Cleaned out division and retired on top as Champ = GSP = GOAT

[Hihlosis]

GSP is GOAT until another special fighter with integrity comes along. Brought nothing but class to the UFC, something it seems to be lacking. JBJ was on his way to GOAT and that got kaboshed with his childish antics.

 

[Andy Capp]

The saddest I ever felt for anyone in mma was Johnny Hendricks. I believe he won that fight and even winning the belt later didn't "matter" as they stole his moment there. I remember watching that in a bar and thinking man they totally robbed you of what would have been a big career achievement for you.

See my post. He wasn't getting the title if they judged correctly anyway so you can feel better now.

 

[Redhawks100]

GSP is GOAT until another special fighter with integrity comes along. Brought nothing but class to the UFC, something it seems to be lacking. JBJ was on his way to GOAT and that got kaboshed with his childish antics.

Lol 'integrity' and 'class' has nothing to do with being the greatest in a combat sport. Wtf?

 

[Fyreborn]

It's clear the top five is (alphabetically) Aldo, Emelienko, Jones, Silva, St. Pierre.

I can't give it to GSP. Not when Fedor and Anderson exist. They were too dominant and never lost in their primes. A couple close calls, but no losses.

And Jones is everything GSP was but better. I hesitate to put him over GSP because he can still lose in his prime, plus frankly I can't stand him so I may be biased.

Size also matters when discussing "pound for pound". Fedor fought bigger guys, and Anderson was the #1 at WW as well at one point, and had success at LHW. That's huge.

It's hard to just dismiss the Serra loss. He lost to a mediocre lightweight in his prime.

People keep saying he avenged his losses, but I really don't see how that's relevant - replace those wins with equally ranked wins and something changes? No, nothing changes. No one cares if Aldo or Conor avenge their early losses. That Serra loss should never have needed to be avenged.

Of course everybody loses and to some extent it's not a big deal - but when literally trying to judge the greatest of all time, I'm sorry, the standards are *harsh*.

The only "excuse" he needs is bad judging.

The media almost all scored it for Hendricks. This was a terrible decision.

Hendricks won 3 rounds. One was close, but there's no good argument for giving GSP round one. Hendricks busted GSP up with elbows in the clinch and the round was even outside of that.

This from someone who dislikes Hendricks and never wants him near the belt again.

 

[DaGenius]

See my post. He wasn't getting the title if they judged correctly anyway so you can feel better now.

I didn't see your post nor am I going to look for it. I posted my view of that fight and if you disagree or not that's fine. In the moment I felt Hendricks won that fight. It was close and that fight is in the past and everyone's opinion is already set. It is what it is and we all move on

 

[Rum]

GSP is GOAT until another special fighter with integrity comes along. Brought nothing but class to the UFC, something it seems to be lacking. JBJ was on his way to GOAT and that got kaboshed with his childish antics.

Nothing but class? Old Mr "I Am Not Impressed With Your Performance"?

Georges is aces, but he had his more low-rent moments, that's for certain.

 

[Armbars]

Anyone leaving GSP out of GOAT discussions is just a hater

 

[Hihlosis]

Lol 'integrity' and 'class' has nothing to do with being the greatest in a combat sport. Wtf?

To each their own. So, JBJ can still be GOAT? If he came back, cleaned out the division again, and became the poster boy Uncle Dana always hoped he'd be?

 

[wilKO]

He's up there but Hendricks beat him and he wasn't as impressive as Fedor or Anderson.

 

[TheComebackKid]

GSP is great and definitely at the table but hard to call him #1. The man couldn't finish a fight while he was champion. Some say finishing doesn't matter. But finishing fights especially early saves you from looking like this:

 

[Redhawks100]

To each their own. So, JBJ can still be GOAT? If he came back, cleaned out the division again, and became the poster boy Uncle Dana always hoped he'd be?

JBJ is probably GOAT now since Anderson popped.

 

[TheComebackKid]

As champion, Fedor fought 4 opponents he shouldn't have. Nagata, Ogawa, Zulu, and HMC.

That's still a 27-1(1) record if you flat out subtract those victories from his record.

Fedor fought 14 opponents that could be considered cans: Lagvilava, Lazarov, Takada, Apostolov, Schall, Yanagisawa, Hasdell, Haseman, Valavicius, Nagata, Ogawa, Kohsaka, Zulu, Choi

Goodridge and Fujita weren't quite cans but pretty low quality opponents. Coleman and Randleman were very old and very past it. Lindland was a MW.

As truly quality wins that leaves Nog 2x, CC, Sylvia, Arlovski, Herring, Schilt, Rogers, Babalu, and Hunt. I will throw Arona in there as well.

Quality resume but the weakest out of the top 4 GOATs(GSP, Anderson, Jones, Fedor).

 

[Rum]

To each their own. So, JBJ can still be GOAT? If he came back, cleaned out the division again, and became the poster boy Uncle Dana always hoped he'd be?

They're fighters, not presidents. Hell yeah Jones could become GOAT.

 

[Rum]

Fedor fought 14 opponents that could be considered cans: Lagvilava, Lazarov, Takada, Apostolov, Schall, Yanagisawa, Hasdell, Haseman, Valavicius, Nagata, Ogawa, Kohsaka, Zulu, Choi

Goodridge and Fujita weren't quite cans but pretty low quality opponents. Coleman and Randleman were very old and very past it. Lindland was a MW.

