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Do you think an MMA fighter can ever get a 50-0 record?

Do you think an MMA fighter can ever get a 50-0 record?

  • Total voters
    121
Unlikely.

Even if you cherry pick and risk manage, MMA is still the most volatile and unpredictable form of fighting. There are so many ways to get caught out of nowhere and stopped in a split second.
 
It all depends on the timing. On the top level it is extremely difficult to stay undefeated for a number of reasons:

-MMA is by far the most difficult combat sport not to lose in.
-MMA is very hard on the human body, it will break down within half a decade for most. some could sueeze it out longer but they can't be super active or their prime is even shorter.
-Once they're at the top level it's hard to fight more than twice a year because of how the sport is run. Even if a fighter is allowed, he will break down his body quicker. See point 2.
-Even Jon Jones who has been unbeaten the longest and is the most talented fighter we ever saw and has had many many layoffs, he only managed to win what 20 fights in a row in the UFC in 15 years? And he's the most exceptional case.

Sherdoggers love math so in this case math actually gives you the answer. You have to have a guy who managed to go 30-0 in the lower leagues and arrive in the UFC at a young age still, and he might, MIGHT get close to 50 before losing. I say no it won't be done.
 
There's a muay thai fighter who is on like a 75 fight win streak so yes its very easy to pull off, they just pulled in random unknown foreigners for him to beat up to make a show of it. Even when he somehow managed to get upset by one of these randoms the judges were so corrupt they gave it a draw lol. It just depends who you actually fight. No one is ever gonna win 30 straight in the UFC though in my opinion. Unless its a woman in a dead division who just brings fighters up from lower weight class to beat up every time.

en.wikipedia.org

Saenchai - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Undefeated records only impress casuals.... unless you're someone like Usyk who actually has big wins on that list.
 
It's harder to be undefeated in kickboxing than it is MMA. Kickboxing is definitely more volatile.
 
Takes Two To Tango said:
I mean Khabib is the closest to that, I wonder if he kept on fighting how long it would have took him to lose finally.

He would pretty much have to beat a top 5 guy till he reached 50-0.

I don't think it could ever happen, not like in boxing.

It's just too many variables and uncertainties for it to manifest.

_116148881_khabib_nurmagomedov_stats.png
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If u have padded record like khabib then yes otherwise mma is too brutal on body then u have to start at age 18 and be ilia topuria level
 
If they spend their entire career as a big fish in a small pond on the regionals maybe. But once you go up the ladder, no way. 1 you don't fight often enough at the top level to even rack up enough fights more often than not, and 2 there's too many ways to lose you're likely to eventually catch an L over that many fights if you did manage to get that many. Guys are getting calls from the ufc, PFL, One, KSW with less than 10 fights some times now. The sport just isn't designed like boxing where they set up purposeful can fights every month to pad a record for the first 20-30 fights of a career.
 
Feaser said:
Who honesty thinks “no?” Obviously we have Khabib as an example, 29-0. What if he decided to hang around the regional circuit for 2 more years beating up taxi drivers? 50-0 ain’t so distant. And Renan Barao had a 25-fight streak before he even fought a guy with a wiki page, notwithstanding his early loss. One day, some phenom will have the foresight to gather an obscene amount of jobber scalps before hitting the big leagues. 50-0 is a low bar. You should be asking whether it can be 100-0.
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I would think probably not.

You can get a good number of wins over nobodies before getting into a major org, but a good number is like 20, not like 40.

We're talking 50-0, not just having 50 fights where you lose a few and can stay fighting mostly bums for most of that. Undefeated you'd advance pretty rapidly between a 15-20 undefeated streak and would get into a major org for better money and move up quickly.

It would take some real career mismanagement to even get to 30-0 without being champ of major org, and those last 20 would be beating top contenders.

I doubt someone like Khabib or anyone in a similar position would retire from the UFC as an undefeated champ, then for no good reason at all just demote themselves to a regional org to take a very busy schedule against cans for several more years for a pay cut.
 
Pierce 34 said:
Just fight bums like they do in boxing
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Yup. It's totally possible. Just protect that record at all cost. Only take fights where you have a big advantage, and if someone's a threat to you, avoid them until they start to decline due to age/injuries. Fight as many has-beens as you can, since casuals won't consider age.
 
Highly unlikely considering even if you are that mega talented prospect after a few fights you'll be in the UFC fighting the best of the best.. No way to avoid it and make money.. You can't fight bums in 2nd rate promotions and get paid..
 
nostradumbass said:
I would think probably not.

You can get a good number of wins over nobodies before getting into a major org, but a good number is like 20, not like 40.

