Fedor is BY FAR the Longest Reigning Consensus #1 Ranked HW

[manu1433]

If you dont see the diffrence in MMA in the last 10 years you are a little bit biased towards "the good old times"

if you do not understand the sheer volume of men who train MMA compared to women then you must be 6 years old

it really isn't complicated

and do tell....UFC's HW division is awful right now and filled with fighters who were good 10 years ago

Hunt
Arlovski
Mir
Werdum
Overeem
Barnett

even a 41 year old Cro-Cop is making a push for top 15 again lol

 

[Mixfight]

if you do not understand the sure volume of men who train MMA compared to women then you must be 6 years old

it really isn't complicated

and do tell....UFC's HW division is awful right now and filled with fighters who were good 10 years ago

Hunt
Arlovski
Mir
Werdum
Overeem
Barnett

even a 41 year old Cro-Cop is making a push for top 15 again lol

Good post.


These children arent old enough to understand.

 

[tenniswhiz]

Yea, but Fedor rarely fought. He took years at a time between fights because of injuries.

Cain Velasquez, on the other hand, fought several times a year and had dozens of fights during his reign as #1 HW. That should count for something.

 

[105]

Where's Zuffa4life? I want his educated, experienced, otherworldy perspective...

 

[manu1433]

Yea, but Fedor rarely fought. He took years at a time between fights because of injuries.

Cain Velasquez, on the other hand, fought several times a year and had dozens of fights during his reign as #1 HW. That should count for something.

 

[indymmj]

GSP also had a marketing campaign designed to prop fighters and no splintering of talent. He also was finished twice in his prime (in case you can't count) and wasn't able to finish.

Fedor is GOAT. GSP was a great fighter.

GSP fought really good guys besides Hardy. GSP just made them look bad.
Hughes, Fitch, Penn, Alves and Koscheck really good at the time he fought them plus he had one of the most impressive roads to the title nobody had to face the likes of Trigg, Sherk, Penn 1 to get a title shot

 

[tenniswhiz]

GSP fought really good guys besides Hardy. GSP just made them look bad.
Hughes, Fitch, Penn, Alves and Koscheck really good at the time he fought them plus he had one of the most impressive roads to the title nobody had to face the likes of Trigg, Sherk, Penn 1 to get a title shot

The guy you responded to hated and exaggerated a bit too much.

But, "at the time"? C'mon...

Matt Hughes is a true antique in modern MMA. If he can't get his TD and be on top of the opponent, he is finished. That was proven a LONG time ago when he fought Jose Pele Landi.

Fitch? Most overrated fighter ever (by Sherdog). What was different about Fitch when GSP beat him and when he got KO'd by Hendricks and dominated by Maia? Please tell me.
Yea, he was supposedly "#2" when he was laying on top of guys like Ben Saunders.

BJ is and was a LW, and not a big one. Whatever achievements he has at WW happened back when nobody was an advanced MMA fighter; BJ was a great top position BJJ BB with very fine boxing.

Alves... ok, so tell me what was different about the Alves that got wrestle F'd by Rick Story than the one that faced GSP?
He got way too much credit for beating the antiquated Hughes and for winning a decision of that kickboxer Koscheck.

Kos? Nice title run. Get's KO'd by Paulo Thiago and loses a decision to Thiago Alves and he's a "perennial contender", go figure.

And you didn't mention him, but let's talk Jake Shields. He was a MW champ. When he enters the UFC he's suddenly a WW, and GSP gets credit for all of Jake's accomplishments at 185? C'mon.
Tell Fabricio Werdum he has to fight at LHW for his next fight, and then I'll brag about the guy who beats his starving ass.

Bad matchmaking created a an idiotic pecking order at WW and I thought as much back then.
But GSP's wins over Hendricks and Condit were excellent. THAT is why GSP is the king.
Not because of his overrated wins earlier on.

 

[Mixfight]

The guy you responded to hated and exaggerated a bit too much.

But, "at the time"? C'mon...

Matt Hughes is a true antique in modern MMA. If he can't get his TD and be on top of the opponent, he is finished. That was proven a LONG time ago when he fought Jose Pele Landi.

