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There is a lot of smack talk on sherdog discounting BJ's lightweight dominance.
The fact remains he dismantled Sherk in his prime, Florian in his prime, an up and coming Gomi, Stevenson (when he was ranked top 5), etc.
It seems it would have been better if BJ beat a bunch of young prospects instead of top guys in their prime because those young prospects might now be molding into top guys today and still be talked about (whereas the prime top guys BJ beat are long past their prime... and long forgotten on sherdog). But that is a discussion for some other time.
Anyway, my question for people is who do you really think can surpass or has already surpassed BJ's reign as the lightweight king?
Edgar had a tie and then a ko win over Maynard after taking a massive beating. He also beat a rusty, past his prime Sherk.
Benson has some high quality wins... a great win over Miller and a couple of close wins over Edgar (no easy feat). However, he lost to Pettis and has yet to finish a fight in the UFC.
Obviously part of evaluating a fighter's dominance is how head and shoulders they are above the competition. With that, I don't think anyone comes close to BJ in his heyday in the LW division (sans Frankie Edgar fight).
The other part is in evaluating how the level of competition has risen. This is a never-ending process, however, and I don't think its fair to compare between different eras. 5 years from now, we might be saying Benson and Frankie had it easy.
On a related note is how a top fighter evolves and performs later in his career. GSP, Anderson, and Lyoto are examples of a fighters who have evolved to remain on top, while Gomi and BJ unfortunately are the opposite. This shouldn't impact the evaluation of their reigns as top fighters during their brief primes, however.
There is also BJ's lackluster return to WW, which may have clouded his superb LW career in some eyes.
The fact remains he dismantled Sherk in his prime, Florian in his prime, an up and coming Gomi, Stevenson (when he was ranked top 5), etc.
It seems it would have been better if BJ beat a bunch of young prospects instead of top guys in their prime because those young prospects might now be molding into top guys today and still be talked about (whereas the prime top guys BJ beat are long past their prime... and long forgotten on sherdog). But that is a discussion for some other time.
Anyway, my question for people is who do you really think can surpass or has already surpassed BJ's reign as the lightweight king?
Edgar had a tie and then a ko win over Maynard after taking a massive beating. He also beat a rusty, past his prime Sherk.
Benson has some high quality wins... a great win over Miller and a couple of close wins over Edgar (no easy feat). However, he lost to Pettis and has yet to finish a fight in the UFC.
Obviously part of evaluating a fighter's dominance is how head and shoulders they are above the competition. With that, I don't think anyone comes close to BJ in his heyday in the LW division (sans Frankie Edgar fight).
The other part is in evaluating how the level of competition has risen. This is a never-ending process, however, and I don't think its fair to compare between different eras. 5 years from now, we might be saying Benson and Frankie had it easy.
On a related note is how a top fighter evolves and performs later in his career. GSP, Anderson, and Lyoto are examples of a fighters who have evolved to remain on top, while Gomi and BJ unfortunately are the opposite. This shouldn't impact the evaluation of their reigns as top fighters during their brief primes, however.
There is also BJ's lackluster return to WW, which may have clouded his superb LW career in some eyes.
