Best pressure fighter in MMA history?

[kellier]

Its Khabib. He mauled every aside from Tibau and chain wrestled like a dog until he got his man down, then he smothered them

 

[NoSmilez]

Justin before he revamped his style. He would move forward at all cost and he would throw leg kicks with very little setup. His style was just awful for both fighters in terms of damage. I wouldn't say it is the best but it's the wanton disregard for his own safety that makes that style fun to watch. It's like MT fighter Bovy before he got brain damaged by his mid 20s.

There is also old Nick Diaz. He was one of the earlier guys who weaponized cardio.

 

[Elvis.]

Nick Diaz deserves a mention as far as striking volume causing pressure for his opponents

 

[Xoleth]

What is a pressure fighter, Sherdog?
I thought "pressure fighter" is a high volume striker who constantly moves forward: Nick, Nate, Max
And it wasn't appliable to wrestlers, who can be considered ground and pound fighters, as a synonim for pressure fighter fr strikers.

 

[d2s]

Kamaru Usman TS??????

 

[Sean_wongster_wongmastter]

What is a pressure fighter, Sherdog?
I thought "pressure fighter" is a high volume striker who constantly moves forward: Nick, Nate, Max
And it wasn't appliable to wrestlers, who can be considered ground and pound fighters, as a synonim for pressure fighter fr strikers.

Forward movement and constantly trying to force engagements.

 

[moreorless87]

Probably Khabib. Nobody survived his pressure or dealt with it particularly well besides Tibau.

Cain is up there but he was hurt trying to pressure in fights, like against Kongo, and he couldn't do it when he wasnt at sea level.

I do suspect as well that Cain was just very well suited to beating Jnr when he worked out he just needed to rush in, JDS had poor counters to that kind of pressure and bad defence backing up which allowed Cain to get away with bullrushing, defensively though I don't think Cain was ever that great, I suspect Francis may well have KOed any version of him.

 

[ryun253]

Khabib & young Fedor were the best

 

[Reptile_Bong_Hit]

Charles didn't make the list!? He's arguably the most aggressive anywhere the fight goes.

He fights like a 9 year old playing Tekken!

 

[CashMoney1991]

Standup wise- Max, he always goes forward and his boxing is great, not to mention his chin is insane

grappling- Khabib is the clear winner, he had the same exact gameplan for each fight, fighters knew what he was willing to do and they still couldn't stop him

 

[haj02]

Pettis is not a better technical striker than Max, not even close actually.

He was definitely considered so at the time they fought. Also check the speech marks, it's such a contentious topic that I'd argue effectiveness is the ultimate barometer.

 

[Ibm]

Cain . Nick Diaz. Brock

 

[cheesus]

Khabib no question, his pressure was so good it made his cardio kickboxing level of striking successful against some of the best strikers in the division.

 

[HatKick]

Khabib. He broke other great pressure fighters. He was also a great finisher. His finishes usually came when his opponents were so pressure-cooked they basically had to quit. "Please just get this guy off me!"

A lot of good mentions in the OP and thread though. There's been a lot of great pressure fighters.

 

[Psychojoe86]

Wanderlei deserves mention.

Actually this made me recall that shogun was quite a beast as well. The pressure he put on rampage was vicious.

shogun switched styles numerous times in his career, but at one point he was relentlessly attacking with strikes and takedowns/gnp

 

[blewgums]

Pressure, man.

The juice is worth the squeeze!!

 

[TheTickG]

Actually this made me recall that shogun was quite a beast as well. The pressure he put on rampage was vicious.

shogun switched styles numerous times in his career, but at one point he was relentlessly attacking with strikes and takedowns/gnp

Great point. That pressure helped him beat Arona too and become tournament champion.

 

[JustBleed69]

I feel like at his peak Tony Ferg should be mentioned somewhere

 

[BJJ4Tone]

Tbf Khabib took a lot of shots too

His career strikes-absorbed-per-minute would be #3 among current lightweights, behind only Joe Solecki and Islam Makhachev.

 

[BJJ4Tone]

With the lack of title defenses I'll never refer to Khabib as a GOAT, but he was an unstoppable force - it was just a matter of time before he took an opponent down and "smesh" them.

Love this take.