Could DC have been a GOAT if he stayed at HW?

achoo42

achoo42

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We all know DC was a beast at HW when he fought in Strikeforce. He dominated a number of elite heavyweights, including Mir, Nelson, and Barnett.

Of course Cain was his teammate so this probably wouldn't have happened, but how would DC have matched up against the HWs of 2011-2017?

I think he's a tiny bit better than Cain even though he wouldn't admit it. Better kicking, slightly more explosive, and Cain says DC often got the better of him in grappling exchanges. Cain might have better late round cardio, and it would be a very close fight but I think DC would edge out a decision more often than not.

JDS is another really good matchup, but again it's a similar stylistic fight to what went down between JDS and Cain 2 and 3. DC would drown him with a nonstop barrage of takedowns and strikes and JDS' only option is to land the big right.

Werdum is the wild card here. A sound Werdum with a good gameplan beats any HW on the planet, but who really knows with that guy. I would give the edge to DC just because he's the more serious fighter who you can rely on to think and fight intelligently.

Overeem and Lesnar would also have been interesting. I think DC was too fast and tough for Lesnar. Overeem's knees and body shots would have been devastating but I don't think he had the toughness required to go to war against DC.

What do you guys think?
 
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Would've lost the rematch to Mir in all honesty.
 
He would definitely be up there amongst the best fighters, but most of the GOATs such as Silva, GSP, Fedor, Jones have dominated for very long time periods and have ridiculous number of title defenses. At HW theres a high chance DC could get knocked out, i don't now if he would be a dominant, long reigning champion
 
Davidjacksonjones said:
He would definitely be up there amongst the best fighters, but most of the GOATs such as Silva, GSP, Fedor, Jones have dominated for very long time periods and have ridiculous number of title defenses. At HW theres a high chance DC could get knocked out, i don't now if he would be a dominant, long reigning champion
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I just meant GOAT HW, like matching Stipe in terms of defenses.
 
It is hard to tell. He has only 1 top win against Stipe and 2 losses.

Most of his HW wins are solid but not top fighters like Bigfoot, Mir, Barnett and Big Country.

Carwin, JDS, Werdum, Overeem would all be very interesting fights. And of course he even admitted Cain is the better fighter.

But for some reason many put DC into top 5 HW lists.
 
SuperNerd said:
He's say "A GOAT" as if there are many.

GOAT term has been brutalized
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I think its because there are quite a few fighters who have a strong case of being greatest of all time, sometimes people say GOATs. or one of the GOATs etc
 
DC was the captain at AKA but he always said Cain was the better fighter, and I believe it.
 
Very good fighter but nowhere near a GOAT status. I think he beat good but not top guys at HW and when the competition got stronger he preferred to fight at a lower weight instead, not only because of that but also because of Cain and his own size. With Cain there he would never be champ unless they fought.

I mean, his case is something like Lyoto's at LHW because of Anderson Silva, a wasted talent unfortunately. But if he stayed at HW with Cain there he would become a Dvalishvili (Sterling's gatekeeper) at most, although I see Dvalishvili beating guys more than Cormier would beat at HW because of Cormier's smaller size. But he has some history and got an UFC job, so he did ok in the UFC I guess.

An unpopular opinion: I think he would beat Fedor all day long at that time if they fought.
 
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Fight Professor said:
It is hard to tell. He has only 1 top win against Stipe and 2 losses.

Most of his HW wins are solid but not top fighters like Bigfoot, Mir, Barnett and Big Country.

Carwin, JDS, Werdum, Overeem would all be very interesting fights. And of course he even admitted Cain is the better fighter.

But for some reason many put DC into top 5 HW lists.
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Mr. Quadros, are you sure Barnett and Bigfoot were not top ten when he fought them? It seems to me that they probably should have been if they were not.
 
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Sincere Guy said:
Very good fighter but nowhere near a GOAT status. I think he beat good bot not top guys at HW and when the competition got stronger he preferred to fight at a lower weight instead, not only because of that but also because of Cain and his own size. With Cain there he would never be champ unless they fought.

I mean, his case is something like Lyoto's at LHW because of Anderson Silva, a wasted talent unfortunately. If he stayed at HW he would become a Dvalishvili at most, although I see Dvalishvili beating guys more than Cormier would beat at HW because of his smaller size. But he has some history and got an UFC job, so he did ok in the UFC I guess.

An unpopular opinion: I think he would beat Fedor all day long at that time if they fought.
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I agree, while I do not know if DC would be the HW GOAT, but he has the right style to go after Fedor in a fight.
 
Davidjacksonjones said:
GOAT UFC HW, or Overall GOAT HW?

GOAT UFC HW certainly would have been possible. But i have a hard time seeing DC match Fedor's decade of being unbeaten
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I mean UFC GOAT heavyweight.

Fight Professor said:
It is hard to tell. He has only 1 top win against Stipe and 2 losses.
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I see prime DC beating Stipe more often than not. Stipe simply aged better and was younger. The DC in the Stipe trilogy was not nearly the athlete who won the Strikeforce tournament.

Fight Professor said:
Most of his HW wins are solid but not top fighters like Bigfoot, Mir, Barnett and Big Country.
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Sincere Guy said:
I think he beat good but not top guys at HW
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Come on, Barnett, Mir, and Bigfoot weren't top heavyweights? Mir had just fought for the title before fighting DC, and shattered Big Nog's arm, knocked out Cro Cop, etc. Barnett was on a 8 fight win streak which includes finishing Sergei Kharitonov, also arguably a top 10 HW at the time. TRT Bigfoot was a monster who was 16-2 and had wins over Fedor, Arlovski, and would still go on to finish Overeem and Browne before his tragic skid.

Also Big Country wasn't a top heavyweight per se but he was good, better than many give him credit for, and DC ran circles around him.
 
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I always believed DC was better than Cain. I think he would have definitely been near the greatest HW of all time had he stayed at HW
 
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