Objectively, which is the better UFC career?

I see compelling arguments for both itt. Hard to say, objectively. I don't really like Usman. I sometimes like Khabib. I recognize my bias. One things for sure, Usman's still fighting. Khabib is retired. Usman certainly has a better chance at eclipsing Khabib on paper. In a less subjective sense.
 
Orochimaru 大蛇丸 said:
I don't think the fights before they got the title are that important in these discussions

At the moment it's very close because Khabib beat better people, and looked invincible, while Usman beat more people, but looked human against Colby, and the quality of competition was lesser

By the time Usman ends he'll probably be higher though, if he went up and beat Izzy he'd be way ahead
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If Rob beats Izzy I could see Usman going up
 
Lychrel said:
If Rob beats Izzy I could see Usman going up
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Izzy is a more favorable matchup for him I feel like. Why would he want to go up against Whittaker and not Izzy? And don’t tell me it’s because they were born on the same continent lol
 
Orochimaru 大蛇丸 said:
Izzy is a more favorable matchup for him I feel like. Why would he want to go up against Whittaker and not Izzy? And don’t tell me it’s because they were born on the same continent lol
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Usman has said he wouldn't. That's what I'm going off of
 
Currently? Khabib. Because he was absolutely dominant and left 0% doubt that he was simply the better fighter. Wins over Gaethje, Poirier and Conor are high quality elite wins to have on your resume. Usman went toe to toe with Colby and Burns (atleast early on), there is a good chance Colby beats him, in terms of how the first fight played out which is a good metric to go off on.

However, Usman is not retired, if he rematches and beats Covington, he would be 2 and 0 against him thereby leaving no doubt he’s the better fighter. Which means he’ll overtake Khabib in terms of elite wins and dominance in his respective division.
 
Lychrel said:
Usman has said he wouldn't. That's what I'm going off of
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Yeah, I just think he wouldn’t go up to 185 period, I don’t buy the “we were both born in Africa” excuse. He fought Burns and they had spent years training together.
 
Khabib is ridiculously overrated - and if you think he's anywhere near the GOAT, then you're a massive casual
 
EnthusiastCultivator said:
Currently? Khabib. Because he was absolutely dominant and left 0% doubt that he was simply the better fighter. Wins over Gaethje, Poirier and Conor are high quality elite wins to have on your resume. Usman went toe to toe with Colby and Burns (atleast early on), there is a good chance Colby beats him, in terms of how the first fight played out which is a good metric to go off on.

However, Usman is not retired, if he rematches and beats Covington, he would be 2 and 0 against him thereby leaving no doubt he’s the better fighter. Which means he’ll overtake Khabib in terms of elite wins and dominance in his respective division.
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That's a fair take. At the same time, I disagree that there's a good chance Colby beats him. They're fairly equal fighters in a lot of aspects, but Usman just has a massive power advantage. Colby doesn't really have any advantages anywhere. Colby can win a round or two with his volume striking, but at the end of the day, I think Usman always beats him. But I agree that a second fight and a decisive victory by Usman would quiet a lot of doubt and further strengthen Usman's case as an all-time great.
 
DS66 said:
Usman: 14-0, 5-0 in title fights, wins over Colby, Woodley, Leon, Maia, RDA, Burns, Masvidal x2

Khabib: 13-0, 4-0 in title fights, wins over Poirier, Gaethje, Conor, RDA, Barboza, Iaquinta, Michael Johnson

I think many people would automatically say Khabib, but if we look at things 100% objectively (I know, tough to do for a lot of Sherdoggers), I don't think the answer is conclusive at all. In fact it seems very, very even, both from an overall record standpoint and level of competition.

It would be very tough for me to rank one career over the other at this point, I think it's disingenuous for people to definitively claim that Khabib is one of the GOATS without also including Usman there. In fact I might give Usman the slight edge overall, as he has an extra title defense and has developed the ability to strike at a high level and finish people on the feet, to go along with his elite grappling (while Khabib remained a bit more one dimensional in his career). But I also wouldn't fault someone for ranking Khabib slightly higher, as there's some subjectivity there and both are top 10-15 all-time greats IMO. I just think objectively, the gap isn't very large. Would love to hear other objective Sherdoggers' opinions here who can look at things without using emotion.
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Usman has been hurt by colby and gilbert
Khabib hasnt
 
Just name wise, record wise without context its very close and Usman might even be better. With context its definitely Khabib looking at how extremely dominant he was, whereas Usman struggled with Colby and got rocked by Burns.

Having said that Khabib also got a bunch of favorable match-ups, strikers Johnson, Barboza, McGregor. Brawler Gaethje. Well-rounded striker Poirier.
 
Khabib still has the better resume for me, right now. But the way Usman has been trucking along, I see him having the better resume very soon.
 
Jose Beehive said:
Yeah tough one, Lightweight Division being a tougher division I think edges it to Khabib for me.
As well as his dominance.
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Not sure how those lightweights are tougher than the welterweights Colby fought.
 
At least Khabib knows where he's from. Poor Nebraska.
 
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