If Khabib never existed, would we have witnessed the Diamond era?

[The Chosen]

His best win is a skinny FW at 155lbs

 

[bubbleboyjones]

I love Dustin, but my answer is no. I don’t even believe Khabib had an “era”.. He walked away with a few defenses, but an era is multiple defenses over several years, in my opinion. Khabib may be the most dominant LW ever, but in championship talk, he falls way behind some.

To make it clear, I am a Khabib fan. I am a Poirier fan.

Well it was longer than the Machida era but yes Khabib never cleaned out the division. Guys like GSP and Jones did by beating multiple generations of fighters.

 

[Candy Routure]

Well it was longer than the Machida era but yes Khabib never cleaned out the division. Guys like GSP and Jones did by beating multiple generations of fighters.

This is exactly what I am saying. The Machida Era was a result Rogan having too much caffeine.

 

[GOATtalks]

Is: Georges St-Pierre? Anderson Silva?.. That cheating dude?

No one has mauled his opponents the way Khabib did. The way he finished Dustin, Conor and Gaethje is unbelievable. There isn’t any other champion who made his competition so helpless with him in the cage.

Jones is the closest one, but he has those PED issues and Gus 1 and Santos fights were very competitive and he arguably lost to Reyes.

GSP has been finished, was a point fighting machine and had very close controversial wins. I still rank GSP as the GOAT, because of his overall resume, but he wasn’t nearly as dominant as Khabib

 

[Peli]

His best win is a skinny FW at 155lbs

We talking about Conor or we talking about Max? lol

 

[The Chosen]

We talking about Conor or we talking about Max? lol

 

[HHJ]

Dustin faced him so late in Khabib's career,and then Khabib retired shortly after,so Dustin,could still have an era,and his loss to khabib doesnt really make that big of a difference so long as he can get the title off mr olives

 

[Dude Incredible]

You say Dustin isn't champ material yet you say the top 5 is garbage, including the current champ. So if the current champ is garbage & the top 5 is garbage, wouldn't that mean Dustin could've become champ?

 

[imbossing]

This, Chandler, Justin, Tony, Charles etc could always catch Dustin. He would not go undefeated for long

Prime tony would have been champ. Dustin can keep fighting conor

 

[imbossing]

Dustin has been very dominant at LW, and he seems to be getting better and better. Im starting to think Khabib messed up his greatness by dominating him and then retire....

I think Dustin would have defeated any LW to get the belt and he wouldn't retire early. We could have witnessed a GSP type run. It's just that Khabib wrecked him

Na. It would have been tony.

Ofcourse you will say no because he is on a 3fight losing streak, but a couple if years ago different story

 

[Habib The Eagle]

Probably not. Porier is fantastic but he gets caught in almost every fight. Eventually someone at the championship level will catch him and KO/TKO him

He is most likely the number 1 LW without Khabib and I expect him to win the title, but I don’t think he gets more than 3 defenses.

I have been saying that every fight that he will evantually get caught but we have to accept Poirier is not the same fighter as when he fought MJ , he gets better every fight.

Oliveira showed heart against Chandler but i think if it was Poirier in that position Oliveira would have been finished. That said i have 60-40 Poirier advantage.

 

[JosephTessaro]

It's not going to happen. Dustin will have maybe 1 or 2 defenses if he gets that far. The young prospects will be top 5 by the time he captures the belt.

We could be witnessing the start of it now. Since his loss to Khabib Dustin is 3-0, beating Hooker and Conor twice, add Charles if he wins, then another Conor fight, throw in another Gaethje fight, then Chandler, Dariush, RDA, Ferguson, Hooker again...could happen, then lost to Makhachev and retire.

That would be an 11 fight win streak and 7 title defenses.

I know I know, pipe dreams...but it could happen, or something like it. The Conor factor is in the way of keeping the division moving.

 

[Candy Routure]

No one has mauled his opponents the way Khabib did. The way he finished Dustin, Conor and Gaethje is unbelievable. There isn’t any other champion who made his competition so helpless with him in the cage.

Jones is the closest one, but he has those PED issues and Gus 1 and Santos fights were very competitive and he arguably lost to Reyes.

GSP has been finished, was a point fighting machine and had very close controversial wins. I still rank GSP as the GOAT, because of his overall resume, but he wasn’t nearly as dominant as Khabib

Georges had 9 consecutive title defenses, where in 8 of them he absolutely obliterated his opponents. I don’t care if he did finish them (the Fitch and Kos 2 fights should have been stopped), he crushed his opponents.

He avenged the loss with a brutal beating on Serra that proved who the beater fighter was. Khabib has a questionable decision on his resume, whether you like it of not.

