How dominant were the other GOATs candidate up until their 3rd title defense?

[ElCasca]

I don't know about that. Champions can often look dominant for a few fights and then fail. It is pretty common. Will never know if Khabib could have withstood the biggest challenders over and over.

I mean T-wood for a while looked dominant as a champion and look at him now. He is level with Khabib on title defences.

That happens with so many fighters.
Rousey defended 6 times and then turned into a punching bag 2 times and retired.
Barao defended 4 times, looking like P4P #1 and then Dillashaw beat him into a leaving death and he fell off.
Staying on top of any division for long is always extremely hard.

 

[HHJ]

Cote and Benji Radach were talented strikers and he damn near put Radach in a coma and out of the sport for years.

Yep.

You cant define leben at his worst moment. He was a dangerous guy. Lots of better strikers than him still found themselves face down ass up anyway when they fought him.

 

[Deathbycalfkick]

Anderson got his title shot after a win against leben. You should go watch that fight tell me how's Chris is not worse than Iaquinta and Horcher.

I think some Context needs to be added here. Anderson was already champ in two other organizations and Zuffa was desperate for a star to draw people from Pride's audience. Couple that with Leben being on a streak of dominant wins. Anderson got his title shot because he was well known from his fights and brutal finishes in other organizations. Khabib had 16 wins in a no name Russian promotion against nobodies.
Apples and Oranges.

Didn't help that red Goof hates wrestlers

 

[Reileyb]

I see people mention this a lot, but I don't believe it. Khabib was still fairly green and developping his skillset when he came into the UFC. I think his career was managed correctly by giving him progressively more difficult opponents while khabib continued to grow as a fighter (he especially started improving quickly after moving to AKA). Had he faced Benson henderson for the belt in 2012, I do not think that version of Khabib would have won against that version of Benson.

Absolutely, the Khabib that fought Tibau was much less refined than the Khabib that won the title, he would have struggled against the top of the division at that point in his life. Compared to guys like Jones or Silva who came into their reign as monsters of their divisions.

 

[1pedestrian]

Anderson's Title shot came in his 23rd fight, and Khabib's on his 26th, I'd say they were pretty close in mileage.

He almost lost to unranked Tibau in his second fight, imagine what a prime Benson Henderson would do to him in 2012.

 

[DestinedAussie]

That happens with so many fighters.
Rousey defended 6 times and then turned into a punching bag 2 times and retired.
Barao defended 4 times, looking like P4P #1 and then Dillashaw beat him into a leaving death and he fell off.
Staying on top of any division for long is always extremely hard.

Which is why title defences/wins are the gold standard to use as a starting point to determining best of all time.

Rousey in particular was shocking, she was so incredibly dominant in those 6 defences only to fall off the cliff so quickly.

 

[LegendOfTheGame]

Jon Jones (in his first 11 UFC Fights including his first 3 title defences) scored 7 finishes, including 3 KO/TKOs and 4 Submissions, and never unanimously lost a round on a set of scorecards, losing only 2 rounds (by majority) to Evans and Bonnar.

I think people also forget that Jon Jones won the title after only competing as a professional for just under 3 years and at 23 years old.

Furthermore, Jones also went on to defend the belt a further 11 times with 3 finishes and a further 6 Unanimous Decision wins (although one defence is a NC against Cormier).

My GOAT.

 

[DestinedAussie]

No one knows,and it would have been harder to do it that way,but he couldve. I believe! lol

I don't doubt Khabib could have added to his defences. But I doubt he could have matched the likes of Jones/Silva/GSP simply because of how hard it is to go on that sort of run and how often great fighters have failed. The odds would have been against him but of course there is a chance he could have overcome them but his biggest challenges were ahead of him.

 

[pankrat]

Khabib would've had 11 title defense if he got his title shot in his second ufc fight like Anderson silva.

Anderson had wins over Sakurai, Newton and Horn before he got a shot to fight for gold in UFC. All those 3 guys fought for the UFC tittle around the same time they lost to Silva.

Apart from that yes, Leben. And Cage Warrior champ with an memorable fight with Lee Murray and the epic KO vs Fryklund.

