How good was Prime Colby?

[KamalaForever]

Colby never had a prime. He was lawlways bad.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

No no Colby is a way more talented fighter than Woodley ever was

I dont see it. Colby's volume is a great advantage, but most other things I think go to Woodley.

Woodley hits harder and is stronger. More importantly, his opponents greatly respect him and kind of lower their own input, which mitigates one of Woodley's bigger disadvantages in inactivity. A bit similar to Yoel Romero.

Head to head, Colby would have to out wrestle him every round, even if he is technically a better wrestler, it would be very hard to do that. Colby would also have to not get his jar jacked during the process.


Colby has not beaten better fighters than Woodley, so I dont necessarily see how he is more talented. One of Colby's best wins was one Woodley copied but more definitive against a more primed version in Robbie Lawler. Froze peak Wonderboy Thompson for two fights just from his respect. Shutout Carlos Condit.


Woodley just went out badly, but he was pretty damn good during his UFC career.

 

[dildos]

colby did ok in the ufc.

 

[HHJ]

Agreed. Kos is around the level of fighter Colby was except Kos had more power (but was more reckless).

I think people assume that Colby had a better resume than he actually did because he was a fixture of the title picture for so long but this is only because:
1) he was flat out gifted 2 completely undeserved title shots and
2) He became probably the worst rank squatter in MMA history (besides Ortega) fighting 4 times in 5 years and only beating 2 guys on big losing streaks who retired within a year after

You don't get credit for things you didn't do and if Colby actually was a top tier fighter at any point, he certainly didn't prove it sitting around for 5 years turning down opponents. How someone could be in the UFC for a decade and fight so few of the elite of his era is actually baffling. Stylistically, he probably would have beaten some of the top 15 WWs of all time but in terms of resume... sorry, he's not up there.

Kos also didnt have to create a immensely contrived character to get under people's skin. He could do it naturally.

 

[jk7707]

His resume is incredibly overhyped. His best highlights are losing to Usman. He shouldn't be ranked on any all time list at WW.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Matt destroyed gsp something that few can say.

3, exactly. Hughes and Serra in MMA and Leandro Dos Santos ADCC 2005. Maybe some kid smashed him in Chess when he was younger or something, but those are the ones we have on video.

I dont see it. Colby's volume is a great advantage, but most other things I think go to Woodley.

Woodley hits harder and is stronger. More importantly, his opponents greatly respect him and kind of lower their own input, which mitigates one of Woodley's bigger disadvantages in inactivity. A bit similar to Yoel Romero.

Head to head, Colby would have to out wrestle him every round, even if he is technically a better wrestler, it would be very hard to do that. Colby would also have to not get his jar jacked during the process.


Colby has not beaten better fighters than Woodley, so I dont necessarily see how he is more talented. One of Colby's best wins was one Woodley copied but more definitive against a more primed version in Robbie Lawler. Froze peak Wonderboy Thompson for two fights just from his respect. Shutout Carlos Condit.


Woodley just went out badly, but he was pretty damn good during his UFC career.

I've argued that Woodleys reign was actually more impressive than Kamaru's, but I'll admit openly I'm a bit of a Marty hater. My logic being that Masvidal is a joke of a title defense let alone two, Colby isn't actually very good or at the very least has a weak resume, as the thread has sort of solidified, and that leaves Burns and his win over Woodley himself.
Tyron through his reign won 5 rounds against the best striker and grappler in his division with Wonderbread and Maia, plus he had a submission over Till and a KO over Lawler to start it.

Meanwhile Kamaru had three memorable punches during his reign, dropping Burns with a jab, breaking Colbys jaw, and KOing Jorge who had no business being in the cage with him.

 

[HP_Nut]

Dislike him for his character gimmick but at 1 time, he probably was the 2nd best WW (for a short while, NOT talking about all-time). Yes, he has a habit of cherry picking but no one else at the time could compete vs Usman like Colby did. If Colby wasn’t the #2 WW during Usmans reign, then who was?

 

[AdamWarlock]

Matt Serra destroyed gsp

yep, tap to strikes

one dimensional hughes and midget serra are such formidable opponents.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

yep, tap to strikes

one dimensional hughes and midget serra are such formidable opponents.

One dimensional, but the current champion is a relatively one dimensional lay and prayer. At least Hughes had good gnp and submissions, if anything he is more versatile than Belal.

