Best LHW from 2000-2009?

[Big Tuppy Hole]

I’m going with Shogun , what a fantastic era
Too bad Hendo never fought Iceman and Shogun never fought Randy , ect ect

For me Hendo was kind of an enigma. He was undersized for the division and spent alot of time at WW ( pride MW) but he had the ability to upset anybody but felt as if hecould be bullied around by the larger fighters of the division.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

Wand vs Randy in a cage hands down goes to Randy

i wouldn't be so sure. i could easily see wanderlei catching randy coming in on his back foot like chuck did. the knees in the clinch would be tough for randy as well. and as we know, prime wanderlei's damn near impossible to really do big damage to or submit on the ground. his takedown defense was ass but if you got him down, you couldn't do much to him.

 

[Tsuli]

It's difficult, because no-one was in their prime throughout that period. Wand was the dominant fighter in the first half of the decade, Shogun in the second half. So something like...

Wand/Shogun
Shogun/Wand
Rampage
Arona
Hendo
Chuck
Mini Nog
Randy
Tito
Undereem

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

It's difficult, because no-one was in their prime throughout that period. Wand was the dominant fighter in the first half of the decade, Shogun in the second half. So something like...

Wand/Shogun
Shogun/Wand
Rampage
Arona
Hendo
Chuck
Mini Nog
Randy
Tito
Undereem

i would say hendo was in his prime throughout the whole decade. started the decade beating big nog and ended the decade KO'ing bisping on his way to strikeforce to win the belt and KO fedor.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

I dont think anyone would argue that those were the golden years for the division. Especially from 2003-2007.

When we look at skill, who did the best and who'd come out with the best record if they did all fight each other at that time. Who is the best?


Here are the names

Lidell
Shogun
Wanderlei
Rampage
Arona
Tito
Couture
Hendo
 Reem
Lil Nog

Names you may think should be included but aren't and the reason why:​

Saku- peak ended too early in this era
Machida- peaked too late in this era
Vitor- his peaks were sprt of before and after this period

My rankings

Shogun
Rampage
Chuck
Wanderlei
Couture
Arona
Tito
Lil Nog
Hendo
Reem

How would you rank these guys looking at them specifically only from 2000-2009?

Any of the top 4 are interchangeable and from there it's a bit of a mess as they all traded losses, moved between divisions, fell out of there primes and stopped fighting (Arona). It's all perception. But as a fan this is the golden era of the LHW divisions and we didn't know just how spoilt we where

 

[Tsuli]

i would say hendo was in his prime throughout the whole decade. started the decade beating big nog and ended the decade KO'ing bisping on his way to strikeforce to win the belt and KO fedor.

True, fair point. Although in his case, maybe half his fights (including the three you mention) weren't at 205.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

I agree on the Machida take except we saw what non peak Shogun did.

If Machida fought the top guys earlier. I'd have Shogun 1 Machida 2 Rampage 3

On that note I wish we saw Shogun v Rampage in the ufc around the time they fought Machida

I was drooling for another Rampage vs Shogun. The UFC played with the idea multiple times. The stars just never aligned properly.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

True, fair point. Although in his case, maybe half his fights (including the three you mention) weren't at 205.

yeah he definitely didn't spend all of his time at 205 but i think he had a good body of work at 205 in the 2000's. big nog (big nog fought at 231 but hendo was 200 pounds), vitor, wanderlei, ninja, babalu, renzo, bustamante (i know it's not bustamante's best weight but still).

 

[Edward Henry Greb]

Frank Shamrock ...

Beat Tito, Jackson, and Hendo in (like) :53

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

I agree with a lot of what you said. I have Chuck higher than Wand cuz when they did fight it went how I always envisioned. I have Randy lower cuz while he did great in that era of LHW he spent time at HW.

