How do we feel about the #1 ranking at HW?

[Mike]

Renan isn’t a can he’s ranked in the top 10. He recently stopped the bellator hw champ. Francis being the lineal champ factors into this his last fight was in 2022. That’s not far at all. Should he beat a top 10 guy and still have the lineal belt that should jump him back to #1. He has better wins than anyone at hw.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Ngannous claim to being the no1 HW in MMA has been significantly weakened at this point. Inactive, pushing 40, moved to a B league and was last seen getting a life changing beatdown at the hands of Anthony Joshua that may well leave him a softened up target for any opponents going forward. Wouldnt even be surprised if Renan sparks him now tbh.

 

[snaportap21]

UFC fanboying is crazy .

 

[snaportap21]

Ngannous claim to being the no1 HW in MMA has been significantly weakened at this point. Inactive, pushing 40, moved to a B league and was last seen getting a life changing beatdown at the hands of Anthony Joshua that may well leave him a softened up target for any opponents going forward. Wouldnt even be surprised if Renan sparks him now tbh.

Renan certainly has a puncher’s chance. He’s a top 10 fighter who just picked up a very good win over the bellator hw champ. Should Francis win he’ll have a better resume than Tom. It hasn’t been an insanely long time and the division hasn’t really changed much since Francis left. Gane is still at the top and Francis just beat him.

 

[Mike]

++

UFC fanboying is crazy .

I've been watching since 2007. KOTC, Bellator, Strikeforce, WEC, Pride, UFC, Dream, One, RIzin, Elite XC, other orgs I'm sure I'm forgetting. At no point in that span of time, has the Bellator HW championship had even a hint of prestige or clout. Nobody has ever cared about it, and the height of it's relevancy was a past prime ufc LHW coming over to dominate the division. No, I don't care about the Bellator hw championship.

In that one small way, I am truly like everyone else on Earth.

 

[snaportap21]

++

I've been watching since 2007. KOTC, Bellator, Strikeforce, WEC, Pride, UFC, Dream, One, RIzin, Elite XC, other orgs I'm sure I'm forgetting. At no point in that span of time, has the Bellator HW championship had even a hint of prestige or clout. Nobody has ever cared about it, and the height of it's relevancy was a past prime ufc LHW coming over to dominate the division. No, I don't care about the Bellator hw championship.

In that one small way, I am truly like everyone else on Earth.

To act as if bellator hws aren’t good is ridiculous. Volkov was a bellator hw at first. Bellator is a legitimate mma organization with world class talent. Francis beating the guy that beat the bellator hw champ has merit.

 

[Mike]

To act as if bellator hws aren’t good is ridiculous. Volkov was a bellator hw at first. Bellator is a legitimate mma organization with world class talent. Francis beating the guy that beat the bellator hw champ has merit.

Who's acting lmao

 

[TITS]

But even fight Matrix has some serious UFC bias. I mean there's not a single non UFC fighter in the top 25 pound for pound. You mean to tell me UFC has every single top 25 p4p fighter under contract? Give me a break. They're lazy rankings.

P4P rankings don't matter anyway. They're useless.

 

[Mike]

A fringe top 5 ufc lhw that nobody would have had as a favorite over ANY of the champs while he was ranked went to Bellator at nearly 35 years old. And he wrecked their hw division for YEARS while being undersized and past prime. Look, anyone can be impressed by whatever they like but I am certainly not impressed by the fuckin bellator hw division. Just imagine lol.


I could never.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Renan certainly has a puncher’s chance. He’s a top 10 fighter who just picked up a very good win over the bellator hw champ. Should Francis win he’ll have a better resume than Tom. It hasn’t been an insanely long time and the division hasn’t really changed much since Francis left. Gane is still at the top and Francis just beat him.

Francis has a better overall resume yeah, but the problem is theres an almost 3 year gap in that resume now. Tom has fought 5x since Francis last fought. I'm not sure i'd rank a win over Renan ahead of beating Blaydes or Pav either.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

++

I've been watching since 2007. KOTC, Bellator, Strikeforce, WEC, Pride, UFC, Dream, One, RIzin, Elite XC, other orgs I'm sure I'm forgetting. At no point in that span of time, has the Bellator HW championship had even a hint of prestige or clout. Nobody has ever cared about it, and the height of it's relevancy was a past prime ufc LHW coming over to dominate the division. No, I don't care about the Bellator hw championship.