Fitch? Most overrated fighter ever (by Sherdog). What was different about Fitch when GSP beat him and when he got KO'd by Hendricks and dominated by Maia? Please tell me.
Yea, he was supposedly "#2" when he was laying on top of guys like Ben Saunders.

BJ is and was a LW, and not a big one. Whatever achievements he has at WW happened back when nobody was an advanced MMA fighter; BJ was a great top position BJJ BB with very fine boxing.

Alves... ok, so tell me what was different about the Alves that got wrestle F'd by Rick Story than the one that faced GSP?
He got way too much credit for beating the antiquated Hughes and for winning a decision of that kickboxer Koscheck.

Kos? Nice title run. Get's KO'd by Paulo Thiago and loses a decision to Thiago Alves and he's a "perennial contender", go figure.

And you didn't mention him, but let's talk Jake Shields. He was a MW champ. When he enters the UFC he's suddenly a WW, and GSP gets credit for all of Jake's accomplishments at 185? C'mon.
Tell Fabricio Werdum he has to fight at LHW for his next fight, and then I'll brag about the guy who beats his starving ass.

Bad matchmaking created a an idiotic pecking order at WW and I thought as much back then.
But GSP's wins over Hendricks and Condit were excellent. THAT is why GSP is the king.
Not because of his overrated wins earlier on.

Fantastic post.

 

[stav]

how many title defenses did he have

Not a reasonable statement as GP formats were common in that era of MMA.

 

[knoxville80]

nice insight, besides, After his long reign at PFC, some dumbass sherdoggers and uneducated public in general actually questioned Fedor skills saying how he could not beat some UFC HWs, and u know what happend to Sylvia and then Arlovski, guys who were like 2 of the most notable HWs at that time, thats like being in the top of the world for an entire decade. GOAT!

 

[Fox by the Sea]

Yea, but Fedor rarely fought. He took years at a time between fights because of injuries.

Cain Velasquez, on the other hand, fought several times a year and had dozens of fights during his reign as #1 HW. That should count for something.

preach.

 

[ilfirin]

Yup. It's not even close really. He'll certainly be surpassed sooner or later, like everyone gets, but at this point he's the GOAT.

 

[in the liver]

men came into MMA during Fedor's era with legit martial arts backgrounds

yeah and we all found out how useless TMAs were in MMA didnt we

Honda is fighting Bethe Corriea who was an accounting student and not even training 3 1/2 years ago

awful

thats actually an excellent point to bring up because it really accurately reflects all the tomato can matches they gave fedor, like zulu and hong man choi. thats a fedor/ronda comparison i never even thought of

 

[Sano]

Good work as usual Coffee. Nevermind that it regards Fedor, which I admit I like, overall your stats and research is a breath of fresh air.

 

[Sano]

yeah and we all found out how useless TMAs were in MMA didnt we



thats actually an excellent point to bring up because it really accurately reflects all the tomato can matches they gave fedor, like zulu and hong man choi. thats a fedor/ronda comparison i never even thought of

Both yes and no. Bethe didn't outweight Ronda by over 100lbs.

 

[Squarechoke]

Fedor is defintely the greatest HW in MMA and I doubt that anyone will be at the top for that long. That's partially because the top HW will fight top competition more often these days, as the UFC doesn't do squash matches, so Fedor could theoretically be passed when it comes to top wins. That's still a tall order so I don't expect it to happen in the foreseeable future.

GSP also had a marketing campaign designed to prop fighters and no splintering of talent. He also was finished twice in his prime (in case you can't count) and wasn't able to finish.

Fedor is GOAT. GSP was a great fighter.

I had pegged you for someone that knew quite a bit about MMA, but if you think GSP was in his prime the first time he fought Hughes then I might have to revise my opinion.

 

[milenss]

Fedor bless.

 

[quebert]

He lost 3 in a row badly, don't care how long his reign was. The end of his fighting speaks volumes. I mean in Japan he was an unstoppable monster. He comes to USA, and proceeds to struggle with Rogers, who was highly highly overrated. And then lose to an already ancient Hendo, get choked out by Werdum & pounded to a stoppage by Bigfoot.