Wand vs Randy in a cage hands down goes to Randy but in a ring it would be very interesting... i dunno maybe I'd say

Shogun
Rampage
Randy
Chuck
Wand


It just feels weird having Wand so low when it was him and whoever the top UFC guy for so long

Randy was fairly underwhelming in a Ring, he loses his ability to clinch and dirty box affectively along the perimeter. Plus he can't stack people along the fence to gnp and no elbows. I feel he losses his best weapons. But if Arona could shut down Wand, there was a fair chance Randy could.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Frank Shamrock ...

Beat Tito, Jackson, and Hendo in (like) :53

His only LHW win that period was over Elvis Sinosec and the Hendo fight was sub grappling

 

[snugglecakes]

extend the parameters and lil bit and clearly the answer is uncle peace... pieced up rampage... Schooled shogun... (clearly felt the) tap(ped) tito, beat chuck via duck forfeit, beat wand twice.. once in a street fight and another in bellator

not like he was any/much younger than any of those guys

maybe it was fedor actually. a Light heavyweight that beat up heavyweights since the late 90s.. thats more impressive than a LHW bullying middleweights

or maybe it was anderson cause he beat chael and thus claims all of chael's wins

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

Frank Shamrock ...

Beat Tito, Jackson, and Hendo in (like) :53

this is true i was there.

 

[BowserJr]

Any of the top 4 are interchangeable and from there it's a bit of a mess as they all traded losses, moved between divisions, fell out of there primes and stopped fighting (Arona). It's all perception. But as a fan this is the golden era of the LHW divisions and we didn't know just how spoilt we where

Seriously! It was the golden era of the division and it was the best division in MMA overall.

The athleticism and skill for guys that size seemingly won't be matched any time soon and then you add in how closely matched they were. It was awesome!

Closest thing was 185lbs 2013-2018

 

[BowserJr]

It's difficult, because no-one was in their prime throughout that period. Wand was the dominant fighter in the first half of the decade, Shogun in the second half. So something like...

Wand/Shogun
Shogun/Wand
Rampage
Arona
Hendo
Chuck
Mini Nog
Randy
Tito
Undereem

Interesting that you have Chuck and Hendo so high

 

[BowserJr]

True, fair point. Although in his case, maybe half his fights (including the three you mention) weren't at 205.

Hendo like randy moved around too much out of 205 to have a bigger impact there. That is also what makes them incredible though

 

[HavokHarmon]

This era was so competitive and each fighter had great runs.

Wands run from 2000-2007 is 1 of the most brutal reigns of terror and my favourite.


But honestly I can't separate
Wand
Rampage
Chuck and
Shogun. All had amazing runs but all lost fights.

I Also highly rate Randy's run at LHW. The way he blew threw Tito, Chuck and Vitor was amazing and I truly believe that versions of Randy has a great chance at beating all of the above.

Hendo is another fighter I find hard to rank, because like Tandy he jumped between divisions

Yeah in terms of body of work across that time I’m inclined to go with Wand. I could see an argument for Shogun but he was so inconsistent he didn’t have nearly the longevity Wand did.

 

[BowserJr]

I’m going with Shogun , what a fantastic era
Too bad Hendo never fought Iceman and Shogun never fought Randy , ect ect

2 of the most interesting fights we never saw

 

[BowserJr]

This era was so competitive and each fighter had great runs.

Wands run from 2000-2007 is 1 of the most brutal reigns of terror and my favourite.


But honestly I can't separate
Wand
Rampage
Chuck and
Shogun. All had amazing runs but all lost fights.

I Also highly rate Randy's run at LHW. The way he blew threw Tito, Chuck and Vitor was amazing and I truly believe that versions of Randy has a great chance at beating all of the above.

Hendo is another fighter I find hard to rank, because like Tandy he jumped between divisions

Imagine Wand v Tito with knees to head on the ground ala saku v wand...

 

[Sweater of AV]

We've tried to do this so many times but LHW was just too difficult to make a definitive ranking.

1. Shogun

2a. Wandy
2b. Page
2c. Chunk

I rank it this way mainly because Page decimated Chunk twice and Wandy decimated Page twice when they were, at the very least, somewhat close to their primes. You can make arguments for different orderings and I probably wouldn't have an issue with it.