I’m so sad we never got rumble vs potan

[TankAbbott4Eva]

The one time he actually fought a guy who could grapple just a little bit he won a coin flip split decision.

He's lucky he avoided Brunson on the way up, I think that would have been a tough match up for him.

 

[VAfan]

i wouldn't have bet against rumble in any fight against a striker. his power was just too much, and poatan can be hit. rumble could have shut his lights out for sure.

 

[Superzorro]

Pereira guards like he’s still wearing boxing/kickboxing gloves and he has no head movement. I would say that gets him knocked out against Rumble if he doesn’t base his strategy around leg kicks and a body attack. If he trades with Rumble and eats shots like he does against other opponents, he goes to sleep. Rountree was snapping his head back with some of those punches in the early rounds.

Rumble also has the option to go to the ground. Taking down Ryan Bader puts him in a different category in terms of grappling.

I don't know if I'd call Rich Clementi or Vitor Belfort wrestlers and they both still beat him. If the fight were to happen, I'd imagine the first round would be fireworks but if AJ couldn't get the KO in that first round, he'd be mincemeat in the very next.

It depends. Compared to Pereira? I would say they are decorated wrestlers. I know he’s hot right now but Pereira isn’t DC.

But I'm talking about wrestling which they both were not known for. Jake Shields is a hell of a grappler but if he can't get the fight to the ground it usually doesn't end well for him or the fans.

I’m confused. Are you saying Poatan could submit Rumble? The person you were replying to said that Vitor and Clemente and Cormier were only able to have success against Rumble due to the ground threat. Rumble was better than both of them on the feet. How is that a valid response? Poatan is objectively worse on the ground.

Rountree had about the same power as Rumble and a more well-rounded skillset

Why? Because they look the same?

Guess how he got rnc’d though. It wasn’t from guys wrestling him, it was from him panic wrestling and giving up his neck

Hey, can you do me a favor and post the part of the fight where Rumble panic wrestled? It can be a gif or video with timestamp.

Rumble was a front runner. The best striker he faced was Vitor, who immediately rocked him and had him shooting for TD's non-stop. The second best striker he faced was Gus and Gus made the mistake of giving Johnson too much space and time and he paid for it.

There's nothing there that Pereira has never seen before in his long high level striking career. Plus he's not a front runner in fact he's made a career out of overcoming adversity and making a brutal comeback in fights.

So basically what I was getting at in the above statement is that Rumble was never rocked against Vitor.

Claiming Johnson has more power is pretty redundant. Both have one shot kill power, it's like saying one tank can blast you harder than the other tank. The result is death either way.

More importantly, Pereira has KO power in his flying knees and high kicks. Rumble just has the hands and neglected his high kicks. The power advantage goes to Pereira.

Rumble Johnson never showed susceptibility to any of those techniques. Rumbles best punch is the same punch that Adesanya knocked him out with in the second fight and had him out on his feet in the first fight - the right hand.

Rumble was overrated af.

I mean sure, any statement like this can be true depending on who you’re comparing him to. Compared to an all time great like Jones? Definitely overrated. But he knocked out Glover in the first round. Glover was champion in this era at 40, and competed very closely with both of the other champions outside of Pereira. So it would be ignorant to call him overrated compared to the LHWs in this era.

 

[VinceArch]

Rumble also has the option to go to the ground. Taking down Ryan Bader puts him in a different category in terms of grappling.



It depends. Compared to Pereira? I would say they are decorated wrestlers. Pereira isn’t DC.

I’m confused. Are you saying Poatan could submit Rumble? The person you were replying to said that Vitor and Clemente and Cormier were only able to have success against Rumble due to the ground threat. Rumble was better than both of them on the feet. How is that a valid response? Poatan is objectively worse on the ground.

In this again, hypothetical match-up, I'm certain Pereira would be working TDD and I know he isn't DC, neither were Vitor or Rich and they both submitted him regardless, but I'd pick Poatan to KO Crumble. AJ's best chance at winning would be by KO in the first round but after that, his chances go waaayyyyy down and only continue to plummet the further this fight goes.

