusion that Cain would win, especially if the fight took place in a ring.

Coleman moved in slow motion compared to Cain.