How do you rate Usman's reign as champion?

[AmbassadorFright]

Usman has had a very good career, but judging his sole championship run I think there's a lot of room for both praise and criticism. Looking through it objectively here's a recap

Dominated 37 year old Tyron Woodley who was seen as a strong champion prior but then dropped 3 fights after and lost boxing matches to Jake Paul 1 by brutal KO. It looked very impressive at the time and is still probably one of his best performances but it didn't age well at all

Beat Colby Covington in a great back and forth battle he was getting the better of in a really good performance

Had a pretty uneventful wall and stall performance against a journeyman Masvidal (who took the fight on short notice) in a very unimpressive performance

Jabs Gilbert Burns to death after being hurt early and finishes him. Burns is a solid win but an aging fighter

KO's journeyman Masvidal impressive but Jorge in 0 way deserved a title shot and this was a free win Usman set up to get a free defense. Masvidal has almost 20 losses and was never a real title contender

Wins a rematch against an inactive Covington who also didn't deserve a title rematch in any way whatsoever

Gets KO'd stiff by prime Edward's after slightly getting the better of a very competitive 5 round fight. Usman didn't look good and was almost submitted in the 1st round.

I kind of have mixed feelings about Usmans run. He beat quality names like Maia, Strickland, RDA and pre prime Leon before getting the belt but many of those guys were out of their prime or not yet in it. I think he had great moments but the blatant record padding of Covington and Masvidal rematches definitely deserve to be questioned. I think he got by more by strength, size and athleticism rather than any amazing skill. I never really bought his PFP number 1 status but he was a long reigning champ and deserves credit. What did you think of the Usman era?

 

[jeff7b9]

He cleaned out the division and wound up doing rematches.

You can always spin something to try to belittle it but .... why?

He is a solid #3 all time at WW behind GSP and Hughes. His fights with Colby were epic, his KO of Masvidal was potential KO of the year.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Dominant and unnecessarily repetitive

 

[Gabe]

He was incredibly dominant against the top guys in the division. Was handily beating Edwards before the head-kick.

 

[TheBulge]

Great fighter, an all time great in his weight class. Only negative is he evolved his striking very late into his career. With his natural talent he could have become even better.

 

[ExitLUPin]

I agree with you overall. His reign was good but worse than Georges or Hughes.

I wouldnt mention Strickland tho. He wasnt a relevant win @ WW he was 5-3 then and notably and admittedly badly drained at the weight. Kamaru has better wins against Moraes and Warley.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

He was incredibly dominant against the top guys in the division. Was handily beating Edwards before the head-kick.

I mean he was winning on points, but not really dominating that fight. He was on his way to winning 3-2 if he survived, unless the fifth turned into a rout, which would have ended in a draw.

But the key thing is that he hadn't exhausted Edwards, or punished him enough to break him down. Edwards was relatively crisp in the fifth, and thus still dangerous.

Overall Edwards is clearly a top all time WW. I'd put him at third, but very close to 2nd. I think he could surpass Hughes with a late career surge.

 

[welcometohavoc]

Not an Usman fan but he doesn't get enough credit for how active he was, especially nowadays when guys win the belt and then start taking years off

 

[Viking Power]

I’ll be honest. I was fully sold on Usman. Thought he’d keep the belt until he had done enough to surpass GSP. I wasn’t too impressed with Masvidal getting two shots against him however as those were tailor made wins. His other title fights were against solid contenders though.
Now what the hell does he do? Does he have enough left in the tank to get the belt back? I don’t know.

 

[gonads20]

One of the best reigns in WW history. I will give him credit becuase i use to think he was boring as fuck then he started killing people in the ring. I think he gets the belt back in 2023.

 

[Hypetrainofthemonth]

He cleaned out the division and wound up doing rematches.

You can always spin something to try to belittle it but .... why?

He is a solid #3 all time at WW behind GSP and Hughes. His fights with Colby were epic, his KO of Masvidal was potential KO of the year.

Came to say this pretty much verbatim.

 

[Dionysian]

Dominant and unnecessarily repetitive

This. Nothing wrong on his part / more reflective of WME's stupidity.

Overall Edwards is clearly a top all time WW. I'd put him at third, but very close to 2nd. I think he could surpass Hughes with a late career surge.

Woah. Crazy position but at least you're taking it. He'd have to have the greatest late career surge of all-time (by a very large margin IMHO) in order to eclipse both Kamaru and Hughes.

Or did you mean something other than strength of resume?

 

[Th3Sav4ge]

He cleaned out the division and wound up doing rematches.

You can always spin something to try to belittle it but .... why?

He is a solid #3 all time at WW behind GSP and Hughes. His fights with Colby were epic, his KO of Masvidal was potential KO of the year.

this^ also his fights on tuf werent against slouches either that season had killers. Usman is Top quality out of elite fighters

was weird people acted like he learned how to strike in his title reign when he beat the piss out of strickland. he has been well rounded for awhile too not just a wrestler

 

[VinceArch]

I think he's the 3rd best WW fighter of all time behind GSP and Hughes but I can see him getting by Hughes if he can get the belt once more.

 

[Geniusss]

It was great
He beat all the top 5 from his division until Edwards and he was running out of challengers actually thats why he had to fight Colby twice and Masvidal twice

 

[PlayboyMixx]

Usman's WW reign is second only to GSP.

 

[GrantB13]

He was good. But fighting Masvidal twice? Lol.

 

[Gamer2k4]

He cleaned out the division and wound up doing rematches.

You can always spin something to try to belittle it but .... why?

He is a solid #3 all time at WW behind GSP and Hughes. His fights with Colby were epic, his KO of Masvidal was potential KO of the year.

Cleared out the division? He defended the title against three different people, one of which was Masvidal. Compare that to GSP, who defended against nine unique fighters and held the belt for nearly twice as long as Usman did.

That said, I have to agree with #3, because who else are you going to give it to? Not Woodley or Miletich, and no other WW champion has more than two defenses. So, it's got to be GSP, Hughes, Usman.

 

[Siver!]

Cleared out the division? He defended the title against three different people, one of which was Masvidal.

Once a champion has defenses against a half dozen different opponents, sure, we can start talking about them clearing out the division. But in my mind, Colby, Burns, and Masvidal are absolutely not the WW division.

I think this will hurt Usman's reputation when the next dominant WW champ comes along.

It's just not a good look, fighting the same guys over and over again.

 

[ForeverYoung]

Not gonna lie the first Masvidal fight was soo boring to watch but in hindsight its kind of hilarious that Usman pushed him against the cage and stomped his foot 375995 times.