As truly quality wins that leaves Nog 2x, CC, Sylvia, Arlovski, Herring, Schilt, Rogers, Babalu, and Hunt. I will throw Arona in there as well.

Quality resume but the weakest out of the top 4 GOATs(GSP, Anderson, Jones, Fedor).

So that's 10 for Fedor. (Forget Arona, he was 2-0.)

Bones doesn't even have 10 title defenses. He has 8, and two of those were joke contenders who hadn't fought at LHW for 5 years, plus had shit records at LHW by the time they quit fighting in that division. So Bones has 6 legit title defenses, plus Bader before he was champ.

I reckon Fedor got Jones at least. Even Aldo is comfortably ahead of Jones in this race.


Edit: Shame on me for saying "even Aldo" to be honest, as if he's not worthy of being in the conversation. That dude has Jones beat in every department except level of celebrities beaten.

 

[cwatz]

Every single fighter fades. Its the reality of time. Even GSP was on the downswing. He never looked the same after his knee. Using that as a criteria against other fighters is silly to me.

With that said, the only knock against GSP is finishing fights or the freak incident against Serra. For Serra, this is MMA, its unpredictability and large variety is what makes it so exciting. Losses can happen, and he avenged it in the fight we expected the first time around, so its easy enough to scrub. For finishing fights, considering his lack of explosive firepower, and most of his offense coming from WW ground n pound, personally I dont even like to hold that against him much either. His skillset may not have meant finishing people in seconds, but it was no less dominant.

Ultimately, hes the goat in my eyes, but its all a matter of perspective. Also Jones is creeping up there.

 

[TheComebackKid]

So that's 10 for Fedor. (Forget Arona, he was 2-0.)

Bones doesn't even have 10 title defenses. He has 8, and two of those were joke contenders who hadn't fought at LHW for 5 years, plus had shit records at LHW by the time they quit fighting in that division. So Bones has 6 legit title defenses, plus Bader before he was champ.

I reckon Fedor got Jones at least. Even Aldo is comfortably ahead of Jones in this race.

I dunno man. To say "he doesn't even have 10 title defenses" is a bit dismissive considering only one person in the history of the sport has 10 title defenses. Plus Fedor only has 3 :redface:.

Jones record is a little light as far as quantity but his quality is arguably the best. Even his two "joke contenders" were top 10 caliber LHWs even tho they came up from MW. Plus he's done it on the biggest stage...consistently.

I still have Fedor ahead in my personal rankings but thats due mainly to his 10 yr unbeaten streak which is still an incredible accomplishment even if he didn't go through a murderers row.

Edit: Shame on me for saying "even Aldo" to be honest, as if he's not worthy of being in the conversation. That dude has Jones beat in every department except level of celebrities beaten.

Aldo's resume is impeccable but it's really tough to gauge his competition level as the division is quite young. Also Aldo is lacking in GOAT intangibles. He doesn't bring the entire sport to attention when he fights ala GSP, Anderson, Fedor, and Jones. Beyond the first Mendes fight(which was epic) he doesn't have many classic or legendary moments. I suppose I'm nitpicking. I just think if Aldo lost the next 5 fights he wouldn't be mentioned any longer. GSP, Fedor, and Anderson could lose 20 fights in a row and still be at the table because they are solidified. They could even pop for roids and take viagra and still be there lol.

I think Jones is solidified too. Say he came back and just started losing to everyone. People would still hold "pre-car crash Jones" up as a mythical unbeatable champion.

Aldo really needs to deliver against McGregor.

 

[TheComebackKid]

Every single fighter fades. Its the reality of time. Even GSP was on the downswing. He never looked the same after his knee. Using that as a criteria against other fighters is silly to me.

With that said, the only knock against GSP is finishing fights or the freak incident against Serra. For Serra, this is MMA, its unpredictability and large variety is what makes it so exciting. Losses can happen, and he avenged it in the fight we expected the first time around, so its easy enough to scrub. For finishing fights, considering his lack of explosive firepower, and most of his offense coming from WW ground n pound, personally I dont even like to hold that against him much either. His skillset may not have meant finishing people in seconds, but it was no less dominant.

Ultimately, hes the goat in my eyes, but its all a matter of perspective. Also Jones is creeping up there.

Finishing is more dominant. One or two finishes can be brushed off as lucky or favorable moments. But when were talking about guys like Fedor and Anderson who finish every single time out then at some point you have to say they are more dominant. GSPs opponents can fight for a full 5 rounds with him and be ready for a
6th. Most of Fedor and Anderson opponents literally cannot survive that long. Hell they can't make it past 10 minutes with those guys.

 

[odog]

I agree. Fully and completely.

 

[My Spot]

The goat can't be Anderson because he's a proven cheater. It can't be Fedor because he went 4-3 in regulated fights with ped testing. That leaves GSP, who has more top 10 wins than anyone else in the history of the sport and avenged his only 2 losses.
You can bring up the Serra loss but they weighed exactly the same so calling him a lw would be the same as saying Hendo was a mw when he beat Fedor. Arguing someone's "prime" is also subjective.

 

[bartleby929]

he lost to bigrigg and retired afterward. it was weird to watch. gsp's going to be in any goat discussion but going out immediately after that fight wasn't great to watch