Let us Review Usman's Title Reign for a sec

[Islam Imamate]

- Hugged and Layed on top of Woodley (who lost all his next fights) for 5 rounds to earn the belt

- Went to a life and death war with Colby and barely managed to win at the last second, stoppage was questionable also.

- Got Journeyman Jorge on a short notice and hugged him for 5 rounds.

- Got LW reject Gllbert Bums who managed to drop him, but it was a decent win.

- Gave Journeyman Jorge another unearned free title shot just so he could pad his record with an extra defense, cool KO though



He's obviously a great fighter and possibly current P4P king, but people are trolling when they compare his reign to Khabib, right? He beat the elite of the elite and made it look effortless. All of Khabib's opponents where ranked in P4P list... Meanwhile Usman is fighting Journeymen.. Not his fault though, current WW is just sad.

I think he's on par with Khabib, though he lacks certain key things like the undefeated record and never being cut/knocked down that make Khabib seem next level in a way Usman isn't.

But its ridiculous to compare him with GSP. Sure Usman's streak is longer because most of it is him fighting mid tier fighters on his way to a title shot. GSP's 12 fight win streak at WW includes 11 straight title wins compared to Usman's 5 title wins.

 

[Peli]

Poirier
Gaethje
McGregor
Al laquinta
Barboza
RDA

vs

Masvidal (x2)
Colby (maybe x2?)
Tyron
Burns
RDA
Maia
Edwards 2015?

I guess I agree. Begrudgingly.

Usman isn't done, though. I guess we'll see what he ends up with

Usman can end up 16-1 in the UFC. When he loses, The narrative that @PulsingJones put out will be the common and most dominant narrative. Why? Because if Usman loses, (and I believe he will lose before he retires), he will lose to a lesser quality of opponent. If Colby beats him, it will be a sobering truth to well, he hasn't fought the best fighters. His title defences have been rematches etc, etc. I can see it already.

The only reason people are putting him above khabib because the volume right now and/or they don't like Khabib and want to elevate someone over him. That's fine. Everyone has their perspective. But I see it coming where those same exact people that say he's above khabib, when usman lose will say he was never good, he got a lot of rematches, his quality of opponents weren't that good, etc.

At least my message will be consistent when that time comes. Usman is one of the greatest fighters to ever fight in the UFC, he's p4p right now(by default) but his quality of wins is not better than Khabibs. I don't even put his quality of wins over Adesanya. Adesanya is a better P4P talent than Usman. Adesanya is only lower on the pecking order because he went out of his weight class and lost, but he's fought better talent, didn't get blasted by Jan. It was competitive. And He's won in better fashion than Usman. Usman is p4p by process of elimination and that's not me hating. That's reality.

It's not Usman's fault to a degree. He can only fight who's in front of him. But that's where quality of wins play a role too.

Footstomping someone in a title defense, vs giving someone their first mma submission loss, we know which quality of win is better.

 

[Muaythaibrit]

Khabib has a very good resume, however he left the sport right in his prime after just 3 title defences against 3 strikers. Conor was hungover and past the days of Aldo and Alvarez, Porier was a great win but at the same time wasn’t the same fighter he is now and Justin has never been and probably never will be elite. He won the vacant title against AI IQUINTA and prior to that beat two decent at best lightweights in Barboza and Johnson. RDA was a good win but again it wasn’t a prime RDA. All of these guys were strikers as well. Thats Khabib’s career. A dominant and destructive run through lightweight, but also a quick one with a lot of easy stylistic matchups and good luck along the way.

Your right, Usman still has some work to do at WW, however he has already fought two tough matchups stylistically in Colby and Burns, Masvidal x2 is not elite yes but still a dangerous opponent and Usman is yet to be finished, with the Colby rematch this year and probably more title defences against the likes of Edwards. He also won the belt of a legit champ in Woodley who was on the back of 4 title defences. As for his run up to the title, it wasn’t great in terms of names but he still beat RDA (one of Khabibs best wins) and Maia.

Usman has had the better career and isn’t retired unlike Khabib. He is going to keep defending his belt and not retire so early to save his record. Khabib is a phenomenal fighter, but in terms of resume and who is the best all round fighter, Usman > Khabib

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Usman has had a good run. The 2 mas fights are the only weak part of it

 

[Peli]

, however he left the sport right in his prime after just 3 title defences against 3 strikers.

Usman has yet to fight a wrestler. He fought Colby, but Colby didn't wrestle or attempt to wrestle. The only one who really attempted to wrestle was burns.

Essentially He's faced 4 strikers in his title fights. I don't think woodley wrestled either. I don't get how people hold this against Khabib, but not Usman.

