Modern day MMA title defenses vs. old school MMA title defenses

[koa pomaikai]

Modern day MMA is just on a whole different level across all weight divisions (including heavyweight)

I don’t think it’s possible to ever see anyone come close to 10 title defenses in modern MMA as everyone is much closer in skill set.

People in their PRIME like Aldo, Mighty Mouse, GSP, Fedor, Anderson, and even Jones are likely going to find it hard to make it to the title, and most likely just defend it a handful of times at best.

I mean, do you see someone like Fedor being able to reign 10 years as champion in modern Heavyweight?

Anderson having 10+ title defenses in the current MW class?

GSP going on a run at 170?

Nah. I don’t think so.

 

[RockyLockridge]

People in their PRIME like Aldo, Mighty Mouse, GSP, Fedor, Anderson, and even Jones are likely going to find it hard to make it to the title, and most likely just defend it a handful of times at best.

Jones could just stay at LHW and go til 20 defenses if he wanted. Jiri, hill, Rakic, Poatan, Jan, Ankalaev would all lose to jones handidly.

Mighty mouse could come off the couch RIGHT NOW and still beat moreno, Royval, Erceg, KKF and Pantoja. Only figgy would be difficult.

I mean, do you see someone like Fedor being able to reign 10 years as champion in modern Heavyweight?

Depends when year 1 is. I do think Fedor is a better fighter than stipe. If it were 2013-2023 yes, I think he could.

Anderson having 10+ title defenses in the current MW class?

Could absolutely Beat whittaker, Strickland, Dricus, Vettori, Cannonier, costa and Izzy. Khamzat is a bad match up for him though


The era he lost the title in was way harder for him rockhold, weidman, Mousasi, romero, Kennedy, Jacare, Bisping is a way harder crop of fighters for him to beat.

GSP going on a run at 170?

Still better than every single current WW

 

[VinceArch]

I mean, do you see someone like Fedor being able to reign 10 years as champion in modern Heavyweight?

Yes, easily.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

Modern HW. . . . .isn't as hot as you think it is. Someone of Fedor's skill (maybe a bit bigger) could absofuckinglutely got on a 10 year reign of terror against the two-dimensional, slow, mostly flabby HWs of today. So many of them have suuuuch big holes in their game, that their saving grace is that virtually no other HWs can grapple.

 

[koa pomaikai]

Yes, easily.

Fedor was in trouble against some one dimensional fighters. Didn’t he almost get KOed by some Japanese pro wrestler, can’t recall the guys name.

 

[koa pomaikai]

Modern HW. . . . .isn't as hot as you think it is. Someone of Fedor's skill (maybe a bit bigger) could absofuckinglutely got on a 10 year reign of terror against the two-dimensional, slow, mostly flabby HWs of today. So many of them have suuuuch big holes in their game, that their saving grace is that virtually no other HWs can grapple.

Curtis Blaydes can grapple, hasn’t worked out for him against one dimensional brawlers eh?

 

[RonDante]

It would be impossible to get ten title defences in modern mma but you came to the oldhead mma website so everyone is just going to say they’d reign now too

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

Curtis Blaydes can grapple, hasn’t worked out for him against one dimensional brawlers eh?

Blayde's is a flabby exception with a glass jaw. Not going to be stopping a modern HW with Fedor-esqueu skills, sorry. Also, not my use of "virtually".

And yeah, Fedor got rocked by a huge overhead right by Fujita, who's striking he wasn't taking seriously. . . . and then he dropped and subbed the guy in a moment's notice. . . unlike Blaydes who just gets sent to the shadow-realm when he gets hit.

 

[Fedorgasm]

What people think is a weak era is usually a result of a very dominant champ who cleaned out the division.

That's why Anderson had to fight guys like Cote. He simply cleaned out everyone else.

With Jones it wasn't quite as bad because his periods of inactivity allowed others to build up momentum again before fighting him.

It happened with Fedor too. When there wasn't a legit challenger then pride would throw someone at him, and at the time we understood. We're not seeing Fedor vs Zulu instead of a legit title match. We're seeing Fedor/Zulu instead of not seeing Fedor at all for 6 months. But Fedor cleaned out that division. He fought every legit contender at the time with the exception of Randy and Barnett, and he did try to fight Barnett. It wasn't Fedor's fault that Barnett tested positive.

Anyhoo, this idea that MMA today is so much better than MMA 5, 10, 15, years ago is not really true.

I mean, we have a LHW champ right now that would likely lose to several LHW from 10 years ago.

 

[5crew]

Fedor was in trouble against some one dimensional fighters. Didn’t he almost get KOed by some Japanese pro wrestler, can’t recall the guys name.

Which is precisely why Fedor being undersized reigning over 10 years in HW is so impressive. At HW, Skill matters but a well place shot can end winning streak WAY easier than WW and below. And guess what? Fedor didn't lose.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

What people think is a weak era is usually a result of a very dominant champ who cleaned out the division.