 

[MindGamingMantis]

Good contender, but not good enough to be a champion

I disagree. He had Usman in trouble with a body shot and then the referee broke it up because it was a 'foul' and gave Usman all the time in the world to recover. It's painful that everybody just brushes shit like that off to the side but then talk shit about DC beating Stipe in their first fight.

 

[GluttonforPunishment]

Not very.

 

[cburm]

The war

Just noticed that he is out of the top 5 (finally) and I'm pretty sure he will never be a champion again. How good was Prime Colby? His cardio was super impressive but idk if he has any amazing wins, sans RDA. Maia, Lawler, Woodley and Masvidal were clearly past it and while he had two competitive matches with Usman, he lost both. I I think he could have beaten Woodley if he accepted the fight that later went to Usman but he didn't and then he spent the next several years milking his two fights with Usman, got a gift title shot, came back and lost to Leon and I dunno when he will fight again.
How good was Prime Colby? Would he be able to compete with the top welterweights of today? Belal, Shavkat, JDM and

The war with usmen speaks volumes and at the time he was the only guy to give usmen a run for his money

 

[RockyLockridge]

This would be used as evidence of your insanity in court.
One guy was an undisputed champ with multiple title defenses.
The other was an IC champ and a rank squatter.

Yeah Colby beat him but if you can beat a 50 year old Michael Jordan in basketball does that mean you're more talented than MJ?
If you beat a 55 year old Roy Jones Jr in boxing does that mean you're more talented than RJR in boxing?

Yeah Colby beat Woodley but that was a Woodley that was more interested in retirement than fighting and just wanted to fight out his contract.

Colby was always better. has looked better against every common opponent. Destroyed him in the gym and made him quit. Fought him didn't lose a round and first person to finish him in the UFC. Got destroyed by Usman, While Colby pushed usman to his limit twice.


Colby > Woodley

not a single one of woodleys opponents would beat colby. colby is only not a champ because woodley ducked him to lose to usman instead. He thought he could beat usman, but KNEW he'd lose to colby.

There is footage of him publicly ducking colby after he beat maia aswell. this was live on fox.


woodley is one of the most disgraceful champions this promotion ever had. the end of his career is a glorious reckoning that was years in the making. I hope he comes back to fight and get KO'd 3 or 4 more times.

 

[VinceArch]

lol at anyone putting hughes in front of usman

also lol Colby would destroy 80 percent of this list

Pat Miletich？ Woodley？ Diaz？ Rory? Condit? Lawler?

are you fucking retarded?

Time to stop posting for the day.

 

[IIIIIIII]

very, very good. if he had better power, he would have been undisputed champ.

 

[Kratos94]

He was pretty good, but the lack of a threatening top game held him back as most of his opponents could just stand up lmao. He is fortunate to have great cardio as without it, he would have never reached the top of the rankings.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

1) GSP
2) Matt Hughes
3) Kamaru Usman
4) Jake Shields
5) Leon Edwards
6) Jon Fitch
7) Belal Muhammad
8) Pat Miletich
9) Tyron Woodley
10) Robbie Lawler
11) Johny Hendricks
12) Rory Macdonald
13) Nick Diaz
14) BJ Penn
15) Carlos Condit


Should I list more? I'm sorry but barely blanketed a LW with a career long history of struggling with wrestlers is not exactly a career defining win nor is getting sloppy 3rds on Woodley and Lawler when both were clearly done. Even Thiago Alves, Demian Maia, and Wonderboy Thompson had much more impressive roads to a title shot than Colby did. I'd bet money that Martin Kampmann would have beat Covington too Prime vs Prime if Colby actually showed up.

The guy was absolutely spoonfed his entire UFC career and still couldn't notch an impressive resume in an extremely thin era of the division. WW has a long and storied history... recency bias and the UFC hype machine has clearly worked on you but Colby is not, nor was he ever, an elite fighter

Great list but bj is a reach lol. Colby def better legacy than Condit and bj. Bj beat Hughes twice but besides that he doesn’t really have anything at WW

 

[mmafan559]

he is a fart in the wind

 

[Söze Aldo]

He'd have been a Bellator/PFL fighter had he not insulted Brazil that one time.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Judging by his two fights against Usman, he may be the absolute best WW that never won the belt.

I'd rank him as a better fighter over Woodley, Lawler, & Hendricks.