If Stipe beats Jones, he is the HW GOAT without question.

[Blastbeat]

it's very obvious when an answer is rooted in perspective. PRIDE FC had the absolute best HW roster, for their time period, without a doubt. It does not even begin to compare. while they were active, they were top dog. the UFC HWs at that time would not have been able to compare/compete at all.

we did see that actually - the two Affliction events where Fedor subbed Sylvia and KO'd Arlovski (to be fair, Andre was doing pretty well up until he got knocked out). those dudes were UFC champs very recently at the time. and Fedor beat them both.
kind of makes me sad we didnt see prime Mir (pre-accident) vs prime Fedor. that wouldve been a badass fight.

 

[wildchild88]

In 2023 everyone obsessed with talking about GOATS..

Yawn..

 

[mraa1]

we did see that actually - the two Affliction events where Fedor subbed Sylvia and KO'd Arlovski (to be fair, Andre was doing pretty well up until he got knocked out). those dudes were UFC champs very recently at the time. and Fedor beat them both.
kind of makes me sad we didnt see prime Mir (pre-accident) vs prime Fedor. that wouldve been a badass fight.

I always hear people say that about the Arlovski fight but I disagree. Arlosvki may have been getting off first but if you watch closely he landed absolutely nothing significant, Fedor's defense was on point and he was just waiting for the opening which he took immediately once he saw it. That was his last impressive performance, however.

 

[AdamWarlock]

stipe has 0 percent chance against jones

so no to whatever comes after that

 

[Melas Chasma]

Stipe already is the HW greatest, but by defeating Jones would cement it.
It would see Stipe with wins over seven HW champions.
He already holds the record for most title defenses in HW history.
He has very strong wins over top tier fighters in Ngannou, Cormier, JDS, Overeem, Wedrum, and Hunt.
How could he be denied GOAT at that point ?
You gonna give it to Francis who only defended his belt once ?
You gonna give it to Fedor who ducked the UFC ?

A win over this current Jones wouldn't be that impressive. When Jones loses it won't be the same as a win over 2012-2017 Jones would have been when he was on his juice prime.

 

[Ibm]

Prime Werdum beats any version of Fedor.