Heavyweight is coming to its prime?

[Kforcer]

Randleman who has zero bjj defense, striking, and cardio was ranked number 2 in pride at one point. He also KTFOed cro cop.

Prime Randleman wouldn't even crack the top 20 in the current light heavyweight division, let alone heavyweight.

Randleman's elite wrestling and freakish strength and athleticism stand out in any era. He was unpredictable and inconsistent, so who knows exactly what he'd do or not do, but he certainly wouldn't be a non-factor.

 

[Kforcer]

When did Couture threaten anyone with submissions?

When he submitted people with them, such as in the case of Coleman and Van Arsdale.

 

[moreorless87]

It's hilarious you actually had to explain this. Punching power apparently magically appeared in the last 3 years...

UFC hype is a hell of a drug.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

Yeah yeah i know there are gonna be some pride nuthuggers here, but hey what can you do this is sherdog after all

Anyway heavyweight is looking better than ever right now, we have an all time great in stipe, murderous punchers like the sport have never seen before with ngannou and lewis and rozenstruik, pragmatic wrestlers like blaydes, super complete guys like cyril gane and tom aspinall on the upcoming and still some old legends that although shot still can put on a good show and serve as gatekeepers. Fuk even guys like tanner boser look impresive for their speed, this is the first time in a long time i can see at least 5 guys on the hw division that could become legit champions.

This is the first time in a long time HW has had any lifeblood in it. . . let's not conflate that with PRIME. What a jump!

That being said, there are definitely (jesus, for the first time in years it feels like) actual up-and-comers who look decent, and are *actually* well-rounded. Having a bunch of 2-D big punchers at the top is actually a sign of the division's shallowness, btw. And having *a* wrestler in Blaydes doesn't make the division look diverse either. The other notable grappler being an over-the-hill 2-D Alexei Oleynik. Give the division a couple years, and I think we can start talking about "Prime", but it's ironic that you start by bashing Pride (which had a VERY well-rounded HW elite, and even Strikeforce) only to put forth a shoddy division.

 

[BFoe]

It's hilarious you actually had to explain this. Punching power apparently magically appeared in the last 3 years...

Tbh I was wondering if it was a troll question... Luckily I had just been digging out gifs for Carwin.

I mean there are so many spectacular one-shot KO artists in MMA history you forget them all Shawn Jordan, Pat Barry, prime Arlovski... Even Big Nog starched Brendan.

I still remember when they could kick too.

Then there's the GOAT...

Preach, man. Just the other day, I said this:

He’s a terrifying puncher, but how exactly is he different than Shane Carwin? I’ll tell you how: Carwin was a NCAA Div 2 champion, whereas all Francis can do is punch. But somehow he’s more evolved?

Too many fans today have no historical context for what they’re seeing, and are disrespect to the fighters of the past (whether they mean to be or not). Those of use that have been around have seen this shit before.

 

[superpunch]

If 2004-2006 was the Golden Era, then I'd say 2010-2011 was the Silver Era.

January 2010

#1 Fedor Emelianenko (33)
#2 Brock Lesnar (32)
#3 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33)
#4 Frank Mir (30)
#5 Junior dos Santos (25)
#6 Josh Barnett (32)
#7 Brett Rogers (28)
#8 Cain Velasquez (27)
#9 Fabricio Werdum (32)
#10 Shane Carwin (34)

Heavyweight has been dying since 2012.

I remember back then that Brock Lesnar was considered old and he talked about how he was past his physical prime. LOL he would be considered a young prospect nowadays.

 

[MrKontakos]

Absolutely insane thing to say. Even if we discount Pride entirely, which would be stupid, the HW division of ten years ago in the UFC was MUCH deeper.

 

[acannxr]

Randleman who has zero bjj defense, striking, and cardio was ranked number 2 in pride at one point. He also KTFOed cro cop.

Prime Randleman wouldn't even crack the top 20 in the current light heavyweight division, let alone heavyweight.

When talking about fighters' skillsets, I clearly specified that I was talking about the last ten years.

Heavyweights have become more one-dimensional over the last ten years.

 

[Sticko]

Same goes for fight mileage Stipe doesn’t fight. His entire career is shorter than Fedors reign. There’s been discussion about stripping him for inactivity multiple times already.

Stipe was an active champion during his first title reign.
The only time he was an inactive champion was during the gap between DC-Stipe II and III, which was almost exactly one year. But it made no sense to strip him.

- He had a serious eye injury which DC caused
- the UFC wanted to rematch DC and Stipe again
- DC was clear that he would only fight for the real belt
- we were also in a global pandemic

So if you had stripped Stipe and made DC vs Ngannou for the vacant belt you'd be rewarding DC for an injury that he caused to the legitimate champion.

I wish the UFC had made Ngannou vs Rozenstruick for the interim belt back in May. Rozenstruick was on a 4-fight streak at the time. I think if they'd done that they could have given Ngannou another fight (an interim title defense) in the meantime. Trouble is everyone knows Ngannou is next in line for the belt so it didn't really make sense for him to fight again