I've never seen a fighter go from feared unstoppable, unbeatable beast to a past his prime fighter as quickly as Fedor. It's absolutely crazy. He was good, he was great even but no fucking way GOAT, between the stupid amount of gimmie fights he had in Pride, to his 3 fight losing streak, I'm not buying GOAT talk. And as already mentioned the talent pool back then was pretty weak, it's not much better today. But, imho it still is somewhat. Cain, JDS & probably even Miocic all beat any version of Big Nog. Besides Nog CroCop was legit, and Herring was real good. But Herring would have gotten mauled by Cain or JDS. Herring who technically should have still been in his prime retired after Lesnar pushed his shit back. The rest of Pride's HW division could have been cleared out by Meathead. And even if so many people consider him the HW GOAT, HW has always been the weakest division by far. Anyone who considers him the all time p4p GOAT when he was in a mostly trash filled division. I just don't know...

 

[manu1433]

yeah and we all found out how useless TMAs were in MMA didnt we



thats actually an excellent point to bring up because it really accurately reflects all the tomato can matches they gave fedor, like zulu and hong man choi. thats a fedor/ronda comparison i never even thought of

“I would say my strongest opponent has been Sara McMann." - Honda Rousey

 

[Deleted member 110072]

The guy you responded to hated and exaggerated a bit too much.

But, "at the time"? C'mon...

Matt Hughes is a true antique in modern MMA. If he can't get his TD and be on top of the opponent, he is finished. That was proven a LONG time ago when he fought Jose Pele Landi.

Fitch? Most overrated fighter ever (by Sherdog). What was different about Fitch when GSP beat him and when he got KO'd by Hendricks and dominated by Maia? Please tell me.
Yea, he was supposedly "#2" when he was laying on top of guys like Ben Saunders.

BJ is and was a LW, and not a big one. Whatever achievements he has at WW happened back when nobody was an advanced MMA fighter; BJ was a great top position BJJ BB with very fine boxing.

Alves... ok, so tell me what was different about the Alves that got wrestle F'd by Rick Story than the one that faced GSP?
He got way too much credit for beating the antiquated Hughes and for winning a decision of that kickboxer Koscheck.

Kos? Nice title run. Get's KO'd by Paulo Thiago and loses a decision to Thiago Alves and he's a "perennial contender", go figure.

And you didn't mention him, but let's talk Jake Shields. He was a MW champ. When he enters the UFC he's suddenly a WW, and GSP gets credit for all of Jake's accomplishments at 185? C'mon.
Tell Fabricio Werdum he has to fight at LHW for his next fight, and then I'll brag about the guy who beats his starving ass.

Bad matchmaking created a an idiotic pecking order at WW and I thought as much back then.
But GSP's wins over Hendricks and Condit were excellent. THAT is why GSP is the king.
Not because of his overrated wins earlier on.

Its ironic that the very reason WW was hyped as a strong division for so long is actually why is was a relatively weak division so long. That is the UFC being the only org to seriously invest in it during the early 00's, unlike 155, 185, 205 and HW they did have most of the best talent and as a result hyped the division a lot. That also ment however that the overall investment in WW was very limited AND focused mostly on US wrestlers.

The way BJ moved up to 170lbs dispite actually being capable of fighting at 145lbs without dropping much muscle and beat the #1 fighter shows you just how weak things were. Equally Fitch was able to be the #2 fighter for years on end dispite relatively few big wins and with quite a limited skill set, good but not awesome wrestler, passable striker and sub fighter at best. You compare that to say Nog at HW who was an elite sub fighter and an excellent striker.

You also look at whats happened more recently, guys like Lawler, Maia and Palhares have moved down to 170lbs and cut though much of the division. The reason being IMHO that WW at recently as 3-4 years ago(and so some degree still today) was weak in terms of striking and submission talent being heavily wrestling focused.

For all the talk about Pride HW legends being "out evolved" I actually think that its WW and MW that have evolved a lot more since most of the reign of the UFC's hyped GOATs in GSP and Anderson dispite those reigns being latter than Fedor/Nog. HW back the early/mid 00's had elite striking, submission and wrestling talent involved with a lot of well rounded fighters at the top, WW was mostly wrestlers and MW mostly rather one dimensional fighters even into the late 00's.

The explanation is simple as well, HW had serious investment in it way way before 170lbs and 185lbs going back to the mid 90's, MW and WW really only had serious investment in them as GSP and Andersons fame took off which took a few more years to feed into more talented divisions we have today.