Hot Take Most impressive perfomances in MMA history considering the opponent's difficulty level

[Fedorgasm]

GSP vs Fitch IMO

Fitch was the clear #2 WW in the World and GSP basically murdered him 50-43

And beat him at his own game too. I couldn't believe it. Fitch's wrestling looked amazing up to that point.

 

[snaportap21]

It was not a dominant win for Reyes, but it was impressive "considering the opponent's difficulty level"
Who expected Reyes to win 3 rounds?

His wins before the TS were:
- two guys cut by the UFC
- Cannonier, who wasn't that good at LHW
- OSP
- SD vs Volkan, many thought it was a robbery
- old Weidman at LHW

​

I kind of see where you’re coming from, but Jon has a knack for fighting to the level of his opponent, the Santos fight showed that. I didn’t see that performance from Reyes as good as any of the fights OP listed, though. He did well early on and then waned a great deal as the fight progressed.

To me, it moreso looked like Jon had been very complacent his last few fights moreso than Reyes looked good. I don’t think Jon walked away beat up like he did against Gus the first time. Imo of course.

 

[HHJ]

Fedor was just a chubby and short Russian guy in just his third Pride fight

People had seen Fedor's fight with Herring before the Nog fight. He was not just some "chubby and short Russian guy"

At the time there was a bunch of guys from RTT that were in PRIDE, all tough guys, who generally got outclassed by the Brazilians.

Fedor was probably seen as one of those, until he actually started fighting there.

Fedor with his absolute trouncing of Herring by stoppage, a guy who Nog just went the distance with and couldnt finish, was at the very least, a cut above anyone else Nog could fight in PRIDE at the time.

I'm sure Nog was the odds on favorite, and rightfully so, because if he could survive Sapp, conventional wisdom is he should be able to survive anything, but Fedor wasnt some bum coming out of nowhere in this fight. It was for the world title for a reason.

That being said, it was STILL impressive, what he'd done against a elite level fighter like Nog. Flawless victory.

 

[Subline]

1. Volk vs Max 3
2. Yan vs Merab 2
3. Jones vs DC
4. GSP vs Hughes 2/3
5. Islam vs Charles
6. Khabib vs Poirier
7. Topuria vs Volk
8. DJ vs Moraes 2
9. Aldo vs Edgar 2
10. Conor vs Aldo

 

[DougieJones]

Garbrandt vs Cruz

Was gonna say, no love for No Love? First fight I thought of when opening thread

 

[KO Shotz]

Yes yes Shogun still dangerous, but that doesn't make it a more impressive title win. DC would be an objectively better win

Ya I would agree that his wins against DC are very impressive as well, but the performance Jon put on against Shogun was one of the worst one sided beatdowns I've ever seen. This thread is about impressive performances against tough guys & Jon's performance vs Shogun one of the most dangerous guys in the biz was what started the legend of Jon Jones.