Horcher and Iaquinta. lol

 

[pankrat]

If Israel goes on and dominates for a few more years he is a candidate. He is good and dominant I think. He lost out of his weight class who cares

If either Usman or Israel keep reigning for a few more years they are both definitely in the discussion

 

[pankrat]

Its impressive how Izzy is doing in the shark tank that is MW now.

Do you consider MW a shark tank at the moment? I think is way below the levet it was at in the early-mid '10s

Vettori and Costa didn't need that many legit wins to get the shot imo. Who is the best grappler Israel has faced, other than a man in his 40s?
Israel work is impressive but I'd not call the UFC MW tittle picture a shark tank these days. Too bad UFC didn't pay Mousasi what he is worth

 

[HHJ]

Do you consider MW a shark tank at the moment? I think is way below the levet it was at in the early-mid '10s

Vettori and Costa didn't need that many legit wins to get the shot imo. Who is the best grappler Israel has faced, other than a man in his 40s?
Israel work is impressive but I'd not call the UFC MW tittle picture a shark tank these days. Too bad UFC didn't pay Mousasi what he is worth

Im just sayiin at the time Izzy entered UFC there was alot of tough guys,for him to end up at the top of it all.

 

[chinarice]

Izzy is 1 or 2 wins from arguably having a better resume than Khabib. Usman as well for that matter.

GSP, SIlva and Jones beat more quality opponents by title defense 3.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Yes. I dont see how you cant be a fan of his in ring action. Outside the ring,hes a bit of a basket case,but this is the fight game. He's come to the right place.

I'm a fan but I'm a little more objective. Some of his opponents during his 12 fight win streak were not some of the best competition.

But I'm also a believer that it's those guys you don't expect to be tough that give you the hardest time.

Some Ferguson fans make it seem like it ran through a murderer's row to get to his 12 fight streak. He didn't.

 

[YungSithLxrd]

This is why you cannot solely judge a fighter on title defenses. Every career is different. Youll have fighters who win several titles and seldom ever defend them,or in conor's case,never defend them at all.

Some dont get a shot due to a belt being in limbo,but dominate the opposition all the same

Exactly this. Prime Tony would have wrecked Eddie and Conor and took that belt

 

[glavinator]

Khabib would've had 11 title defense if he got his title shot in his second ufc fight like Anderson silva.

He didn't deserve it. And he would have had jt earlier still of he was making weight and not pulling out of fights

 

[Chosen]

Too bad UFC didn't pay Mousasi what he is worth

He isn’t worth jack shit 67k viewers his last fight he can’t draw a fly to cow dung and more people were hyped for Conor’s debut than mousasi’s debut who headlined the same card.

 

[Chosen]

Exactly this. Prime Tony would have wrecked Eddie and Conor and took that belt

Prime Tony got dropped by Lando twice, out grappled by Danny Castillo/Kevin lee, boxed up by Barboza, and viciously beat down by gaethje. He wouldn’t have wrecked anything.

 

[Topher]

Jones is probably the closest to Khabib for dominance in title defenses and quality of opponents, but all 3 of his defenses were guys who already had their primes and had very spotty records after losing their titles. Machida was probably the best win of the 3, and rocked Jones and won the 1st round, but strength discrepancy when Jones took him down was ridiculous.

Machida lost the first round on all scorecards. Rewatch the fight he didn’t really hit Jones that good people overreacted. They both landed 7 strikes and Jones won because Machida was moving backwards minus a flurry or two he was always retreating. We seen what happened when Jones was able to find him and cut the cage off.

Khabib OFFICALLY lost a round to Conor and a round to Justin. How many defenses before Jones OFFICIALLY lost a round? I believe it was his 6th defense against Gus.

Jones defended 3 times in a little under 7 months while Khabib allowed 2 interim titles to be fought because he always needs 12-13 months off between fights allowing Dustin and Justin to become interim champions.

Izzy is amazingly active. Usman is fantastic in contrast to like Khabib or Volk who are bad.

Usman 14 fights 6 years 3 title fights 13 months

Izzy 11 fights 4.5 years, 4 title fights in 14 months

Khabib 13 fights 9 years 10 months 3 title fights 2 years 1 month

Volk 9 fights 4 years 10 months 3 title fights 1 year 9 months.

Khabib is terrible with activity, even Volk makes him look bad.

 

[forRealHuh]

This question would be relevant if they all got the title shot in the same point of their careers. But did they?