Fun fact: The UFC LW title has never been defended more than 3 times...

[Gio]

That fight was actually the only time I disagreed with the judges during Benson's run

Yep, and I agree Benson has fought the overall toughest and most talented title challengers. Edgar was a 2 time champ. Nate had a nice run and was never been finished at that point. Gilbert was coming as the SF champion. On paper, Bendo fought fighters who had championship level experience and household names

 

[eworden78]

I think this is an important fact when people try to compare GOAT's.

The LW division has the highest parity, and is one of the most chaotic divisions.

You see guys regularly come up out of the top 20 and start wrecking in the top ten.
Guys like Hooker and Machaev were barely top 100, just 3 years ago.

Even back years ago you had a stable of guys that could beat any other on any given day.

Look at someone like Tyson Griffin, nobody really thinks about him anymore but he:
Almost beat Edgar
beat Guida
beat Tibau
beat RDA

Then you got Evan Dunham:
beat Griffin
almost beat Sherk
beat Tibau

Then you got Guida:
beat Diaz
almost beat Diego
beat RDA
beat Pettis

Maynard:
beat Edgar
beat Diaz
draw Edgar
almost beat Edgar then got KO'd
beat Guida

You got Florian, Huerta, TJ Grant, Benson, Cowboy, Pettis, Sherk, Penn and you draw all sorts of crazy MMA math between each of them.
It's just the nature of the division, that it's so deep you always have killers lurking.

So when somebody like Ferguson or Khabib goes on an undefeated run, it means a lot more than most divisions.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Yep, and I agree Benson has fought the overall toughest and most talented title challengers. Edgar was a 2 time champ. Nate had a nice run and was never been finished at that point. Gilbert was a former SF champion. On paper, Bendo fought fighters who had championship level experience and household names.

And people are still like "who did Benson fight?"

Prime Nate and 50-43'ed him. That was his easiest job.

Recency fallacy is real.

 

[The Chosen]

Yep, and I agree Benson has fought the overall toughest and most talented title challengers. Edgar was a 2 time champ. Nate had a nice run and was never been finished at that point. Gilbert was a former SF champion. On paper, Bendo fought fighters who had championship level experience and household names.

Hate to always bring it back to Khabib, but Conor was the former FW and LW champion, Gaethje and Poirier both being awarded interim championships, Benson’s resume doesn’t compare, his win over Frankie and Gilbert were split decision ones I believe too.

 

[The Chosen]

Yep, and I agree Benson has fought the overall toughest and most talented title challengers. Edgar was a 2 time champ. Nate had a nice run and was never been finished at that point. Gilbert was coming as the SF champion. On paper, Bendo fought fighters who had championship level experience and household names

It seems like you’re probably Korean so have a nationalistic bias towards Bendo, it’s fine... but come on

 

[SJP_SevenLaker]

How does khabib finish kenflo? Prolly sickening gnp.

 

[JKS]

Khabib most impressive......quality opposition and domination.

Ben 2nd.....quality opposition, but closer fights.

And then there's BJ, he dominated some good fighters.

 

[is a]

Khabib's overall skillset seems similar to Matt Hughes in his prime more than anything.
You got a bunch of all-rounders and some strikers in the LW division but then Khabib is the only fighter whose wrestling skills, grappling, and overall conditioning stand out from the rest to the point the opponents they faced couldn't really adapt to it.

Both Khabib and Hughes aren't exactly proficient strikers either.

 

[SpamuraiSensei]

Motivated BJ with that look in his eye while pulsing wouldn't be able to beat Khabib the blanket nurmagomedov.

 

[Gio]

Hate to always bring it back to Khabib, but Conor was the former FW and LW champion, Gaethje and Poirier both being awarded interim championships, Benson’s resume doesn’t compare, his win over Frankie and Gilbert were split decision ones I believe too.

It's not about Ben's resume. Khabib may have the most impressive run, I give him that. But imo Ben has fought the toughest guys and proven guys.

