I see RDA matchup pretty well with the current top 5

Gaethje, Hooker, Tony, Conor, And Poirier. I can see RDA beating all of them. The hardest matchup for him is going to be tony, Because RDA has the grappling and cardio advantage over all others contenders, but he doesn't have that against ferguson.
no way, RDA looked good vs felder but lets be honest felder was never a legit top 10. Felder´s arguably among the most overrated at lightweight.
 
And yet RDA took Colby down like 3 times. And Poirier and other fighters have taken Gaethje down. You're overestimating his TD defence because of his past traditional wrestling accolades.

If you're gonna make blanket statements like that you can at least provide the factual context.

RDA took Colby down in the 4th round only. In the first 3 rounds Colby was the only one shooting for takedowns and took him down 4 times. RDA was NOT outwrestling a fresh Colby, hence why he shot for 4 Takedowns in the fourth, he could see Colby was getting tired, so PLEASE, let's not act like he was outwrestling Colby or taking him down at will, he waited until the Championship rounds to even ATTEMPT a takedown.

And I never said a damn thing about Gaethje's invisible wrestling either so what imaginary argument are you attacking? I said RDA's grappling threat isn't nearly as layered as Khabib and that's a fact.

Saying RDA took Colby down is being disingenuous when the context of him taking Colby down came from the rounds Colby was slowing down. He didn't want any of Colby's wrestling in the first 3 rounds, and it showed when he shot for 0 takedowns.
 
Everyone is a problem for RDA in the top 5.
You don't just knock RDA out and he has good cardio. It can go either way.
He should have never left the lightweight.
In the welterweight he lost to bigger wrestlers with cardio who put their weight on him against the cage.
Nobody can do that in the lightweight outside Khabib.
 
If you're gonna make blanket statements like that you can at least provide the factual context.

RDA took Colby down in the 4th round only. In the first 3 rounds Colby was the only one shooting for takedowns and took him down 4 times. RDA was NOT outwrestling a fresh Colby, hence why he shot for 4 Takedowns in the fourth, he could see Colby was getting tired, so PLEASE, let's not act like he was outwrestling Colby or taking him down at will, he waited until the Championship rounds to even ATTEMPT a takedown.

And I never said a damn thing about Gaethje's invisible wrestling either so what imaginary argument are you attacking? I said RDA's grappling threat isn't nearly as layered as Khabib and that's a fact.

Saying RDA took Colby down is being disingenuous when the context of him taking Colby down came from the rounds Colby was slowing down. He didn't want any of Colby's wrestling in the first 3 rounds, and it showed when he shot for 0 takedowns.

These khabib fanboys are the worst. No one said RDA's grappling is as good as your gods.
 
It was a 48-47 decision and tony finger fucked RDA's eye

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Doesn't help that RDA won the round before and the round after the eye poke on all scorecards. Just lost the one with the eye poke vs a prime Tony at elevation.
 
These khabib fanboys are the worst. No one said RDA's grappling is as good as your gods.

I'm not even a Khabib fan lol, no wonder you're rocking Double Yellows dude, you can't stay on task, and you just throw shit out there attacking fantasy arguments nobody makes.

{<jordan}

Khabib isn't even in my Top 5 nor is he in my Signature haha.

<36>

Stay winning living in your own world I guess haha, the majority of that post was about Colby and RDA, and what you got out of that was that I'm a Khabib fan? And you brought up Gaethje's wrestling when I never did.
 
I'm not even a Khabib fan lol, no wonder you're rocking Double Yellows dude, you can't stay on task, and you just throw shit out there attacking fantasy arguments nobody makes.

{<jordan}

Khabib isn't even in my Top 5 nor is he in my Signature haha.

<36>

Stay winning living in your own world I guess haha, the majority of that post was about Colby and RDA, and what you got out of that was that I'm a Khabib fan? And you brought up Gaethje's wrestling when I never did.
Didn't read a single word. Keep crying.
 
I think the big problem against each fighter will be the accumulative damage they can deliver while fending off his grind. On a scale of most to least dangerous to RDA on those terms, i think goes Tony, Dustin, Conor/Justin, and Hooker being the easiest.

