Just a little bit of info. A lot of people trash fighters as soon as they start losing, it's interesting to note that the average amount of time a fighter stays great is 9-11 years....then age/wear-and-tear start to take a huge toll. Here is a short list of just some of the all-time greats, who started losing often after about 9-11 years (I'm sure there are more). Even though some of these guys are still fighting, none of them are in still in their glory days. Couture Penn Liddell W. Silva Big Nog Shogun
The fight game is just plain grueling. The training that goes into fights, the fights themselves; you're going to slow down eventually. I've seen it with BJ and it's been hard to watch. The Diaz fight saddened me a lot, but it never took away any of the respect and admiration I had for my favorite fighter. I've seen what he's accomplished in the past and that's what I'll always think of whenever anyone mentions BJ Penn.
I'd say the biggest in my mind would be BJ Penn and Minotauro. The past couple years for them has been pretty hard to watch as they're my favorites.
The windows even smaller than that. You're just comparing guys from previous eras when being great was not that much of a challenge. Plus, the UFC extended some of those careers and whatever hype was associated with them. If you make it, you really only have five years.
i think a fighters prime is essentially only about 3-4 years, the rest is coming into it or slowly sliding, and guys that were great for 9-10 years are simply phenomenal
For me it is very sad to see Wand and Nog losing ... Mirko also does not deserve a lot of losses in the UFC
Imo he started declining (physically) as early as in 2004. From that point on his speed and reflexes started to decline slowly.
TS, you will enjoy this thread: http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/history-odds-rankings-2001-2004-a-975549/ here's my list, in no particular orders, or legends who have fought well consistently for over 8 years (some from 2000-2008, others from 2004-2012): Randy, CroCop, Nog, Fedor, Barnett Hendo, Wandy, Chuck, Shogun, Vitor, Rampage Silva, Franklin Hughes, GSP BJ, Hansen, Thomson, Yves others deserve kudos for being on a top 10 list across 10 years, even if they never quite got to a top 3 position for very long. fighters like AO & Marquardt & Nick Diaz & Gomi & Matt Lindland. fighters who have been successful for >11 years? very short list. Nog, Hendo, Couture, Vitor (EDIT: upon 2nd glance, i had to remove A Silva....) and ANYONE who rips fighters on ANY of these lists deserves an IP ban. they ALL deserve respect. the fact that it has become sport to rip a fighter who has been successful in this sport for > 8 years is sad. i don't care how much they've fallen off or how badly they act outside the cage/ring.
Look at the NFL....for every star whose career lasts 10-12 years, there are probably 10 guys whose careers last barely a year. I read somewhere that the average NFL career lasts 3 years. Now contrast that with MMA fighters who last that long and probably don't have much in the bank once they can't fight anymore.
