Is it a stretch to say that Paotan is the greatest striker of all time?

[ChessJitsu]

Of course you have unbeatable boxing legacies like Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson but with Paotan you have someone who achieved great things in both kickboxing (the most inclusive striking platform besides some obscure ones where you can headbutt and stuff) and MMA (as a striker).

He's already the greatest striker in MMA history, but since his accomplishments extend into kickboxing, is he not the greatest striker in history in general?

 

[Arm Barbarian]

No. He's one of the best in MMA.

 

[Streeter]

Best striker in MMA history yes. But he wasn't even tbe best ki kboxer when he fought.

 

['Rocky']

He's up there. Still giving the nod to Anderson, though.

 

[P4p Islam]

Gotta love the post fight sherdog overreactions

 

[CombatCyborg]

Other than the fact that Jan outstruck him, yeah

 

[560ti]

Samart Payakroon would be my choice. Arguably the best muay thai fighter of all time and then well past his prime switches stances and somehow wins the WBC world boxing title.

 

[ChessJitsu]

Samart Payakroon would be my choice. Arguably the best muay thai fighter of all time and then well past his prime switches stances and somehow wins the WBC world boxing title.

that's crazy.

 

[AstralPanda]

He's up there. Still giving the nod to Anderson, though.

Anderson had some flashier moves

Pereira as a bread and butter technical striker is superior

Anderson also didn't really fight any good strikers throughout his prime. There's a gulf of experience at the highest levels between the two.

Love Anderson, but I think there's understandably going to be a rose colored glasses effect when making these comparisons.

 

[ChessJitsu]

Anderson had some flashier moves

Pereira as a bread and butter technical striker is superior

Anderson also didn't really fight any good strikers throughout his prime. There's a gulf of experience at the highest levels between the two.

Love Anderson, but I think there's understandably going to be a rose colored glasses effect when making these comparisons.

Vitor Belfort was a magnificent win and Franklin was considered really decent for that time.

With that said, Paotan is way superior to Anderson in both absolute and relative (to their eras) terms.

 

[DecisionSplit]

He got knocked out by Adesanya and outstruck by Blachowicz. There are probably better candidates for striking GOAT.

 

[omawho402]

He got knocked out by Adesanya and outstruck by Blachowicz. There are probably better candidates for striking GOAT.

Glad someone has the balls to say the truth around here.

 

[laleggenda27]

OP is ridiculous.

In terms of mma, there's definitely an argument that Alex is the best striker in the sport's history. At the very least, he's on the short list.

 

[wolffanghameha]

One of the best and a blessing for us fans. Clearly one of the most effective and accomplished ever in MMA. Super efficient and rarely looks in trouble or like he's forced out of his game. But hard to compare to smaller guys who can just move their body more and add more layers to their game.

Obviously he fought top strikers in Glory and China, plus now guys like Strickland, Izzy, Hill and Jiri who are very good and/or dangerous MMA strikers. But a guy like Petr Yan's got the better of some fantastic and varied MMA strikers like Aldo, Sandhagen and O'Malley* on the feet. Same for Volk outstriking Max, Ortega and TKZ. Max has outstruck so many good and great MMA strikers too. Poatan had two fights where Izzy outstruck him but he got a finish, most of the others have fights they were outstruck in. Don't think anyone's really outstruck Yan so far.

Then you've got the top Thais. Like Samart - I've only seen clips of his MT fights and a couple of his full boxing fights, but he's the MT GOAT and was a boxing world champ. I bet his style would have transferred very well to the small MMA gloves.
Unfortunately a lot of the best kickboxers never got to fight high level strikers in MMA gloves.

 

[DrRodentia]

Vitor Belfort was a magnificent win and Franklin was considered really decent for that time.

With that said, Paotan is way superior to Anderson in both absolute and relative (to their eras) terms.

Those guys were good strikers in that era of MMA, but neither had any resume in pure striking, where Pereira also excelled.

Do you think Rich Franklin could have made a K1 run in his prime?

 

[2004 account]

its stoll anderson for me but my boy poatan is getting closer to claming the title





im more impressed with poatans style though...i liked andersons matrix game but it was a gimmicky and got figured out by the end when everyone caught up. It became more flash than substance. Poatan has proper fundamentals and instigates openings fearlesly. Im not easily impressed but Alex's striking is VERY high level, and where some fights over rely on their counter striking, alex shines with his high iq and highly experienced setup game

 

[AstralPanda]

Vitor Belfort was a magnificent win and Franklin was considered really decent for that time.

With that said, Paotan is way superior to Anderson in both absolute and relative (to their eras) terms.

Belfort wasn't trt Belfort when he fought Silva. That didn't come until after.

During that period, he was very hit or miss.

Franklin was good for mma.

But overall I agree.

 

[blackheart]

Best striker in MMA history yes. But he wasn't even tbe best ki kboxer when he fought.

Huh? That is complete revisionism. He was absolutely being called the best kickboxer in the world by some when he was at his peak in kickboxing.