Is the ""different era" the biggest excuse ever for GOAT contenders?

[revoltub]

yes, you cannot explain many things, kid.

 

[Shaddows]

 

[djacobox372]

I like how Fedor suddenly loses prime status once he enters the cage and loses against tough opponents. Let everyone be in their primes only the times they win lmao.

Fedor was almost 34yo when those losses came. This is the typical time fighters careers drop of badly.

If looking like a shell of yourself at 34 or 35 is disqualification for "great" status, than never talk about Roy Jones, Ali, or Sugar Ray Leonard as "Great" fighters either.

 

[revoltub]

Exactly.

 

[capnlarge]

I dunno HW is pretty whack right now. I'm not convinced the division got better. All the best guys are old

 

[moreorless87]

Fedor was almost 34yo when those losses came. This is the typical time fighters careers drop of badly.

If looking like a shell of yourself at 34 or 35 is disqualification for "great" status, than never talk about Roy Jones, Ali, or Sugar Ray Leonard as "Great" fighters either.

Its only in MMA with steroid fueled "late career success" by the likes of Randy, Vitor, Hendo, Anderson, etc that this seems abnormal.

Plus of course I wouldn't really say Fedor was a "shell", he declined and that allowed for some loses but really only having pre brain op Bigfoot ontop of him was he dominated for any length of time and that's one of the worst positions in MMA. The Fedor of that era could IMHO have won those fights on another night.

 

[moreorless87]

I dunno HW is pretty whack right now. I'm not convinced the division got better. All the best guys are old

Which is really the big issue, the UFC hype is basically that decline never happens with age and because a significant part of the fanbase come more from pro wrestling than conventional sports fans its been sold very effectively. It means in these peoples eyes old names dropping off MUST be a sign of improvement in the sport as a whole and that todays product is the "best ever".

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Wait a minute

Issac Newton died in 1726
Today is 2019. Thats almost 300 years.

You are comparing 1726 to now in science as the same with 2003 to now in fighting? Fedor is still alive bro.

And your average 20 year old MMA fighter can't beat Fedor, whereas your average 20 year old physics student can solve problems Newton couldn't.

MMA has progressed (in techniques, in tactics, and in training methods) since 2003. If Fedor was starting MMA today instead of in 2003 he'd be learning a wider range of techniques, tactics and training methods than were available to him or anyone else in 2003. Many of the changes came about because of his success -- coaches and fighters looked at what worked and adapted it.

You see this in all sports -- continuously better times, heavier lifts, faster and stronger players even in well established sports. Either human genetics is changing much faster than anyone thinks is possible, or its training and technique.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

I like how Fedor suddenly loses prime status once he enters the cage and loses against tough opponents. Let everyone be in their primes only the times they win lmao.

Interestingly enough, when someone is winning is a pretty standard definition of prime. When for instance were Mike Tyson's prime years? Most would say it was the years he was champ. Same for say Tiger Woods, or Usain Bolt, or Wayne Gretzky, or Michael Jordan, or Lebron James or Kobe Bryant ... well, you get the idea.

Why do people think Kobe Bryant was no longer in his prime in his mid-30s? Because he didn't play as well. Of course, on Sherdog everyone would just say he was never that good, that he was just exposed as he got older (along with Tiger, Usain, Gretzky, Jordan and every other great whose performance declined over the years).

 

[capnlarge]

Which is really the big issue, the UFC hype is basically that decline never happens with age and because a significant part of the fanbase come more from pro wrestling than conventional sports fans its been sold very effectively. It means in these peoples eyes old names dropping off MUST be a sign of improvement in the sport as a whole and that todays product is the "best ever".

I do think the other divisions are better, since it's a young sport and we're still seeing new techniques. It's just HW that's specifically bad.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Who is saying that HWs are better today then when Fedor was number 1 in Pride? It's certainly not people who were watching MMA in the early 2000s. The majority of people who have been watching MMA since the early 2000s till today agree, HW isn't as good as it was back then.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

I like how Fedor suddenly loses prime status once he enters the cage and loses against tough opponents. Let everyone be in their primes only the times they win lmao.

Fedor's own trainers said he was slowing down in Affliction. I can't stand new fans like you that behave like this. You don't know about MMA before you started watching it but instead of learning about it from others that were watching you pretend to know better.

 

[Bacco]

I don't call the "different era factor"

Fedor is GOAT as i will bet money on Fedor in his peak condition vs any other MMA fighter in his peak condition

 

[moreorless87]

I do think the other divisions are better, since it's a young sport and we're still seeing new techniques. It's just HW that's specifically bad.

Different divisions have advanced/declined at different rates over time, both HW and LHW today though are obviously worse than in the past.

Ironically the divisions(LW and above) that advanced most since the mid/late 00's were actually WW and MW which would effect the status of the UFC hyped GOAT's in GSP and Anderson.

LW, LHW and HW were the divisions with the most money behind them in the mid 00's.