Supposedly, he's hooked up with the same guy who oversaw Aldo's drop to bantam. If that's the case, I still won't think we'll have a complete "return to form," but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he won't be killing himself to make weight. Gotta see him reacclimate to 155 first
 
RDA could well dominate Gaethje.

Tony would likely do a much better job than he did the first time, this would be the perfect comeback fight for Tony to put himself back in line for a title shot.

Mcgregor versus RDA could go either way. Dos Anjos has the ground game but probably not the takedowns to keep Conor off him.

I think Poirier outworks RDA at this point in their careerswith relative ease. Unan 50-45 seems likely.

Hooker probably does a similar job to Poirier and uses his reach to control distance.
 
Everyone is a problem for RDA in the top 5.
You don't just knock RDA out and he has good cardio. It can go either way.
He should have never left the lightweight.
In the welterweight he lost to bigger wrestlers with cardio who put their weight on him against the cage.
Nobody can do that in the lightweight outside Khabib.
I think it was a good moving up to WW initially. He strung together a nice win streak and even fought for an interim title, but I think he did hang around in that division for too long and get beat up by larger men. Should have made the move back down to 155 shortly after losing to Colby.
 
RDA could very well manage to replicate some semblance of Khabib's grappling success against Justin... or he might not. Justin has declared his intention to improving his defensive grappling and bottom game for whatever that's worth. We don't even know if RDA makes it to the Top 5 at this point. I could see their hypothetical fight going either way, honestly.

And yet RDA took Colby down like 3 times. And Poirier and other fighters have taken Gaethje down. You're overestimating his TD defence because of his past traditional wrestling accolades.

Dustin was 0 for 5 in his TD attempts against Justin in their fight according to the UFC's official stats. Eddie was 1 for 2 and did little with the one he managed to get.
 
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Hes still a tough fight but I think Conor and Tony are the hardest match ups for him, Tony will come at him like like the Zombies from 28 days later, Rda doesn't have the speed or power to back Tony up. And Conor is quick and accurate with a reach a reach advantage and pretty good defensive grappling, RDA will not outstrike him and may have trouble getting him down.
 
Watch that fight again, he was schooling Tony until Tony fouled him. Hardest fight might actually be Hooker cause of his size, range, durability and ground game.

In terms of difficulty, I'd rank them:

1. Hooker
2. Gaethje
3. Conor
4. Poirier
5. Tony

But it's a shark tank, they can all beat each other.
 
He smashes Hooker, I'd favor Gaethje and Conor against him. Poirier is 50/50 and the first Tony fight was close even though RDA got eye poked, I'd like to see that again
 
When RDA was in his prime? And why do think he isn’t anymore?

Probably when he was on a great streak (minus Khabib) and became champ.
Also when he did not have 43 fights and 15 years of mileage.
 
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Probably when he was on a great streak (minus Khabib) and became champ.
Also when he did not have 43 fights and 15 years of mileage.
So win=prime, lose=not prime? This bullshit again?
Have you considered that who he fights makes the difference? RDA is tough bloke and only loses to elite fighters. And don’t see any changes in the way he fights. He looks good against guys like Felder, Kevin Lee, Lawler, Cerrone etc, but he can’t beat guys like Usman, Khabib, Colby or Edwards.
Nothing to do with age or mileage
 
RDA isn't over the hill just yet, but Gaethje kills him and Poirier buries him. The McGregor fight is 50/50 though, RDA gets beat up for the first two rounds (unless he gets Conor down), and RDA would beat McGregor up after round 2.
 
So win=prime, lose=not prime? This bullshit again?
Have you considered that who he fights makes the difference? RDA is tough bloke and only loses to elite fighters. And don’t see any changes in the way he fights. He looks good against guys like Felder, Kevin Lee, Lawler, Cerrone etc, but he can’t beat guys like Usman, Khabib, Colby or Edwards.
Nothing to do with age or mileage

Ah yes, the super elite Chiesa.

You can pretend like fight mileage doesn't exist, but all that means is you have never trained in your life and think age=/=real.
 
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