I love Lyoto but Machida belonged in MW and was 43 when Bader beat him. Kongo was 47. Bader also got KO'd by Corey Anderson and pretty much everyone else decent who wasn't middle-aged. Moldavsky is a flop. Renan is a big guy who hits hard like Derrick Lewis. Delija and Ngannou (who lost to Lewis) exposed Renan big time.
The rest of your post was equally asinine. Randleman wasn't too old when he went to Pride. He was around 30-31 and as athletic as ever. He just had a very limited Hammer House skillset and poor Fight IQ. And no, the 1996 Randleman (who was annihilated by Tom Erickson) wouldn't dominate the UFC either. He'd fight someone like Valter and get heel hooked (Randleman had no submission defense) and not even make it to the contender level. And 200-pound Bas wouldn't be destroying Aspinall and Gane. I love 90's NHB but you're living in a fantasy world.
Bader was like 38 when he beat Machida so what and Kongo yes he was in his 40s however he was one of the very few fighters that was great when he was older from 2015 to 2020 he was on an 8 fight win streak over Minakov, Volkov,
Vinicius Queiroz, Tony Johnson, Augusto Sakai, Javy Ayala, Tim Johnson that's a fantastic streak imo, after that he loses a close decision to Johnson gets a win over Kharitonov who was past it still good and then loses a decision to Bader sorry but you're dead wrong about Kongo and I don't gaf about his age either, Moldavsky is not the most exciting fighter but is still a top guy whether you like it or not and he would do more than fine in current UFC I'm positive of it he beat Delija by stoppage and Ayala, Nelson, Johnson, I don't know sounds to me like you only give credit if someone is in UFC and anyone who isn't sucks that's the vibe you're giving off.
I never said Randleman was too old I said he was regressing but when I think about it more I think it had to do with Pride itself and the ruleset and tbh the fighters from a stylistic point are different from what you encounter in the U.S more submission artist and the ruleset just don't work well for his style, even with that said he still won some big fights over there he beat Cro-cop, Ninja etc, again though his best wins were in UFC in the 90s, bringing up a green Randleman facing Erickson at the Brazil open is just showing how you're trying hard to discredit him pointing to a loss that early in his career I could also bring up how he won a 8 man tournament in Brazil early on.
Valter is a fukking bum who no one will remember in 5 years that's facts UFC poops out these random guys that really are just flavors of the month, Randleman was a HW champ people who aren't UFC casuals will know of his the same can't be said for the Junie Browning's, Dan Hardy's or Anthony Smith's out ther that UFC told people were important nobody cares.
Bas would beat both Gane and Aspinall I have zero doubt and he wasn't 200lbs he was 6'1 215lb not that it even matters really, it's crazy that I even have to explain this on here Bas hit dudes so hard he ruptured livers put people in the hospital with concussions to the point where he was afraid they might die, he would destroy both of them although Gane would be the harder fight due to his KB background but even still prime Bas would kill him, Tom lol wasn't even a striker during his time in Bamma
he was a ground guy who was developing his striking just watch his fight against Austin his striking isn't there he's a ground guy jiu jitsu that was his base he became a mma fighters a few years later, Bas was a cold hearted killer in the KB world for decades and feared are you joking prime Bas absolutely decimate Tom on the feet it would be really really bad and here's the thing I'll admit Tom is the number 1 HW right now but that's not saying much, point is size wouldn't matter in this case it would come down to skills and experience and mental toughness and Bas beats Tom in all those areas I think you really buy into the marketing of the UFC and the fact that' it's 2025 so therefore someone like Tom must be better except that's not how reality works.
I'm not being unreasonable here just stating what I'm almost certain would happen, if you said lets say Jon Jones who I think is a cheat and was gifted decisions could beat Bas and the others I mentioned I would agree because Jon is an all around fighter exceptional in all areas whether I hate him or not he's freaking amazing and would beat Bas, Rizzo, and the rest of them because he has many many ways to win, Tom and Gane on the other hand can't get fights to the ground at will so that's the difference.
