Is Liddell top 20 best adapted strikers in sports history?

[DanDragon Machi]

In my opinion Chuck was one of the best counter strikers in MMA history and one of the most terrible for grapplers since he could knock out people walking backwards. Were there twenty fighters with a more effective striking than him in MMA history?

Above him: Anderson, Jones, Poatan, Topuria, Mcgregor, Adesanya, Holloway, Whittaker, Volkanovski
Same/close level: Lyoto, Shogun, Vitor, Rumble, Overeen, Aspinall, JDS, Miocic, Ngannou, O'Malley, Yan, GSP, Venon, Gane, Mirko, Fedor, Thompson, Poirier, Gustafsson, DC, Cruz, TJ,
A little bit under: Wandelrei, Gaethje, Lawler, Romero, Hunt, Pettis, Leon, Rory, Aldo, Demetrious, Benavidez, Pantera, Rockhold, Cain, Shavkat, Cejudo

My criterie: Technique + KO power + IQ fight/Creativity + Athleticism (reach, explosiviness etc)

 

[tequilaboy]

He is the best adapted wreslter, he could do that because of his wrestling..

 

[13Seconds]

Aldo under Chuck?

 

[DanDragon Machi]

Aldo under Chuck?

Why not? Aldo was basically a decision's winner and was finished by every top strikers than faced (Conor, Max 2x and Petr)
Liddell beaten Overeen, Vitor and Wanderlein in foot

 

[HHJ]

Why not? Aldo was basically a decision's winner

He's 145 lbs sir

 

[DanDragon Machi]

He's 145 lbs sir

Topuria, Conor and Max too and these guys has lots of knockouts victories in their resume

 

[HHJ]

Topuria, Conor and Max too and these guys has lots of knockouts victories in their resume

Yea


but having Lidell like power at 145 is not common.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Jose Aldo is a vastly superior striker to Chuck Liddell. He dominated a competitive division for a decade. Chuck benefited from a lot of the top 205ers being in the other org. Aldo was the undisputed goat FW, and he is still is often in the conversation. Chuck isn't for 205, and they're both strikers. Can kind of do the math there.

Lack of knockouts doesn't mean anything. You have Whittaker up there and Whittaker is not as successful as Aldo nor does he hit harder.

Also, putting McGregor over some of those guys. McGregor is a better striker than Poirier (who has more quality wins than McGregor using only striking), Shogun, Ngnanou, and GSP? McGregor didn't really beat that many guys.

 

[Cartiac]

As an MMA striker, absolutely, actually much higher on a relative basis he is one of the very best of all time. He fought during a time of very heavy wrestling, ground and pound dominance and beat those guys with striking by pioneering a lot of the TDD techniques everyone trains today.

While everyone trains and uses his techniques it is hard to name anyone that replicates his "just stand the fuck back up" ground game that gave his opponents no choice but to have to try to strike against him.

 

[Shane-O-Mac]

His striking was really not that polished. He relied so much on his chin that once that was gone, it was all over

 

[Elegant]

Prime TJ has an argument for top 5 MMA striker of all time and you put him under Chuck lol

 

[OneOfOne]

Jose Aldo is a vastly superior striker to Chuck Liddell. He dominated a competitive division for a decade. Chuck benefited from a lot of the top 205ers being in the other org. Aldo was the undisputed goat FW, and he is still is often in the conversation. Chuck isn't for 205, and they're both strikers. Can kind of do the math there.

That's not entirely true. Chuck beat plenty of Pride 205ers. He beat Vitor, Mezger, Overeem, Bustamante, and Randleman. He beat Tito and Sobral who beat Wanderlei and Shogun respectfully.

 

[CrimsonFan]

Well I don't know about all these hypothetical matchups and who is better than who stuff

But I do think Chuck is a legend and if he was in his prime fighting today he would be a dangerous fight for just about anyone. He certainly had "it", and could beat people more technical on the feet. So I'm sure alot of people are going to laugh at your take but I won't. I agree Liddell was great.

 

[Pain4Pain]

I was also trained in part by his coach.

The bread and butter of the striking system was to mix kickboxing in at angles when entering and exiting the pocket, which is nothing revolutionary nowadays but it did give wrestlers turned MMA fighters an edge back in the day.

I’d say he did very well given his natural gifts of having both a reach and power advantage over nearly all his opponents.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Prime TJ has an argument for top 5 MMA striker of all time and you put him under Chuck lol

Got KO'd by trex arms Cejudo while roided up, come on bro.
He isn't near top 5 all time. Had some great fights, half of them are tainted.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Lol at that hot garbage in the OP.

 

[muaythaibeast]

That's not entirely true. Chuck beat plenty of Pride 205ers. He beat Vitor, Mezger, Overeem, Bustamante, and Randleman. He beat Tito and Sobral who beat Wanderlei and Shogun respectfully.

I'd say Chuck never broke the top 3 at 205 in his career, and was very comparable to someone like Mousasi, dominating in a 2nd tier organisation whilst the best fought elsewhere.

 

[OneOfOne]

I'd say Chuck never broke the top 3 at 205 in his career, and was very comparable to someone like Mousasi, dominating in a 2nd tier organisation whilst the best fought elsewhere.

That sounds like some anti-Chuck bias to me. Going into the 2nd Rampage fight Chuck was universally ranked top 2 in the world. Most had him #1.

 

[muaythaibeast]

That sounds like some anti-Chuck bias to me. Going into the 2nd Rampage fight Chuck was universally ranked top 2 in the world. Most had him #1.

The UFC guys were always massively overrated. Lesnar was ranked 1st after Fedor's loss in 2010 when there were at least 5, possibly 10 guys that would have flattened him.

 

[ticho123]

Why not? Aldo was basically a decision's winner and was finished by every top strikers than faced (Conor, Max 2x and Petr)
Liddell beaten Overeen, Vitor and Wanderlein in foot

Spicy take