Let's appreciate prime Usman: he did the same thing to a 2 time D1 All American to win the WW belt

[AndrewGolota48]

What Khamzat did was impressive of course, but he did it to a South African guy with horrendous takedown defense, while 31 year old Kamaru did it to a highly accomplished lifelong wrestler in Woodley (2 time NCAA D1 all American).

People don't seem to realize that with Usman's knee issues, his run as champ was already in a dimished state, again showing his greatness. Look at his fights up to and including the title win, his wrestling was unstoppable.

It was a lonely road as an Usman fan for many years. I remember being scoffed at by Sherdog gurus when I suggested he would be champ one day.

 

[KO Shotz]

Meh. First of all DDP doesn't have horrendous TDD. Khamzat just made it look that way. & secondly, I'd take Dricus as the better overall fighter over Woodley.

 

[SuperNerd]

Pass.

 

[LeBron]

Kamaru deserves more respect for sure. ‘Good Knees’ Kamaru vs GSP would be an all-time match up.

 

[Aurelian]

Literally nobody is disputing that Usman has top tier wrestling.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

Meh. First of all DDP doesn't have horrendous TDD. Khamzat just made it look that way. & secondly, I'd take Dricus as the better overall fighter over Woodley.

1) He does compared to Woodley that's for damn sure, and he's been taken down basically by anyone that wanted to. He usually can make these happen from the bottom and create scrambles but yeah not with Khamzat.

2) That's for debatable, but you act like it's a sure thing due to racism and recency bias. No UFC champion faced the discrimination that Woodley did and overcame, it was a different time in our country back then. But anyway he knocked the fuck out the champ to win the belt then defended it four times.

 

[HatKick]

I do respect Usman but not because he beat old Woodley. Woodley may have had impressive wrestling credentials but he was never a great MMA grappler. He would gas badly if he had to wrestle a whole fight as we saw in the Usman fight. In MMA he was an explosive powerpuncher who would only use his wrestling defensively or opportunistically if his opponent was knocked down, that's about it. He was similar to Yoel Romero but more of puncher whereas Yoel was more unpredictable, unorthodox and durable.

 

[Poatan Power]

Usman had top tier wrestling? Who knew.

Woodley was also 37 or 38 when he fought 33 year old Usman. Just for context.

Usman isn't appreciated because he defended against mid card guys.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

Usman had top tier wrestling? Who knew.

Woodley was also 37 or 38 when he fought 33 year old Usman. Just for context.

Usman isn't appreciated because he defended against mid card guys.

I believe he was 36 and coming off 4 successful title defenses, the most recent of which was beating the ever loving shit out of a 20 something year old Till.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

I do respect Usman but not because he beat old Woodley. Woodley may have had impressive wrestling credentials but he was never a great MMA grappler. He would gas badly if he had to wrestle a whole fight as we saw in the Usman fight. In MMA he was an explosive powerpuncher who would only use his wrestling defensively or opportunistically if his opponent was knocked down, that's about it. He was similar to Yoel Romero but more of puncher whereas Yoel was more unpredictable and unorthodox.

He defended 24 takedowns against Maia just fine. But also this is revisionist history, before the fight hardly anyone was giving Usman a chance. The popular consensus was that Woodley could use his wrestling to keep it standing and was the far better striker.

 

[Poatan Power]

I believe he was 36 and coming off 4 successful title defenses, the most recent of which was beating the ever loving shit out of a 20 something year old Till.

It was March of 19. He would be 37 the next month.

Who DIDN'T beat the living shit out of Till?

I'm not saying Woodley wasn't great. But he was (apparently 36 years and 11 months old) when he fought Usman, and as you just demonstrated, with tons of mileage under his belt. Tale as old as time, younger, prime fighter beats fighter on his way out.

Woodley had 4 title defenses before that. It was also his first of 4 straight losses against never-champions. Careers have turning points, imho.

 

[HatKick]

He defended 24 takedowns against Maia just fine. But also this is revisionist history, before the fight hardly anyone was giving Usman a chance. The popular consensus was that Woodley could use his wrestling to keep it standing and was the far better striker.

Yeah well I just said he used his wrestling defensively.
Usman was underrated at the time. I guess people failed to see his cardio would be a problem for small lungs Woodley. Once he got tired there was no more TDD. Then right after, Woodley became the division jizz rag so no, I don't consider that an underrated win.

 

[KO Shotz]

2) That's for debatable, but you act like it's a sure thing due to racism and recency bias. No UFC champion faced the discrimination that Woodley did and overcame, it was a different time in our country back then.