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.
I mean I'm not denying Leon could put up a solid fight against Georges, but Hendricks doesn't fight anything like Leon.
And while that fight was close, I wouldn't say Hendricks got robbed. It all depended on a very competitive first round for who won the decision.
RDA and usman are good. Gunnar Nelson who peaked at like 11th ranked? Cerrone who just came off a 3 fight losing streak including getting knocked out twice, still went to a 48-47? nate diaz that took 3 years off for no reason, came back to go 1-1, hadnt fought in a year and half after getting demolished by masvidal, then leaves the ufc one fight later?
These are literally just name wins, people who you recognise
a 29-28 against luque almost 7 years ago when they were both un ranked?
leon weighs 185 pounds, usman weighs 187 (I think), gsp was 185 to 190 depending on the fight
colby is not an elite wrestler, he beats up washed up fighters out of their prime like Robbie woodley and Jorge. I swear on my life, rewatch his fight with rda, he didn’t win that shit, he got one take down in the second round and got outstruck clearly for the rest of that round, rda should have won 48-47, but people still suck colby off and pretend he was great just cause he showed that usman isn’t the god among men his fanboys pretend he was
As for would he beat gsp, I don’t think he would, and not becuase I’m some old head who can’t accept fighters get better over time, but becuase I don’t think his cardio is as good as people think, cause I think gsp is stronger and has better takedowns than anyone leon has ever faced, and cause I think gsp would be smart enough to make the adjustments necessary to stop the leg kicks. Now maybe that’s cheating cause we didn’t see gsp have to defend leg kicks, but he was smart enough to know when to strike and when to grapple, and I don’t think “let’s add one thing to his game” is pushing the realm of possibility too much
He is honestly really well rounded. He isn't the best at everything but he is a solid 7-8 in almost every facet of the sport. Maybe the only knock on him is that he isn't a great wrestler. 170 has always been a wrestling heavy division. Leon's wrestling isn't elite although he isn't bad at it.
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?
Usman hasn't looked to be in his prime for a couple of years. His bum knees made him lose that quick step he used to have. The same happened to GSP at some point. That step makes all the difference in closing distance, securing and timing TD's etc.
WHAT? No. Leon's skillset does in no way sound amazing on paper.
Usman's versatile skillset was more impressive. Wrestling, cardio, knocked Gilbert down with 1 jab!
At one point people were asking if GSP would've had a chance against Usman.
You can even argue Woodley on paper had a more impressive skillset.
He could wrestle, he had some of the best explosive power, sure - no cardio - but he could win fights by just standing up against the fence for 5 minutes and elite strikers like Wonderboy for some reason were too scared to go for it.
Leon might turn out to be the GOAT but just saying on paper I don't see his skillset as anything special
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