That's why Anderson had to fight guys like Cote. He simply cleaned out everyone else.

With Jones it wasn't quite as bad because his periods of inactivity allowed others to build up momentum again before fighting him.

It happened with Fedor too. When there wasn't a legit challenger then pride would throw someone at him, and at the time we understood. We're not seeing Fedor vs Zulu instead of a legit title match. We're seeing Fedor/Zulu instead of not seeing Fedor at all for 6 months. But Fedor cleaned out that division. He fought every legit contender at the time with the exception of Randy and Barnett, and he did try to fight Barnett. It wasn't Fedor's fault that Barnett tested positive.

Anyhoo, this idea that MMA today is so much better than MMA 5, 10, 15, years ago is not really true.

I mean, we have a LHW champ right now that would likely lose to several LHW from 10 years ago.

MMA isn't better today, at all, than it was a decade+ ago. But back then we had fast, fit, well-rounded HWs duking it out. Now, the UFC has about 2 of those. I agree that every other weight class has improved though.

And I don't think Tylenoll is THAT good, but he looks great in speed, versatility, and grappling compared to the overwhelming majority of other 2D HWs.

 

[Robbocop]

Sports always evolve, comparing new generation fighters to old generation fighters is unfair because the new generation fighters learnt strategy and technique from the old generation fighters. Also in MMA there used to be one night tournaments and grand prix tournaments which no longer exist, and there used to be open weight whereas that no longer exists, and soccer kicks used to be allowed and knees to the head of a grounded opponent. It's too hard to compare the OGs to modern MMA fighters.

 

[VinceArch]

Fedor was in trouble against some one dimensional fighters. Didn’t he almost get KOed by some Japanese pro wrestler, can’t recall the guys name.

He was certainly rocked, still ended up winning. GSP was rocked by Condit and ended up winning. Frankie was rocked by Maynard and ended up winning. Champions aren't immune to taking heavy shots.

 

[NoSmilez]

Nowadays they let the fighters cook for a long time before they get to fight for the title. There are exceptions but it usually requires the champ’s approval and the division being cleared. The UFC has most of the fighters and the stable is deep. They rarely let new people fight for the title immediately. It is bad for promotion in terms of footage to make a promo.

Also Fedor didn’t defend his title much in Pride. You can look it up.

 

[Fedorgasm]

Sports always evolve, comparing new generation fighters to old generation fighters is unfair because the new generation fighters learnt strategy and technique from the old generation fighters. Also in MMA there used to be one night tournaments and grand prix tournaments which no longer exist, and there used to be open weight whereas that no longer exists, and soccer kicks used to be allowed and knees to the head of a grounded opponent. It's too hard to compare the OGs to modern MMA fighters.

Exactly. I think the only fair way to compare them is to say who was more dominate against their own peers.

Because their own peers had the same rules and techniques available to them at the time.

You could claim that someone from the past couldn't compete with today's fighters but in reality if that fighter were active today he wouldn't be the same as he was back then. He'd be training modern techniques with the current top coaches and under the current rules. They could very well still dominate because they'd have the same advantages modern fighters have.

 

[Fedorgasm]

Also Fedor didn’t defend his title much in Pride. You can look it up.

Fedor was already the champ when he entered the Grand Prix so that really should count as 4 title defenses in that tournament alone.

He didn't have to enter that tournament. Today's champs would never take a risk like that. With the exception of maybe Poatan.

 

[BlankaPresident]

Current champions don't have long defense streaks because they're always ducking contenders and are inactive as fuck.

 

[NoSmilez]

Fedor was already the champ when he entered the Grand Prix, any losses in that tournament and he would've lost his belt. So that really should count as 4 title defenses in that tournament alone.

That isn’t true. The Grand Prix is a tournament belt. It’s never meant to be defended. It isn’t the regular HW championship belt.

The confusion stems from pride using the GP to crown the champion for inaugural weight classes. It’s not the case for HW.

 

[Fedorgasm]

That isn’t true. The Grand Prix is a tournament belt. It’s never meant to be defended. It isn’t the regular HW championship belt.

The confusion stems from pride using the GP to crown the champion for inaugural weight classes. It’s not the case for HW.

Yeah I looked it up and edited my post when you were probably writing this. I guess I remembered it wrong.

The point is you can't judge Fedor just by number of title defenses, because tournaments and pride folding got in the way. His fights with Andre and Sylvia combined with the tournament would've given him another 5 title defenses.

 

[Chubi]

To me, the GOAT champs like Jones, GSP and such, would still be champs by today'standards. The difference is that now, the average level of MMA fighters is way higher. Before, you had the dominant champ, 2 guys who were near that level, then 15 guys who where mid. Now, nobody's mid in the UFC, except for a few guys (expecially at HW).