 

[Goutfather]

- Hugged and Layed on top of Woodley (who lost all his next fights) for 5 rounds to earn the belt

- Went to a life and death war with Colby and barely managed to win at the last second, stoppage was questionable also.

- Got Journeyman Jorge on a short notice and hugged him for 5 rounds.

- Got LW reject Gllbert Bums who managed to drop him, but it was a decent win.

- Gave Journeyman Jorge another unearned free title shot just so he could pad his record with an extra defense, cool KO though



He's obviously a great fighter and possibly current P4P king, but people are trolling when they compare his reign to Khabib, right? He beat the elite of the elite and made it look effortless. All of Khabib's opponents where ranked in P4P list... Meanwhile Usman is fighting Journeymen.. Not his fault though, current WW is just sad.

both khabib and usman are massively overrated in terms of what they bring to the table. both built long win streaks off fighting mostly nobodys, and both have relatively short title reigns in terms of meaningful defenses (relative to their hype anyway). both got the undeserved fast track to the “goat” conversation, where neither belongs imo.

but overall usman’s two defenses (not counting the masvidal can crushing ceremonies) were more impressive than kaberb’s three defenses over strikers. dustin and justin were both decent wins, but neither was proficient enough on the ground to test khabib’s style. the result was basically a squash match. that’s not really khabib’s fault, but he chose to retire before ever facing anyone that could test him. usman has at least showed that he’s capable of adapting to different types of fighters.

 

[ayaandirtyboy]

- Hugged and Layed on top of Woodley (who lost all his next fights) for 5 rounds to earn the belt

- Went to a life and death war with Colby and barely managed to win at the last second, stoppage was questionable also.

- Got Journeyman Jorge on a short notice and hugged him for 5 rounds.

- Got LW reject Gllbert Bums who managed to drop him, but it was a decent win.

- Gave Journeyman Jorge another unearned free title shot just so he could pad his record with an extra defense, cool KO though



He's obviously a great fighter and possibly current P4P king, but people are trolling when they compare his reign to Khabib, right? He beat the elite of the elite and made it look effortless. All of Khabib's opponents where ranked in P4P list... Meanwhile Usman is fighting Journeymen.. Not his fault though, current WW is just sad.

so if gilbert is a lightweight reject

does it make poirer a featherweight reject?
like come on dude specially after he beat now wonderboy and woodley he should be considered a legit contender

stop downplaying him just to fit your narrative

also masvidals shot was legit the first time
he beat 3 guys in one year with great finishes
darren till, askren, nate diaz

usman has beaten now mostly everyone out of the top 5 thats already more accomplished then what khabib did
beat conor who was 1:0 at lightweight, beat poirer who was a legit contender and then beat an overhyped gaehje who is 5:3 in the ufc

 

[Poirierfan]

Really? I thought he made some fair points. He didn't have to be such a dick about it, but I can't disprove what he's saying. Conor, Gaethje, and Porier were all P4P when Khabib finished them.

I agree

 

[Muaythaibrit]

Usman has yet to fight a wrestler. He fought Colby, but Colby didn't wrestle or attempt to wrestle. The only one who really attempted to wrestle was burns.

Essentially He's faced 4 strikers in his title fights. I don't think woodley wrestled either. I don't get how people hold this against Khabib, but not Usman.

Usman didn’t try to wrestle Colby either

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

so if gilbert is a lightweight reject

does it make poirer a featherweight reject?

Dustin was ranked at 145 with solid win tbf. Not a 1:1 comparison. However, Burns is for sure legit

 

[XDeathClutchX]

- Hugged and Layed on top of Woodley (who lost all his next fights) for 5 rounds to earn the belt

- Went to a life and death war with Colby and barely managed to win at the last second, stoppage was questionable also.

- Got Journeyman Jorge on a short notice and hugged him for 5 rounds.

- Got LW reject Gllbert Bums who managed to drop him, but it was a decent win.

- Gave Journeyman Jorge another unearned free title shot just so he could pad his record with an extra defense, cool KO though



He's obviously a great fighter and possibly current P4P king, but people are trolling when they compare his reign to Khabib, right? He beat the elite of the elite and made it look effortless. All of Khabib's opponents where ranked in P4P list... Meanwhile Usman is fighting Journeymen.. Not his fault though, current WW is just sad.

Usman is legit but may be overrated.
Khabib was maybe the best wrestler of all time, but was overrated.

Jon Jones is the goat.

 

[Poirierfan]

Khabib didn't get a title shot till way too late, and he did make it look all so effortless when fighting the cream of the crop. I personally think Khabib is the goat imo. The old argument about the number of title defenses is unfair imo, some get their shot a lot sooner than others whether it be due to politics or whatever.

