Is it true DCs best opponents before Jones were past their prime?

[Intermission]

Daniel Cormier was never given any credit for his strike force record and most people did not think he was going to beat Jones.

But wasnt this largely unfair? Were Cormiers best opponents really that far off from their best?

 

[Dr. Rose]

Barnett was in his prime when DC ragdolled him. Rumble holds up well too, beating everyone in the division not named DC>

 

[Intermission]

Barnett was in his prime when DC ragdolled him. Rumble holds up well too, beating everyone in the division not named DC>

Rumble came after Jones

 

[Dr. Rose]

Rumble came after Jones

Gotcha, misread part of your statement. But Barnett was ranked ahead of DC. Both being top 10

 

[Bend NvR Break]

DC next best opponent after Jones IMHO was Rumble who was every bit in his prime and peaking when they fought the first time.

Big Foot had just gotten finished battering Fedor when he fought DC.

 

[JoeRowe]

BigFoot was absolutely in his prime. Demolished Fedor & lost a close 29-28 to soon-to-be UFC champion Werdum.

DC doesn't get nearly enough credit for wrecking TrtFoot

 

[Intermission]

and DC is missing from a lot of top ten lists.

 

[Subline]

Barnett was riding an 8 fight win streak and Bigfoot was riding a 3 fight win streak, with wins over Fedor, Arlosvki etc. Definitely great wins for his resume.

 

[Hymen Crusher]

Dc would have beat every guy in the ufc except Jones. Every single one of them in his prime. Even the miocic loses came at the end. Cormier while a human chode, is all time great

 

[Azure]

Daniel Cormier was never given any credit for his strike force record and most people did not think he was going to beat Jones.

But wasnt this largely unfair? Were Cormiers best opponents really that far off from their best?

DC is a can confirmed

 

[Intermission]

Dc would have beat every guy in the ufc except Jones. Every single one of them in his prime. Even the miocic loses came at the end. Cormier while a human chode, is all time great

I think Champ Ngannou can spark him but thats about it

 

[Hymen Crusher]

I think Champ Ngannou can spark him but thats about it

Maybe 50 50 for sure. Prime cormier might have just dumped him on his head. Though Francis still has the most power in his hands probably ever

 

[BowserJr]

Barnett was in his prime when DC ragdolled him. Rumble holds up well too, beating everyone in the division not named DC>

Barnett was not in his Prime. The dude was in his prime from like 2002-2008 tops.

He was still good but not prime.

Rumble was prime though

 

[BowserJr]

Dc would have beat every guy in the ufc except Jones. Every single one of them in his prime. Even the miocic loses came at the end. Cormier while a human chode, is all time great

He is an all time great but it's definitely not for certain that he beats any of these guys in their prime

Couture
Chuck
Noguiera
Shogun
Rashad
Arlovski
Machida

 

[ThaiSexPills]

No.

If Jones didn’t exist, we’d be hauling DC as the GOAT but unfortunately for him (and us) Jones is just better. Now we’re stuck with him clogging the HW division due to this “legacy”.

 

[Hymen Crusher]

He is an all time great but it's definitely not for certain that he beats any of these guys in their prime

Couture
Chuck
Noguiera
Shogun
Rashad
Arlovski
Machida

I honestly think he would be 3 to 1 favorite against everyone of them. The only guy is arlovski just becaue he was an incredibly fast hw

 

[Hymen Crusher]

I honestly think he would be 3 to 1 favorite against everyone of them. The only guy is arlovski just becaue he was an incredibly fast hw

And big nog he was legit

 

[tritestill]

He is an all time great but it's definitely not for certain that he beats any of these guys in their prime

Couture
Chuck
Noguiera
Shogun
Rashad
Arlovski
Machida

Cormier beats all of them

 

[JBGuy420]

Dc would have beat every guy in the ufc except Jones. Every single one of them in his prime. Even the miocic loses came at the end. Cormier while a human chode, is all time great

human chode

 

[HavokHarmon]

Daniel Cormier was never given any credit for his strike force record and most people did not think he was going to beat Jones.

But wasnt this largely unfair? Were Cormiers best opponents really that far off from their best?

Who the fuck are you talking about? DC was considered one of the best heavyweights in the world coming off his SF tourney win. Some even argued that he was essentially the uncrowned champ given the fact that that tournament sported an all a round better roster of heavyweight fighters than the UFC had at the time and Cormier came out on top. He literally only dropped down to 205 because he was on the same team as and good friends with the reigning champion in Cain. I’m sure there were some not giving him his flowers (aren’t there always?) but by and large he was considered to be the real deal by most serious mma fans when he came over from Strikeforce.

As for whether people thought he would beat Jones im not really sure what you’re looking for here. At the time they faced off in 2015 Jones was a dominant champion with 7 title defenses inside of 4 years, having beaten 4 former champions in that span, so it isn’t any surprise that Cormier wasn’t EXPECTED to walk through Jon. But anecdotally anyone who watched at the time remembers this being considered a huge test for Jones who relied on his dominance in the grappling game to be matched with a former Olympian who had shown his grappling chops against former champs himself a weight class up. This memory is supported by the odds set at the time. While Jones was still favored at -192/+177, this line was a departure from his previous fights as champion. Looking back through old fight odds stats we can see that Jones’ other defenses looked something like this

Jones/Glover: -600/+425
Jones/Gus: -840/+550
Jones/Sonnen: -875/+625
Jones/Belfort: -840/+575
Jones/Evans: -500/+400
Jones/Machida: -400/+250
Jones/Jackson: -500/+435

Even his fight for the title had Jones as a bigger favorite on most sites than he was against Cormier in their first meeting. If that doesn’t speak to the idea that people were giving DC a better shot at beating Jones than anyone had had previously I don’t know what would.