 

[FraudGoat]

Rumble's chances against top fighters are ~50/50 because he can knock anyone out but he also calls crumble for a reason. He completely gave Cormier the win in their rematch by being the one to initiate and engage in the wrestling. I remember many people were so baffled that they thought the fight was fixed.

 

[PharoahHeight]

I don't know if I'd call Rich Clementi or Vitor Belfort wrestlers and they both still beat him. If the fight were to happen, I'd imagine the first round would be fireworks but if AJ couldn't get the KO in that first round, he'd be mincemeat in the very next.

They would've been killed at LHW tho

 

[StewDogg11]

Rumble's chances against top fighters are ~50/50 because he can knock anyone out but he also calls crumble for a reason. He completely gave Cormier the win in their rematch by being the one to initiate and engage in the wrestling. I remember many people were so baffled that they thought the fight was fixed.

I still remember John Howard giving him that nickname in an interview lol.

 

[Mammothman]

It would have been a very interesting fight, Rumble wrestling background would have been a problem for Poatan and his striking might be good enough to catch Poatan but I still favor Poatan on the feet alone.

 

[VinceArch]

They would've been killed at LHW tho

That's why weight classes exist and why AJ had no business being at 170 or 185 for that matter.

 

[Superzorro]

In this again, hypothetical match-up, I'm certain Pereira would be working TDD and I know he isn't DC, neither were Vitor or Rich and they both submitted him regardless, but I'd pick Poatan to KO Crumble. AJ's best chance at winning would be by KO in the first round but after that, his chances go waaayyyyy down and only continue to plummet the further this fight goes.

This is the fighters as they are. Not Pereira if he somehow managed to become a grappling ace. I can say I’m sure Rumble would hypothetically be working on defense to the left hook and lead low kicks. Pereira can come out in his next fight and put on a grappling clinic for all we know. But that’s not what we’re saying here.

Throw the Rumble that went against Bader or DC in the cage with the Pereira that just beat Rountree.

Vitor and Clementi have far and away better takedowns and ground games than Pereira. No one fighter at any point in history has been threatened by Pereira on the ground.

We’ve only seen that dynamic play out against people who can drain and demoralize Rumble on the mat. Look at any of Rumbles fights that remained standing— and correct me if I’m wrong— but, that has never happened before. And I’ve never seen Pereira throw unlimited punches and gas someone out with sheer will power before. So I disagree.

 

[HuskySamoan]

Poatan isn’t a wrestler with a good RnC. Rumble was built different. I used to watch him peel rounds off of Tyron Spong at the Blackzilians back in the day. That was with 16oz gloves in a sparring setting… Rumble with MMA gloves on can finish anyone at anytime. I’m not saying he would beat Poatan but he matches up EXTREMELY well against him and that fight would be the embodiment of violence!

Yeah, Rumbles technical abilities are seriously underrated. I also think Poatan is deceptively hittable and we've seen him rocked badly by Ottoni, by Roundtree....guys not on Johnsons level yet people act as if Johnson can't sleep the dude? In the pocket I think Rumble throws down more effectively than Alex, at range Alex for sure has cleaner straight punching and makes more use out of his kicks. It'd be a great fight, I don't think Poatan would have been relevant in the DC, Jones, Bader, Phil Davis era of LHW though while Rumble was.

 

[mkt]

Honestly, poatan looks pretty decent rolling against glover and danis

I wouldn't be surprised if he tapped Rumble tbh, lol

Lots of guys look good in training videos. "Crazy fast" old man Tyson was supposed to beat Jake Paul based on short video clips. Poatan and Izzy both looked awful on the ground when they fought, though. And Rumble was a very solid wrestler as long as he didn't gas (which happened at lighter weights he had no business fighting in).

