Hot Take Pick one fighter from the pre-2005 era to become champ today.

[HHJ]

Coleman's literally yelling "He's hurt" while he's effortlessly reversing him seconds after. Fucking Terminator.

Also the way he turned Randleman is insane

WTF

 

[Bullitt68]

WTF

That's what I'm sure Randleman was thinking during and after the reversal

 

[Arashikage4Life]

Fedor is the obvious answer here, but I think that's also because HW has (naturally) evolved less than any other weight class.

 

[SaltedVinegarfootstomps]

Mach Sakurai. My boy was a beef castle with some brutal ground and pound. Probably would not beat the champ, but I think he could hang

 

[Paolo Delutis]

170lbs WW.-Frank Shamrock




265lbs HW - Randy Couture




155lbs & or 145lbs - Bj Penn circa early 2000s




No doubt in my fucking mind.

 

[RichardHarrow]

Also the way he turned Randleman is insane

WTF

And the concern he showed after. Will always be my favorite fighter imo.

 

[Bork Neslar]

Fedor would be murdered even by any current top UFC Middleweight.

 

[Necrocrawler]

There’s only one true answer: rickson by armbar

 

[Fedorgasm]

That suplex looked like it didnt do anything to him at all though. Which is fuckin crazy

Yeah Fedor's a badass and didn't show it, but that had to hurt.

And even if it didn't, it's still the best suplex in MMA history. Just fucking beautiful.

I love the part where both guys are completely airborne. Like no body parts from either guy are even close to touching the ground

 

[dipstickjimmy]

What's funny is that Fedor seemed to perform better against bigger guys.

The times when he fought guys close to LHW size were not his best performances.

He beat Randleman but not before being victimized by arguably the greatest suplex ever in an MMA fight.

He beat Lindland but almost got put on his back and had to grab the ropes to prevent it.

And of course we all saw what happened vs hendo and Bader (twice).

He really exploilted his speed advantage against the larger opponents and still had more then enough power to put people that were bigger to sleep.

 

[Luthien]

Shogun kills everybody

 

[fishbisquit]

Kid pre injury. He basically knocked people into the shadow realm first round, but he also had true Olympic level wrestling.

 

[pclanadmin2]

Fedor in his prime. Teleported to today. Yeah buddy!

 

[Private Whatley]

GSP is the clear answer

 

[jnes]

2005 Chuck vs Pereira would be a fight from the Just Bleed Gods...

Poatan would finish him in 2, Chuck thrived vs wrestlers.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

how did you come to the conclusion that GSP would be able to just outpoint, let's say, Islam in the feet just like that? I think that fight is way closer than it looks. I still favor GSP in striking but he got hit by Condit and Hendricks; I just find it hard to imagine that Makhachev would get the Josh Koscheck treatment.

GSP 50-45s Mak all day.

Literally no one ever "crumpled" Chuck in his prime. No one. He was barely ever even hurt. He'd get dropped and be fine immediately. Pele kicked him in the head twice, Jeremy Horn kicked him in the head, Mezger dropped him, Rampage smashed him. He would take people's hardest shots like they were light jabs. Pereira's only way to win would be to do what Randy and Rampage did: Beat on him until he gassed and then TKO him. In his prime, Chuck was right there alongside Nogueira and Hunt in the unknockoutable crew. Meanwhile, Adesanya put Pereira's lights out, which means Chuck with his insane power would flatline him if he connected.

Izzy flatlined him at 185 when he was cutting 40lbs past the age of 35. It's also Goatan's only KO loss in MMA or kickboxing, he's also up there in chin status all time if we're talking about overall career.
The only time he was even slightly hurt at 205 was the single punch Magomed landed while he was apparently sick and falling apart, since he came back and blasted him effortlessly in the second fight.

I think Poatan has the power to hurt anyone, real dim mak shit, and while I agree that he would not spark Chuck out cold unless he was wading into the left hook, I think Poatan pummels him to a TKO 9/10 times at 205 and I loved Chuck.

Also the way he turned Randleman is insane

WTF

Best hips ever at HW

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

What's funny is that Fedor seemed to perform better against bigger guys.

The times when he fought guys close to LHW size were not his best performances.

He beat Randleman but not before being victimized by arguably the greatest suplex ever in an MMA fight.

He beat Lindland but almost got put on his back and had to grab the ropes to prevent it.

And of course we all saw what happened vs hendo and Bader (twice).

bingo. a lot of people don't get it. the general consensus is that "he's too small" and shit, like being small is 100% a disadvantage when it isn't. being small or being big is neutral, it ALL depends on how you fight. like Mike Tyson was small too, but you never hear anyone say "he should've fought at Cruiserweight" because his style is MADE for taking advantage of the strengths of being small and exploiting the weaknesses of being big. i don't know why people can't make the same connection to MMA. there's small guys who fight big and it's detrimental, like Punahele Soriano, and there's big guys who fight small and it's detrimental, like Stefan Struve. people are just looking at their size, but they're not taking into account their style.

 

[Bullitt68]

Izzy flatlined him at 185 when he was cutting 40lbs past the age of 35. It's also Goatan's only KO loss in MMA or boxing, he's also up there in chin status all time if we're talking about overall career.
The only time he was even slightly hurt at 205 was the single punch Magomed landed while he was apparently sick and falling apart, since he came back and blasted him effortlessly in the second fight.

I think Poatan has the power to hurt anyone, real dim mak shit, and while I agree that he would not spark Chuck out cold unless he was wading into the left hook, I think Poatan pummels him to a TKO 9/10 times at 205 and I loved Chuck.

I haven't followed Pereira but I've seen all of his fights at least once (most of them just once). He also got knocked silly in kickboxing. And much like against Izzy, he had trouble with the big right hand. That's not a good sign when talking about fighting Chuck. It's also just speculation, so it's pointless to argue too strenuously about something that can never be (dis)proven, but I don't think Pereira's half as powerful as you're making him sound. Chuck is the one who had dim mak power. He put Randleman down with a quick little left hook moving away. Rampage couldn't put Randleman out without a massive knee and dozens of follow-up punches. Chuck just needed one awkward moving away left hook to have him circling the drain.

Chuck also staggered Randy with this left hook in their second fight and had Tito reeling in their second fight. And this is to say nothing of the right hand that nearly took Overeem's jaw off and that folded Mezger in half. Pereira's technically sound and patient and accurate and strategic, but Chuck has both the power edge and the chin edge.

We'll obviously never know, but my money would be on Chuck knocking him out in the first or second after eating a few strong punches and taking a handful of low kicks. He'd take some punishment, but he'd be able to take Pereira's best while Pereira wouldn't be able to take Chuck's

 

[JustBleed69]

None of them except maybe Randy Couture at LHW or HW

 

[Lou Duva]

Juiced up Brazilian tiger