GSP has fought for a title 15 times. Almost as many times Khabib has fought for the UFC.

 

[Candy Routure]

And this thread is about Dustin. Not Khabib vs the world.

 

[Peli]

We could be witnessing the start of it now. Since his loss to Khabib Dustin is 3-0, beating Hooker and Conor twice, add Charles if he wins, then another Conor fight, throw in another Gaethje fight, then Chandler, Dariush, RDA, Ferguson, Hooker again...could happen, then lost to Makhachev and retire.

That would be an 11 fight win streak and 7 title defenses.

I know I know, pipe dreams...but it could happen, or something like it. The Conor factor is in the way of keeping the division moving.

I don't believe that. If khabib wasn't in the picture , a lot could change for a lot of fighters. Tony might have been champion if khabib and Conor wasn't involved. To y night have beat Dustin even with his technical flaws in his early prime.

Fustin might have to fight gaethje again if khabib wasn't in the picture. Who knows if he wins that.

He has an impressive resume, no doubt. But I don't think we can just take out khabibs name and act like everything would have went the same way for everyone.

Dustin wouldn't get up to 7 . I disagree with that. Come on man. Let's be honest. Gameplanning for a champion is different than gameplanning for an elite guy. Everyone's focused on you. Even though guys like Dustin was fighting gaethje or whatever, they took time out of their camps to prepare for khabib . Just to improve their grappling so by the time they gave him, they won't be behind the curve. Dustin would have lost. He's having an amazing run but I think him beating Conor wipes people's memory of how dangerously he fights.

 

[JosephTessaro]

he got ko'd by conor before khabib fought him

Yep, he sure did. What's your point?

My point was maybe we are witnessing the start of the Diamond era, 3-0 since Khabib and could keep it rolling...only time will tell.

 

[JosephTessaro]

I don't believe that. If khabib wasn't in the picture , a lot could change for a lot of fighters. Tony might have been champion if khabib and Conor wasn't involved. To y night have beat Dustin even with his technical flaws in his early prime.

Fustin might have to fight gaethje again if khabib wasn't in the picture. Who knows if he wins that.

He has an impressive resume, no doubt. But I don't think we can just take out khabibs name and act like everything would have went the same way for everyone.

Dustin wouldn't get up to 7 . I disagree with that. Come on man. Let's be honest. Gameplanning for a champion is different than gameplanning for an elite guy. Everyone's focused on you. Even though guys like Dustin was fighting gaethje or whatever, they took time out of their camps to prepare for khabib . Just to improve their grappling so by the time they gave him, they won't be behind the curve. Dustin would have lost. He's having an amazing run but I think him beating Conor wipes people's memory of how dangerously he fights.

Obviously we have different opinions, and I am not going by his existing resume as a whole, all I am saying is starting after the Khabib loss he is 3-0. If he gets the belt his first title defense will be Conor. After that he may very well have to face Gaethje again, he would probably face Chandler, RDA, maybe Dariush, maybe Hooker again, Ferguson, Gillespie and Lee...who knows where Makhachev fits into this...I think that would be an awesome resume after the Khabib loss, and give him more title defenses than Khabib. Heck even if he had 4 defenses it would be more than Khabib right?

Will it happen? I don't know, probably not. Can it happen? Yes. IF it did happen (big IF) his resume would be darn good if not slightly better than Khabib in as many fights.

 

[Peli]

Obviously we have different opinions, and I am not going by his existing resume as a whole, all I am saying is starting after the Khabib loss he is 3-0. If he gets the belt his first title defense will be Conor. After that he may very well have to face Gaethje again, he would probably face Chandler, RDA, maybe Dariush, maybe Hooker again, Ferguson, Gillespie and Lee...who knows where Makhachev fits into this...I think that would be an awesome resume after the Khabib loss, and give him more title defenses than Khabib. Heck even if he had 4 defenses it would be more than Khabib right?

Will it happen? I don't know, probably not. Can it happen? Yes. IF it did happen (big IF) his resume would be darn good if not slightly better than Khabib in as many fights.

I agree his resume would be better than khabib. It kinda already is just from the names standpoint.

 

[kingmob6]

It doesn't matter....Islam Era is coming and Dustin has no choice but to fall in line.

 

[Alkospike]

I love the Diamond, but he has a lot of miles of him. Brilliant and technical, but still gets into exchanges bcause why the fk not. Good Champion, till damage and past wars catch up to him.
I am probably wrong, tho. After the loss to Cub, Dustin seems to travel on a "patching all the holes in my game" road, and continue to this day.