 

[mkt]

He was also a head case and seemingly gave up whenever he couldn't go in and bulldoze right through his opponent

Not always. He beat the brakes off prime Phil Davis over 3 rounds, beat Arlovski at HW in 3 rounds (broke his jaw, too, but somehow Andre's chin held up). He also had some UD wins in lower weight classes where he played it safe probably because he knew his weight cut would affect his cardio (David Branch, Dan Hardy).

 

[mkt]

My counter-argument is based on FACT: (1) Anthony Johnson **FAILED** to make Champion, on every effort.

A few things in life are certain. One is that Poatan would NOT be a champion in the era of prime Jones and Cormier at LHW when Rumble fought. So what you said isn't a knock on Rumble. He'd win the belt in any other era. I don't know how long Rumble would keep the belt, but he'd win it at some point in the current era, back when Chuck/Tito were in their primes, etc.

Cormier and Jones both had iron chins and MUCH better wrestling than anyone Poatan has faced. I mean he got taken down by bird leg Izzy. And Rumble would KO the likes of Hill and wildman Jiri at least as fast as Poatan did.

 

[mkt]

Ah yes, the insurance claims investigator who has scars from his many knife fights and regularly faces danger headfirst in his thrilling life of adventure. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. I know you're full of shit because anyone who had actually seen and done half of that would have hopefully developed some semblance of humility. He certainly wouldn't feel the need to mock professional fighters (especially those who are dead and gone) on a daily basis or try and dox himself whenever people on a karate forum make him angry. I deal with actual hard men and killers on a daily basis and the legitimate ones don't act like man-children the way you do every time you vomit all over your keyboard.

Wait, the Allstate commercial dude is on this forum?

 

[mkt]

I mean sure, any statement like this can be true depending on who you’re comparing him to. Compared to an all time great like Jones? Definitely overrated. But he knocked out Glover in the first round. Glover was champion in this era at 40, and competed very closely with both of the other champions outside of Pereira. So it would be ignorant to call him overrated compared to the LHWs in this era.

I won't post it again, but earlier in this thread I put a link to an old post of mine where I talked about Rumble KO-ing five good LHWs in less than 5 minutes. All of the fights could fit into one round. No one else has done that. That doesn't include his KO win over Manuwa (who was on a win streak at the time), where Rumble chose to wrestle in Round 1...or his dominant UD win against Phil Davis.

I just don't get where fast KO's or dominant wins over Glover, Gus, Davis, Bader, Arlovski and others put you in the "highly overrated" category. I guess you have to beat Jiri twice, whose predictable headhunting style and gameplan isn't much more advanced than Goodridge or Tank in the mid-90s?

 

[RedDevilFan]

Rountree had about the same power as Rumble and a more well-rounded skillset

Except that Rumble was an actual wrestler, and Roundtree is a Tiger Muay Thai striker. Rumbles base was wrestling and he was a very good wrestler.

 

[Odoylerules22]

rumble would shoot harder than he did against vitor

 

[mkt]

Except that Rumble was an actual wrestler.

And Rountree was probably closer to Manuwa in his striking ability than Rumble, lol. Maybe Manuwa was better, as he beat future champ Jan and Corey Anderson.

 

[VinceArch]

This is the fighters as they are. Not Pereira if he somehow managed to become a grappling ace. I can say I’m sure Rumble would hypothetically be working on defense to the left hook and lead low kicks. Pereira can come out in his next fight and put on a grappling clinic for all we know. But that’s not what we’re saying here.

Throw the Rumble that went against Bader or DC in the cage with the Pereira that just beat Rountree.

Vitor and Clementi have far and away better takedowns and ground games than Pereira. No one fighter at any point in history has been threatened by Pereira on the ground.

We’ve only seen that dynamic play out against people who can drain and demoralize Rumble on the mat. Look at any of Rumbles fights that remained standing— and correct me if I’m wrong— but, that has never happened before. And I’ve never seen Pereira throw unlimited punches and gas someone out with sheer will power before. So I disagree.

Go ahead and disagree all you want. This fight will forever be a what if so, it's all moot anyway.