Based on skills & attributes, is Leon the *best* WW of all time?

Is Leon Edwards the *best* WW of all time?

  • Yes he is

    Votes: 3 1.6%

  • No, but he's top 2

    Votes: 7 3.8%

  • No, but he's top 3

    Votes: 19 10.2%

  • No, but he's top 5

    Votes: 48 25.8%

  • No, but he's top 10

    Votes: 61 32.8%

  • No, he's not even in the conversation

    Votes: 48 25.8%
  • Total voters
    186
blackheart

blackheart

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So I'm just curious about people's opinions on this.

Not looking at title defenses, not looking at "big fights", or star power or any of that.

I'm not talking about "greatest" ever. I'm talking about "best" ever.

Just going off of skillset, and physical attributes (speed, power, reach, endurance, etc), do you think Leon Edwards is the best welterweight of all time?

The dude hasn't lost a fight in 8 years (2016).

In that time, he's beaten a who's who of WW greats. Welterweights that would be or are considered all time greats in their own right: Colby, Usman 2x, Luque, RDA, Gunnar Nelson, Diaz and Cerrone (both LWs I know but they've had success at 170).

Would GSP have been able to beat Usman? I don't think so honestly. Usman's size advantage and wrestling would have neutralized GSP's wrestling and then GSP would have been sniped by jabs and crosses for 5 rounds.

Colby vs GSP is honestly a toss up for me, although I'd favor GSP.

Leon's skillset is elite everywhere. He is one of the top 3 strikers in all of MMA, and his wrestling was good enough to completely shut down Colby and Usman's wrestling - two of the best wrestlers in the history of the division. Not only did he shut down Colby's grappling, he actually took Colby down.

Leon is also one of the biggest WW champs in the division's history and seems to have near infinite stamina.

Anyways, is Leon the best WW of all time? Why or why not? Do you think he's top 3? top 5?

How does prime GSP vs Leon go? I just do not see GSP taking down Leon and holding him there for 5 rounds. I see GSP getting neutralized and sniped in the 4th or the 5th.

How does Leon do against Lawler, Hendricks, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, Matt Serra?

 
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There's no one in the top 15 I'd bet on to beat GSP.

Even during his best run, we saw how complacent Usman would get if a clean counter didn't present itself and his jab wasn't that good. It just improved a lot in a short time.

Colby? Fucking Colby? Colby's whole fighting style is built around smothering an older opponent and hoping they can't pull the trigger anymore. I don't think he manages to get inside GSP's range long enough to do much.

Leon's great and I've been a supporter of his for a long time, but there's just nothing he has for him. Like Usman, he gets far too complacent and willing to just let the fight happen.
 
Infinite stamina is an exaggeration. Leon does an excellent job in forcing his style of fight which is a low output striking match. It's one of the reasons why there were a number of people who thought Colby would be able to pull it off instead of shitting the bed completely.
 
He is one of the best WW'd of all time based on head to head matchups. He would defeat a lot of great fighters.

But based on skills and attributes like this thread asks? He's not even in the conversation. GSP, one of the most well rounded fighters ever lived. Prime Usman, a beast on the ground as well as standing. Prime Hendricks same deal.

I would put him a tier lower like a Robbie Lawler. Great standing but avoids grappling and is great at imposing that will. But guys like this aren't up there with the greats who were dangerous in both aspects of the game.
 
iNoScopedJFK said:
People really forgot how dominant George was.
Click to expand...
Not really. I watched every fight of his entire reign, live. He was extremely dominant and faced higher level competition than all of his championship peers from other divisions.

That being said, he never fought someone that was elite everywhere - standing and on the ground. He faced some really exceptional grapplers from his day, like Shields and Fitch, but those exceptional grapplers always had a mediocre to bad standup game. The good to elite strikers he faced had mediocre to bad grappling. He never fought anyone that had elite striking and a very very high-level ground game. When he fought someone that roughly fit that bill, Hendricks, he lost.
 
Leon is a talented striker with respectable TD defense. He has two title defense, GSP had 9. Consider how hard it is to defend your title 9 times in the UFC. GSP could beat dominating wrestlers and pure strikers at their own game...he was great at everything.

Hughes had 7 title defense, Usman had 5...Leon needs at least 5 or 6 before he can be in the "best" conversations. Unfortunately, he may be to old to get more than 3 or 4.
 
TheBulge said:
He is one of the best WW'd of all time based on head to head matchups. He would defeat a lot of great fighters.

But based on skills and attributes like this thread asks? He's not even in the conversation. GSP, one of the most well rounded fighters ever lived. Prime Usman, a beast on the ground as well as standing. Prime Hendricks same deal.

I would put him a tier lower like a Robbie Lawler. Great standing but avoids grappling and is great at imposing that will. But guys like this aren't up there with the greats who were dangerous in both aspects of the game.
Click to expand...
How does this make ANY sense when Leon beat Usman twice? Prime Usman is above Leon even though Leon beat him in his prime twice? What?
 
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