We're talking 50-0, not just having 50 fights where you lose a few and can stay fighting mostly bums for most of that. Undefeated you'd advance pretty rapidly between a 15-20 undefeated streak and would get into a major org for better money and move up quickly.
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Here’s a scenario. You’re the next Jon Jones, and you’ve realized early in your career that you’ve got a great chance at holding a UFC belt. Even though you’re ready to face better competition for more money, you’ve decided that it’s a better investment to crush 40 cans first because you can be more easily marketed once you enter the ufc. That means, as long as you keep winning once you’re in UFC and are somewhat entertaining, you’ll probably have a shorter path to the title (say, 4-5 wins over increasingly better competition).

Once you get the belt, you can retire after 3-4 defenses with the safe assurance that you’ll be remembered as a legend. The sponsorships and business opportunities will come rolling in for the rest of your life. Nobody will say “hey you’re that guy who beat 40 nobodies, and your record should be 10-0, not 50-0.”

Obviously that’s easier said than done. But I can see why someone would choose that career path.

It would take some real career mismanagement to even get to 30-0 without being champ of major org, and those last 20 would be beating top contenders.
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Call it what it is. You’d be avoiding (ducking) tougher competition. Shamelessly so. But if you can amass an obscene win streak relatively fast (say, 10 fights a year), why not? Keep in mind, fighters have already done this on a smaller scale. It’s definitely not impossible to stretch it out to 50.

One of the biggest takeaways from the Khabib era is that being “undefeated” is a priceless marketing tool. It’s better to have “never lost” than to have “only lost to the best.”

I doubt someone like Khabib or anyone in a similar position would retire from the UFC as an undefeated champ, then for no good reason at all just demote themselves to a regional org to take a very busy schedule against cans for several more years for a pay cut.
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Well yeah, of course not. By the time you’re a UFC champ, you’ve got a huge target on your back. That’s why you crush the cans early in your career.
 
Feaser said:
Here’s a scenario. You’re the next Jon Jones, and you’ve realized early in your career that you’ve got a great chance at holding a UFC belt. Even though you’re ready to face better competition for more money, you’ve decided that it’s a better investment to crush 40 cans first because you can be more easily marketed once you enter the ufc. That means, as long as you keep winning once you’re in UFC and are somewhat entertaining, you’ll probably have a shorter path to the title (say, 4-5 wins over increasingly better competition).

Once you get the belt, you can retire after 3-4 defenses with the safe assurance that you’ll be remembered as a legend. The sponsorships and business opportunities will come rolling in for the rest of your life. Nobody will say “hey you’re that guy who beat 40 nobodies, and your record should be 10-0, not 50-0.”

Obviously that’s easier said than done. But I can see why someone would choose that career path.



Call it what it is. You’d be avoiding (ducking) tougher competition. Shamelessly so. But if you can amass an obscene win streak relatively fast (say, 10 fights a year), why not? Keep in mind, fighters have already done this on a smaller scale. It’s definitely not impossible to stretch it out to 50.

One of the biggest takeaways from the Khabib era is that being “undefeated” is a priceless marketing tool. It’s better to have “never lost” than to have “only lost to the best.”



Well yeah, of course not. By the time you’re a UFC champ, you’ve got a huge target on your back. That’s why you crush the cans early in your career.
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Yeah, and what I'm saying is that scenario is lottery unlikely and would take criminal mismanagement. If you're keeping yourself poor for years, risking getting injured at any point during that, taking nothing but short notice fights one after another, your body is going to be in pretty rough shape by the time you get to a major org, and you risk running into other future stars who also start out on regional shows for much less money, and having to do it on short notice.

The Khabib era was being undefeated and a champ with several defenses, there are plenty of guys who are just undefeated and they don't get much hype or credit until they start beating ranked guys. Hell, even now after Khabib was champ and finished all his title defenses, a bunch of the Dagi haters STILL try to retroactively discredit him for having any fights before the UFC, and try to discredit even his UFC wins.

I suppose the thread could be simplified to whether you think a fighter could get to 40-0 without joining a major org, and I think that's incredibly unlikely.
 
nostradumbass said:
Yeah, and what I'm saying is that scenario is lottery unlikely and would take criminal mismanagement. If you're keeping yourself poor for years, risking getting injured at any point during that, taking nothing but short notice fights one after another, your body is going to be in pretty rough shape by the time you get to a major org, and you risk running into other future stars who also start out on regional shows for much less money, and having to do it on short notice.

The Khabib era was being undefeated and a champ with several defenses, there are plenty of guys who are just undefeated and they don't get much hype or credit until they start beating ranked guys. Hell, even now after Khabib was champ and finished all his title defenses, a bunch of the Dagi haters STILL try to retroactively discredit him for having any fights before the UFC, and try to discredit even his UFC wins.

I suppose the thread could be simplified to whether you think a fighter could get to 40-0 without joining a major org, and I think that's incredibly unlikely.
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I believe it will be rare, but it is a virtual certainty that it happens eventually, or someone at least tries it. All sorts of crazy unlikely shit happens these days. This would be probably the least surprising.
 
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