Explain Cub Swanson

[Harlekin]

Great ko and performance from Cub.
In his prime he would've smoked that dude in 1-2 minutes.

Cub always had very slick boxing and great technique. Technique carries you at an older age.
He took a lot of punches, he would've evaded at a younger age though. Doesn't have the reactions anymore for that head movement.
Billy has one of the worst defense in the UFC at 42%. If you throw a right hand, he will take it, no matter what.

41 year old former top guy vs 36 year old bottom guy. Quarantillo is in the UFC because he is in exciting fights.
Will still be cut soon though.

 

[blaseblase]

Cub is love, Cub is life.

And hes married to and has had several kids with Dominick Cruz's ex and former UFC employee and Fox Sports model Kenda Perez.

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

I was told by sherdoggers that 41 at featherweight was a death sentence. Only possible at heavyweight. How is he still performing like that when all your speed and reflexes are supposed to arbitrarily leave you the second it strikes midnight on your 40th birthday. Incredible knockout.

Jim Miller is also 41 and has a lot more fights than Cub and doing much better both in accomplishments and activity.

5-7 in the last 7 years, its like two different careers if you look at it, before and from the Ortega fight.

This the perfect retirement party before he loses his next fight like he has been alternating wins with loses for years.

Jim is 9-5 in his last 6 years.

 

[blaseblase]

Cub is love, Cub ls life

 

[mkt]

He had that fight where he was tortured by Frankie Edgar, that and the Jose Aldo KO are maybe the worst he’s ever looked.

He also got submitted by Jens Pulver in 35 seconds. He must be allergic to UFC champs and former champs, lol.

 

[sanguinius]

I remember the lead up to his fight with pulver. Pulver landed a head kick against a sparring partner and dropped him, then just said “fuck you, cub” to the camera. Then finished him in seconds. Man, pulver was cool.

 

[achoo42]

I can’t even remember him being dropped in the UFC from strikes to the head but he must have been at some point. I wonder what the stats are on that.

One of the most underrated chins in the FW division.

Edit: the only knockdown via head strikes in the UFC that I could find was from Moicano. From a jab of all things from a guy who has never knocked out anyone standing. Go figure

This is the same as Chael Sonnen, who's also never been knocked out cold, apparently getting badly rocked by Demian Maia from bottom.

 

[markg171]

it’s the PrideFC fan boys who set the notion of a fighters being “out of their prime” because of cope. Fedor was out of his prime at 31 and Shogun at 28. Now newer just repeat the same old thing when their favorites lose. Aldo was supposedly out of his prime close to a decade now, yet performing and getting a title shot in another weight class. Fighters reach a certain point where they still can be competitive if they take a step back from fighting S Class fighters to A and B to improve on some skills and adapt. That’s why so adamant on Volkanovski taking a step back from title shots and fighting someone lower end in the rankings to gain his confidence and improve on some of his skills.

Pride fans want you to believe that nonsense to cover up the fact that most of the Pride boys actually started losing for having really shitty fight IQ and technique instead of actually doing anything smart with all their experience.

You actually can believe it or not continue to keep winning fights past your physical peaks if you simply bother adapting your fighting and maintain solid underlying technique behind what you're doing. We've got plenty of fighters who've done so. It's the guys still trying to fight like they're 25 and without solid technique that miraculously keep losing.

In B4 the Pride fans start accusing me of saying primes aren't real.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

I was told by sherdoggers that 41 at featherweight was a death sentence. Only possible at heavyweight. How is he still performing like that when all your speed and reflexes are supposed to arbitrarily leave you the second it strikes midnight on your 40th birthday. Incredible knockout.

Cub is remarkable and he will be missed. First and second sentence applies to normal fighters. Cub is 'the' outlier. I celebrate his success at this age. It's amazing.

 

[markg171]

Surprised no one mentioned no more usada.

You know you can still simply look up the athlete testing history and testing policy for yourself instead of listening to edgelord Sherbros right?

2025 – Test History – Test History – UFC Anti-Doping

ufcantidoping.com

 

[markg171]

Jim Miller is also 41 and has a lot more fights than Cub and doing much better both in accomplishments and activity.



Jim is 9-5 in his last 6 years.

Exactly.

The "outliers" miraculously happen to be the guys who maintain their solid technique, focus on what still works, and don't try and fight like they're 25.

Wild concept I know.

 

[Clark Rogers]

On average those lower weight classes struggle the older they get, we've seen it time after time.

Statistics, in almost every case, have these things called outliers. They don't negate the reality of the statistic, they just kinda prove that there typically exists a fractional set of whatever that don't align perfectly with the majority.

 

[skylolow]

I'm pretty sure Cub Swanson would tell you that 2017 Cub would destroy 2024 Cub.

 

[J'Ghasta]

Cub is remarkable and he will be missed. First and second sentence applies to normal fighters. Cub is 'the' outlier. I celebrate his success at this age. It's amazing.

Why is he an outlier though. And what makes him not a normal fighter. Hes never been a champion or serious contender.

 

[J'Ghasta]

Exactly.

The "outliers" miraculously happen to be the guys who maintain their solid technique, focus on what still works, and don't try and fight like they're 25.

Wild concept I know.

Cub definitely still fights like hes 25.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

Why is he an outlier though. And what makes him not a normal fighter. Hes never been a champion or serious contender.

He's been around so long, hasn't got KO'd multiple times and seems to be going out on his own terms. He's still putting on entertaining fights at his age. Who else in the lower weight divisions is like that?

 

[Sasha]

your speed and reflexes are supposed to arbitrarily leave you the second it strikes midnight on your 40th birthday.

Don't joke with that, dude, it's a curse. Everytime it's my birthday, I see all blurry and move really weird

 

[volcom5]

Pride fans want you to believe that nonsense to cover up the fact that most of the Pride boys actually started losing for having really shitty fight IQ and technique instead of actually doing anything smart with all their experience.

You actually can believe it or not continue to keep winning fights past your physical peaks if you simply bother adapting your fighting and maintain solid underlying technique behind what you're doing. We've got plenty of fighters who've done so. It's the guys still trying to fight like they're 25 and without solid technique that miraculously keep losing.

In B4 the Pride fans start accusing me of saying primes aren't real.

I agree.

But the (insert fighter) is out of his prime has been used so much that everyone parrots it to the point they believe its true.

According to the masses Max Holloway was out of his prime after losing the 2nd bout with Volkanovski. In a bout he looked great in and arguably won. He goes unto beat Matter and Rodriguez. Losses to Volkanovski and again the masses say he should retire. People on here were so hung up because he loss only to one guy in Volkanovski and forgot he's still beating the top 5 fighters in the weight class. The believe it so much that Holloway was going to get Fergusoned against Gaethje. In reality Volkanovski is just really good who is just a bad matchup for Holloway.

I just shake my head when I read fighters out of their prime after a loss, even in a loss they look good in.
MMA is showing that athletes can still flourish in their late 30s, when in other sports they're considered shot in their early 30's. Lionel Messing and Cristiano Ronaldo are still elite when people thought should've retired years ago.