 

[Peli]

so if gilbert is a lightweight reject

does it make poirer a featherweight reject?
like come on dude specially after he beat now wonderboy and woodley he should be considered a legit contender

stop downplaying him just to fit your narrative

also masvidals shot was legit the first time
he beat 3 guys in one year with great finishes
darren till, askren, nate diaz

usman has beaten now mostly everyone out of the top 5 thats already more accomplished then what khabib did
beat conor who was 1:0 at lightweight, beat poirer who was a legit contender and then beat an overhyped gaehje who is 5:3 in the ufc

If you want to say poirier is a reject, no problem. He was a prospect at FW and solidifed himself a LW. Burns faced an old maia, old woodley, and now old wonderboy. It's not his fault. He caught all of them on the way down. Wonderboy got beat by pettis. Woodley was done. Great performance by Burns but come on, its not like Woodley was throwing heat. Woodley refused to throw. He had a competitive fight more so with Luque than he did with Burns and that's not because of Burns. That's because Woodley was gun-shy.

Masvidal beat Till - I agree, it was a legit title shot. But It doesn't mean Masvidal is considered an elite p4p fighter. He beat him, great and he did it on short notice. Fantastic. But that quality of win doesn't stack up to Khabib's.

Mentioning Askren and Nate Diaz as Jorge's quality of wins really hurts your argument. You should have stopped at Till. Till was the dude he beat that was ranked inside the top 10 iirc. Ben "beat" Lawler. The same lawler who hasn't won a fight in forever.

 

[Peli]

Usman didn’t try to wrestle Colby either

Kudos to Usman for winning a fight striking.

I want to see what's going to happen if Colby tries to wrestle him or if we see him mix up his wrestling.

I think Usman wins, don't get me wrong. I just want to see it. I won't hold it against him if he never fights an offensive wrestler.

 

[BlessYourHeart]

Usman is the best WW at the moment. GSP rarely finished the top contenders when he faced them.

In title fights, Usman dominated Woodley and Masvidal, both top guys at the time. Then he finished Covington, Burns, and Masvidal. All 3 in the top 5

 

[Peli]

Usman is the best WW at the moment. GSP rarely finished the top contenders when he faced them.

In title fights, Usman dominated Woodley and Masvidal, both top guys at the time. Then he finished Covington, Burns, and Masvidal. All 3 in the top 5

People complain about GSP not being a finisher and that's somewhat valid, but GSP was dribbling Jon Fitch's head like a basketball and dropped him several times. I wouldn't be surprised if a prime gsp would have did the same to usman, just outclass him and decision him that way.

Usman decisions are dominant, but nothing like that. He's getting finishers now, so kudos to him. He still has a lot of work, imo.

 

[richardjohnson]

As usual the goalposts keep moving.. When Khabib was dominating decorated wrestlers like Shalrous and Trujilo and lethal grapplers like Prime RDA, people wouldn't shut up about how Khabib will be exposed when he faces a good striker... Then when he smashed the strikers, the argument moved to a "Striker with perfect TDD" who was Gaejthe...

Well now they’re coming up with imaginary fighters that would beat him like a 155lb Colby.

 

[BlessYourHeart]

People complain about GSP not being a finisher and that's somewhat valid, but GSP was dribbling Jon Fitch's head like a basketball and dropped him several times. I wouldn't be surprised if a prime gsp would have did the same to usman, just outclass him and decision him that way.

Usman decisions are dominant, but nothing like that. He's getting finishers now, so kudos to him. He still has a lot of work, imo.

I'm not trying to take away from GSP's accomplishments because I hate judging fighters the competed in two different spans. I appreciate GSP for fighting the top guys in his era the same way I do for Usman. Usman just hasn't had the opportunity to face all comers yet. Edwards will probably have a chance soon. And Chimaev will probably get fast tracked if he wins his next fight

 

[drbolony]

Conor was a FW. He basically has a single win of note at LW. Calling an undersized guy who has been hopelessly exposed at LW in your top 3 wins is a problem if you want to be the goat.

Justin and Dustin are strong fighters have but both shown to beatable. These fighters being in the P4P was nothing more than promotional tool for the fights.

Conor, sure, Justin and Dustin though? Name me 15 better fighters than them at the time that Khabib beat them.

 

[cmw43]

Really? I thought he made some fair points. He didn't have to be such a dick about it, but I can't disprove what he's saying. Conor, Gaethje, and Porier were all P4P when Khabib finished them.

Connor was coming off a two year layoff, Gaethje is dangerous standing but his complete lack of defensive BJJ was exposed he said himself he doesn't like to train grappling, top tier win with Dustin though.