How would you rank the Caucasus fighters from best to worst?

[Sean Chowdhury]

My ranking would be something like
1. Islam - p4p #1, ended charles and volk's 12 and 11 fight winstreaks, finishing top 10 contenders in his division in 1 round
2. Merab - Dominated Yan, Omalley, beat umar, cleared out his division
3. Khamzat - Made a former MW champ look easy
4. Umar - Beat Sandhagen and gave merab his toughest fight
5. Arman Tsarukyan- Beat Oliveira
6. Magomed Ankalaev - Long unbeaten streak, went to a draw with Jan but has looked a step above other contenders like rakic, volkan, krylov
7. Movsar Evloev - Has scraped by Aljo and Allen but still impressive overall
8. Usman Nurmagomedov(dropped a few spots after nearly losing to Hughes)
9. Tagir - Mostly unimpressive
I didn't include Ilia since I don't know if he counts as one of these guys but I would have ranked him at 1 or 2 if I did include him

 

[Hymen Crusher]

I would have merab above everyone. I think his resume is better then islams.

 

[Sean Chowdhury]

I would have merab above everyone. I think his resume is better then islams.

better resume but also a decision merchant, doesn't finish any of his opponents which makes it hard to put him as #1

 

[Hymen Crusher]

I would have merab above everyone. I think his resume is better then islams.

better resume but also a decision merchant, doesn't finish any of his opponents which makes it hard to put him as #1

Yeah i mean I agree with excitement for sure. But winning fight after fight by wide margins is still impressive.

 

[HHJ]

I'm really torn on Merab's fighting style.

His activity level and durability is really something, but he actively works to take the fight out of the fight, esp in the Omalley fight

 

[HHJ]

His fights with Yan and Umar were really good though even if theres no hope for a finish ever

 

[Sean Chowdhury]

I'm really torn on Merab's fighting style.

His activity level and durability is really something, but he actively works to take the fight out of the fight, esp in the Omalley fight

me too, sometimes he pisses me off with the way he stalls against omalley and aldo but in the petr yan and umar fights his level of cardio and pace made it entertaining to watch. He's a mixed bag when it comes to boring and fun fights

 

[Ares Black]

Caucasus

 

[Sean Chowdhury]

Caucasus

fixed it

 

[MarioLemieux]

Shoudln't Topuria be on your list if we're talking about active fighters?

100% Georgian, lived and got his wrestling chops there.

 

[mister piscadinha]

why no topuria

 

[Sean Chowdhury]

why no topuria

I thought he was raised in Spain for some reason but apparently he learned wrestling in Georgia so maybe I should have put him there. He would be 2 or 1

 

[nostradumbass]

I would have merab above everyone. I think his resume is better then islams.

Resume means losses too, and he has more than anybody else on the list. 50-45ing Yan was his best performance by a wide margin, but his other 3-4 good wins have been winning 3-2 and 2-1 decisions doing little or no damage. He's pretty high on the list, but definitely not above guys who finish most of their fights and have fewer losses.

 

[Siver!]

Resume means losses too, and he has more than anybody else on the list. 50-45ing Yan was his best performance by a wide margin, but his other 3-4 good wins have been winning 3-2 and 2-1 decisions doing little or no damage. He's pretty high on the list, but definitely not above guys who finish most of their fights and have fewer losses.

I don't really get where you're coming from.

"Losses too"?

So is Anderson Silva not a P4P GOAT contender because he was also 19-4 after 23 fights? He also suffered some early career defeats, but it's been a long, long time since I heard anyone pretend they exclude him from being an elite all-time fighter?

 

[Luckyme]

me too, sometimes he pisses me off with the way he stalls against omalley and aldo but in the petr yan and umar fights his level of cardio and pace made it entertaining to watch. He's a mixed bag when it comes to boring and fun fights

Merab is basically a more effective version of Colby. They both drown their opponents with endless cardio and pressure but lack finishing ability. Colby's striking is a little better but Merab seems to have more power.

 

[nostradumbass]

I don't really get where you're coming from.

"Losses too"?

So is Anderson Silva not a P4P GOAT contender because he was also 19-4 after 23 fights? He also suffered some early career defeats, but it's been a long, long time since I heard anyone pretend they exclude him from being an elite all-time fighter?

No, he was not considered a GOAT at 19-4, and one of those losses was KOing Okami and getting DQ'd. He was considered a GOAT years later when he had like 11 title defenses and several additional wins at LHW and was finishing all of them with only 2 stinker decisions. If all of his fights were like the Maia or Thales Leites fights, then nobody would call him a GOAT. At 19-4 currently, if Merab were to go on another 14 fight win streak knocking dudes out left and right, and completely hammering a guy who just lost the belt a few months earlier in the division above in 3 minutes, then that would be more than enough to make up for his losses and consider him a GOAT, but as of now, a couple of 48-47s and 28-27s doing minimal damage isn't it.

 

[MarioLemieux]

#1 all time = Khabib "The GOAT" Nurmagomedov

 

[MarioLemieux]

I thought he was raised in Spain for some reason but apparently he learned wrestling in Georgia so maybe I should have put him there. He would be 2 or 1

Topuria is 100% Georgian blood and lived there.

 

[Siver!]

No, he was not considered a GOAT at 19-4, and one of those losses was KOing Okami and getting DQ'd. He was considered a GOAT years later when he had like 11 title defenses and several additional wins at LHW and was finishing all of them with only 2 stinker decisions. If all of his fights were like the Maia or Thales Leites fights, then nobody would call him a GOAT. At 19-4 currently, if Merab were to go on another 14 fight win streak knocking dudes out left and right, and completely hammering a guy who just lost the belt a few months earlier in the division above in 3 minutes, then that would be more than enough to make up for his losses and consider him a GOAT, but as of now, a couple of 48-47s and 28-27s doing minimal damage isn't it.

Nobody considers Merab the GOAT at 19-4 either, the point is a few old losses don't matter. What you do in your early fights aren't very relevant once you become UFC champion.

Anderson is a perfect example of the irrelevance of early defeats.

Merab having some losses on his record excludes him from nothing. Making excuses for Anderson's defeats doesn't really work when most of Merab's defeats are questionable too.

 

[g*r*b]

Is Saparbeg Safarov still fighting somewhere? I always think of him when I need to remind myself that not all fighters coming out of Dagestan are equal. 10-3 looks on the surface like a decent record, but two of those loses were against Tyson Pedro and f'king Gian Villante. Ew.

And where is Roman Dolidze? (Besides in Cheyanne Vlismas' bed, allegedly.)