In that one small way, I am truly like everyone else on Earth.

Yeah in that time period the only other HW division (disregarding Pride which was obviously on its death bed in 2007) that had serious credibility was Strikeforces for a couple of years in the late 00s/early 10s.

 

[Brigfa2]

Until Francis loses in MMA Tom isn't #1 HW IMO. Francis has beat everyone Tom has (except for Volkov and Pav) and more.

I think unless DDP beats GSP, he will never be the lineal champ. GSP never lose that belt

 

[Mike]

Yeah in that time period the only other HW division (disregarding Pride which was obviously on its death bed in 2007) that had serious credibility was Strikeforces for a couple of years in the late 00s/early 10s.

To the point that the ufc absorbing SF instantly made their HW division good for the first and only time in company history. Good times.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I think unless DDP beats GSP, he will never be the lineal champ. GSP never lose that belt

Except that's not what I said in my post at all. I said that I don't think Tom is #1 until Francis loses in MMA. I never questioned the validity of someone's champion status if they didn't beat the previous holder.

 

[snaportap21]

Francis has a better overall resume yeah, but the problem is theres an almost 3 year gap in that resume now. Tom has fought 5x since Francis last fought. I'm not sure i'd rank a win over Renan ahead of beating Blaydes or Pav either.

Pav was beaten by Volkov and econoreem. He’s not that great of a win. Francis has already beaten Blaydes twice. Francis has a recent win over Gane. That tops anything Tom has done in the division.

 

[snaportap21]

A fringe top 5 ufc lhw that nobody would have had as a favorite over ANY of the champs while he was ranked went to Bellator at nearly 35 years old. And he wrecked their hw division for YEARS while being undersized and past prime. Look, anyone can be impressed by whatever they like but I am certainly not impressed by the fuckin bellator hw division. Just imagine lol.


I could never.

You sound like a keyboard warrior .

 

[Alpha_T83]

When Tom ends up inevitably holding the belt, is he going to be considered a paper champ? The best HW in the world right now is in the PFL. Is Tom always going to be ranked #2 until Francis ends up losing in mma? What are your thoughts? Is it wrong to consider Tom the #1 ranked HW with another win?

Tom is already the real champ, so I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about.

The paper champ is Jon Jones.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Pav was beaten by Volkov and econoreem. He’s not that great of a win. Francis has already beaten Blaydes twice. Francis has a recent win over Gane. That tops anything Tom has done in the division.

I think the bigger problem is Ngannou leaving the UFC without losing. It's created chaos at heavyweight. Would Jon Jones have beaten Ngannou? Could Aspinall beat Ngannou? We will never know.

But the division is being thrown into even more chaos with Jon Jones clearly ducking Aspinall.

 

[CrimsonFan]

P4P rankings don't matter anyway. They're useless.

Agreed, it just seems like a heavy bias for fighters signed to the UFC.

 

[snaportap21]

Tom is already the real champ, so I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about.

The paper champ is Jon Jones.

They both are paper champs. Let’s keep it real.

I think the bigger problem is Ngannou leaving the UFC without losing. It's created chaos at heavyweight. Would Jon Jones have beaten Ngannou? Could Aspinall beat Ngannou? We will never know.

But the division is being thrown into even more chaos with Jon Jones clearly ducking Aspinall.

Things would sure be easier if Francis were to lose his next fight . Aspinall vs Ngannou would have been so awesome. It could have been this generation’s Cain vs JDS. That would have been a spectacle. I could see either side winning.

Also, is Jon actually ducking Aspinall? When Sergei vs Aspinall was announced Dana said they were rescheduling stipe jones. You can’t duck a fight you were never offered. In addition to that there’s an old video of Jon saying a fight against Francis is the only fight he’d consider instead of retiring after the Stipe fight. Saying Jon is ducking is a bit disingenuous .