Khabib won the belt against Iaquinta. Conor was great at FW, but 0 title defenses in both FW/LW and only has 1 win at LW in 2016. Poirier won the interim belt against a FW and a guy he already beat. Gaethje didn't fought any wrestler/grappler on his run for the title, and if his chin doesn't hold up vs MJ in his debut, he would've been 0-3 in his first 3 UFC fights.

Plus Benson never pulled out on any of his fights during his reign. He fought anytime, anywhere, and whoever. If he wins by SD's, it's the judges call, the blames not on him. But yeah, back on my OP, Khabib choking out all 3 on opponents in his defenses are the most impressive I think.

 

[The Chosen]

It's not about Ben's resume. Khabib may have the most impressive run, I give him that. But imo Ben has fought the toughest guys and proven guys.

Khabib won the belt against Iaquinta. Conor was great at FW, but 0 title defenses in both FW/LW and only has 1 win at LW in 2016. Poirier won the interim belt against a FW and a guy he already beat. Gaethje didn't fought any wrestler/grappler on his run for the title, and if his chin doesn't hold up vs MJ in his debut, he would've been 0-3 in his first 3 UFC fights.

Plus Benson never pulled out on any of his fights during his reign. He fought anytime, anywhere, and whoever. If he wins by SD's, it's the judges call, the blames not on him. But yeah, back on my OP, Khabib choking out all 3 on opponents in his defenses are the most impressive I think.

Yeah and that FW Poirier beat happened to be the guy people were calling (stupidly I admit) the best 145lber to ever live lol... nitpicking and grasping for straws much?

 

[asdf122345]

Khabib would of broken it.

 

[Rdude92]

That’s a fun bit of trivia. I think down the line benson may fade a bit in terms of his significance to the sport, but at the time I really believe he was the “next breed” of mma fighter. I think BJ pens run was the fondest for me, I remember it well and it has a lot of significance and positive memories attached. But overall I think Khabibs is clearly the most impressive. Both in opposition, and how he dominated them:

Yup Benson was a modern mma fighter from amongst his time where the rest are dinosaur era fighters

 

[Gio]

Stupid troll thread.

Did I bash anyone on the OP? Go to bed, you're drunk.

 

[jm5000]

I just kinda feel like he did his thing at fw. It didnt work out he stopped cutting so much and no one considered him anything special until he beat Max coming up in weight when he was well suited at fw. Just my opinion.

Dustin being very good was evident before the max fight, every time he got momentum with wins his run got stopped by a ko for the most part. I cant believe holloway was favored in that fight

 

[ellivville]

They're all good runs, but I think Khabib's is the most impressive.

 

[Gio]

Come on. You now enough to understand you shouldn't judge a fighter'ss resume by how his opponents did after they lost to him vs how they were/what kinda streak they were on before they fought for a title.

Thompson and Melendez were arguably world champs when Benson beat them. The UFC has never universally had the best catalogue of lower weight fighters until recently.

I believe Bellator has the best WW and FW on the planet.

Benson unified the LW title. He's title run should attend the test of time.

Not only Benson unified the UFC and WEC title, also the Strikeforce title when he beat Gil. People argue it's a close fight, but I can see how Ben won 3 rounds to 2 vs Gil, no bias. He pushed forward and showed he wanted it more in the last 2 rounds. Agree that his title run was special.

 

[Snake Master]

As much as I dislike saying this, Khabib has a better resume of title defenses because MMA as a whole evolves as time passes. Poirier by himself would have annihilated the fighters that Penn and Bendo defended against with his vastly improved skillset anyways.

Edgar and Nate beat Dustin, Diaz has already beat Mcgregor and Melendez>Gaethje.

 

[Peli]

We see things differently, nothing wrong with that. Dustin beat Holloway at LW. Outside of that, I dont see his p4p value. Gaethje beat a Ferguson who stayed on fight island and did two weight cuts(his own fault I agree) and conor has been gifted everything since he started running his mouth.

Fight island wasn't a thing then. They fought in Florida

 

[Gio]

Benson Henderson era was the worst of all time. God I hated him as a champion, also he lost to Edgar

It was the judges call. All he did was show up and fight his ass off. It's on the judges, not him. Whatever the happened it the past, he proved he's a fighting champ. Carried himself well, never pulled out of any fight even if it's a short notice fight.