If UFC had the lightweight division earlier, would Pulver be more of a legend?

He had a 2.5 year run where he could be considered truly top form but the rest of his career was teetering between above average and meh. The ending was him just being a sacrifical lamb
 
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Not the status of legend but had his moments of bad assness.

Met him in Milwaukee heading into the event. Sat & talked for 10-15 minutes about his career. He was sitting by a light post. No one seemed to recognize him but me & the wife. One of the coolest fighters I've met.
 
On what planet did he beat prime BJ?
When he fought prime BJ this is what happened:
BJPennvs.JensPulvernew.gif

I've always found it hilarious that people here collectively despise Palhares yet never mention BJ for this shady act of assault.
 
Lil Eagle is a legend but I always thought he was too small for LW and even FW. Still had some good wins over Uno, Penn, Hallman, Cub.
 
He probably would've had a better legacy if he stayed, but honestly not by much.

This brings back good memories though, I really thought he would do pretty well in the WEC, but that went up in flames pretty quick.

He was so old by then... they basically used him to help build up Faber.
 
Very possible he could have gone down as a long reigning LW champ. He did beat the 2 best guys at the time in the UFC, Penn and Uno. He could have beaten guys like Yves, Thomson and Genki as well.
 
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:) Brown to the rescue, those were the days.

Yeah, but Faber hung in there tagging Brown with elbows for 5 rounds after breaking both hands when they met again. Great fights. The infusion of WEC to the UFC was a time of pure glory.
 
I mean, maybe? But wouldn't this be self inflicted anyway? As far as "earlier" goes, Pulver made his debut at UFC 22 as a lightweight, in his fifth professional fight, in the same year he debuted. So, there's really no conceivable window there to give him any bonus points there.

He left the UFC on his own terms, as the champion, only to get blasted away by Gomi, Mach, and Bang. Which I think answers a lot of questions about where he truly ranked during this time frame.

If anything, you should be asking this question about Sherk. Pulver's decision to leave as the champion was, in part, directly responsible for UFC abolishing the division, along with the Penn-Uno draw.

Who would Pulver have even been fighting had he stayed with the UFC? As far as I remember, he had already fought the top fighters in the organization. I guess avenging the Din Thomas loss would have been good for his legacy, but not nearly as good as if he had managed to win those fights against Gomi, Mach, and Bang.

I think he actually made the right decision in terms of leaving and going to seek out fights with the top fighters in which he had never competed against. If he won those fights, he would be considered an all time great lightweight.
 
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So no one mentions Pulver no more when talking about lightweight Goats.

Pulver beat Prime BJ and he had really good records most only losing to real good fighters.

He got ktfo by Lauzon and his career seemingly went downhill from there

I can't help but wonder of UFC kept the division around and if Jens didnt leave the UFC and stayed a champ he would have had better legacy.

No one mentions Pulver no more but his fall was really bad in his own right.

The biggest issue for Jens was his fall perfectly lined up with the UFC wave of growth.
 
Jens Pulver is the former UFC Lightweight World Champion (with 2 title defences).

Even though nobody knows what would've happened with Pulver's career if the UFC kept the Lightweight Division around, he still accomplished a lot.

Sadly, Pulver's accomplishments and Sherk's accomplishments will keep being forgotten by casual fans as more and more time goes on.
He priced himself out 2 years before the division went away. He tried to be a tough boxer and fire fight Ludwig and got owned afterward and his value never recovered.
 
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