end of an era

[Question]

Okay but what else is stupid is calling a 500 day period with one title fight in it an era when Whittaker was champion. There was no “era” where Whittaker was a champion. He was a champion for one fight longer than he should have been and he was only champ for one fight

He was still champion tho, that's all that matters.
The guy earned that belt, denying he was champion with the logic you presented doesn't make sense unless you also wanna discredit other champions who had to deal with similar circumstances.

 

[Hazuki Ryo]

You forgot Adesanya, Usman

 

[RockyLockridge]

He was still champion tho, that's all that matters.
The guy earned that belt, denying he was champion with the logic you presented doesn't make sense unless you also wanna discredit other champions who had to deal with similar circumstances.

Oh But I do. But this is one of the problems I’ve always had with Whittaker fans. the pedestal he gets put on, having never been the best mw in the ufc at any period of time is just insane to me. We’ll all LOL@ champs like nicco montoya and Germaine De Randamie for less

To be fair his claim to being the champion is just the same as Colby Covingtons they both won interim titles the same night one got promoted the other got stripped. Both won their next fights and Colby even fought sooner. The circumstances which Whittaker gets to hold a title, while being considered legit, are dubious to me

I actually parallel Colby to Whittaker quite a bit. Essentially they beat anyone who isn’t a champion, two losses to the champ at the time, interim champs that never got to fight the champ for whatever reason, (Colby never got to unify against woodley, Whittaker never unified with bisping) only difference being woodley ducked Colby in favour of usman. Whittaker just didn’t fight bisping because George fight was too massive to let pass

 

[Pious Augustus]

Whittaker was never really a champion. He was an interim champ that got promoted to champ, won a robbery then got obliterated. He never beat a champ. Or a former champ or even a former title challenger until he fought vettori.

So Izzy never was a true champion as well?

 

[RockyLockridge]

So Izzy never was a true champion as well?

Izzy actually unified his mw title and I’d say he really legitimized his title when he beat Costa who was undefeated and younger than him. I think when Izzy beat Whittaker it was obviously much more clear than when Whittaker beat Romero. At the very least Izzy had beaten Silva who is a championship quality fighter over the hill. He had also beaten gastelum who was to be Whittakers first challenger. So yes Izzy is a legit champion he did beat all comers to become champion and actually has at least 1 single title defense and a unification which Robert does not.

 

[Question]

Oh But I do. But this is one of the problems I’ve always had with Whittaker fans. the pedestal he gets put on, having never been the best mw in the ufc at any period of time is just insane to me. We’ll all LOL@ champs like nicco montoya and Germaine De Randamie for less

To be fair his claim to being the champion is just the same as Colby Covingtons they both won interim titles the same night one got promoted the other got stripped. Both won their next fights and Colby even fought sooner. The circumstances which Whittaker gets to hold a title, while being considered legit, are dubious to me

I actually parallel Colby to Whittaker quite a bit. Essentially they beat anyone who isn’t a champion, two losses to the champ at the time, interim champs that never got to fight the champ for whatever reason, (Colby never got to unify against woodley, Whittaker never unified with bisping) only difference being woodley ducked Colby in favour of usman. Whittaker just didn’t fight bisping because George fight was too massive to let pass

Yes, while I do agree stripping Colby at the time was messed up the belt was never vacant there. Woodley was still champion until Usman beat him, now for the ducking part I can't confirm or deny that. I don't anyone can unless the UFC or Woodley himself say it outright.

At the time it was clear when GSP vacated the title and Bisping essentially retired, Whittaker and Yoel were the number one and number two guys in their division.
He was promoted due to that, but he had a legit win over the best guy the division had to offer in a title fight. I don't really get the issue with him being promoted to champion here.

If it's the fans you have a problem with, that's fine I guess but you're logic doesn't hold up too much here with the issues on Whittaker himself.
I do agree with his era was iffy with the inactivity because of his injuries which weren't his fault(two great titles fights tho), honestly him and Bispings time as champion was a bit hard to follow and stuff only started to get back in order once Izzy got the title.

 

[JustforBROCK]

Winning a title doesn't make you a legend.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Yes, while I do agree stripping Colby at the time was messed up the belt was never vacant there. Woodley was still champion until Usman beat him, now for the ducking part I can't confirm or deny that. I don't anyone can unless the UFC or Woodley himself say it outright.

At the time it was clear when GSP vacated the title and Bisping essentially retired, Whittaker and Yoel were the number one and number two guys in their division.
He was promoted due to that, but he had a legit win over the best guy the division had to offer in a title fight. I don't really get the issue with him being promoted to champion here.

If it's the fans you have a problem with, that's fine I guess but you're logic doesn't hold up too much here with the issues on Whittaker himself.
I do agree with his era was iffy with the inactivity because of his injuries which weren't his fault(two great titles fights tho), honestly him and Bispings time as champion was a bit hard to follow and stuff only started to get back in order once Izzy got the title.

I dont have an issue with him being promoted to champion that's all you can do. but to act as if he's one of the best MW's to do it IMO is rather insulting.

My only issue is calling it an era, because honestly he was just injured the whole time an inreality he shouldn't have been champ any longer than strickland.

I will also defend with my life that yoel won that rematch (or it was a draw at the absolute best for whittaker) it should be looked at like machida beating shogun was. it was actually much worse of a decision than machida vs shogun aswell.


So again, Never anything against whittaker exciting fighter, nice person, but his fans always go up to bat for him with ridiculous claims. People say he's a top 5 all time MW. just lol. I dont even have a reason to say he's higher than mousasi

 

[Fact Checker]

Good riddance of Volk, Usman, and Whit… I had enough of their point fighting styles.


We high level athletes with that championship hunger.


Welcome the new generation. Hopefully they resemble the previous generations of fighters like Anderson, Jones, Aldo, etc.

 

[Question]

I dont have an issue with him being promoted to champion that's all you can do. but to act as if he's one of the best MW's to do it IMO is rather insulting.

My only issue is calling it an era, because honestly he was just injured the whole time an inreality he shouldn't have been champ any longer than strickland.

I will also defend with my life that yoel won that rematch (or it was a draw at the absolute best for whittaker) it should be looked at like machida beating shogun was. it was actually much worse of a decision than machida vs shogun aswell.


So again, Never anything against whittaker exciting fighter, nice person, but his fans always go up to bat for him with ridiculous claims. People say he's a top 5 all time MW. just lol. I dont even have a reason to say he's higher than mousasi

Aye man, I hope I'm one of the chill Whittaker fans to you at least lol.
I will say I think the Yoel rematch was a draw. I think he's a top five middleweight, but it's debatable where he goes in those last three slots(3,4 or 5)

I'm too big on the top ten/top five list thing tho, not much a thing I do

 

[RockyLockridge]

Aye man, I hope I'm one of the chill Whittaker fans to you at least lol.
I will say I think the Yoel rematch was a draw. I think he's a top five middleweight, but it's debatable where he goes in those last three slots(3,4 or 5)

I'm too big on the top ten/top five list thing tho, not much a thing I do

you are, you're one of the more barable reasonable ones that just likes whittaker (which is okay because he's both exciting and likable) but When I hear of the whittaker fans that say he certainly beat yoel the second time and also he beat adesanya (legit cringe) I just cant help but feel disdain towards him. I try my best to check myself and make sure im not the irrational one. Although I know i do not always come across that way lol.