Poll: Which Fighters Did Stipe Beat in Their Prime?

[DrRodentia]

It's hard to say what Cormier's prime is/was because he started so late. Kinda like Romero.

 

[Safton]

As always, it's worth noting that Stipe is no spring chicken himself. And there happens to be another champ who got his reputation as a world-beater by beating up on old vets, yet he doesn't seem to get the same hate.

stipes best win is ngannou for sure. even then he only survived the fight and won because of ngannou being near death due to exhaustion. he beat dc because well dc is middle aged and way past his prime.

I really dislike this narrative because it makes it sound like Stipe eked out a close decision rather than 50-44 the guy with multiple 10-8 rounds.

 

[DrRodentia]

It's kinda like... Which fighters were between ages 26-36 when they fought Stipe? I personally picked Francis and Nelson. 'Cause I've heard that heavyweights seem to fight time better.

I don't know if it's that they fight time better so much as that speed is generally less of a factor at HW overall and speed and reflexes are generally the first things to go in a fighter.

 

[UFCFantasyMVP]

I don't know if it's that they fight time better so much as that speed is generally less of a factor at HW overall and speed and reflexes are generally the first things to go in a fighter.

I think we're sayin' the same thing.

 

[DrRodentia]

I think we're sayin' the same thing.

You know what, I thought that immediately after posting.

 

[blaseblah]

Even though Cormier is 40 its hard for me to say he's past his prime as he's still competing at such a high level.

He's absolutely past his physical prime. He's spoken about how his age affects his current physical condition.

He's fighting because he thinks he's still good enough to beat Stipe, not because he believes he's at his peak.

 

[mmathurbator]

I think francis hasn't come into his prime yet, but we'll see

 

[Kumason]

When someone says prime when it comes to an mma fighter I think of when they were at their best competition wise,not when I think their physical prime was,that's kinda stupid,especially talking about UFC's HW division when most champs and top contenders are old.It's everything combined.The whole debate gets stupid when half the members are stuck on physical prime.That's like arguing Randy Couture was the best fighter he could be when he was 28 because he was in his physical prime,makes zero sense.Why do so many people talk about physical prime?If a 40 year old fighter could beat his 32 year old self than that's all that matters.43 year old Randy Couture would easily beat the 33 year old version.

 

[Ghostoftheville]

DC was a year younger than Werdum was when they lost to Stipe. Hard to argue one was past their prime and the other wasn't.

 

[Genisys]

No, Cormier had just KO'd Stipe, demolished BB, you don't get to fall back on "he lost" as being not in his prime.

DC was smoking Stipe, just coulnd't finsih the job then Stipe adjusted.

DC hit Stipe so much in the rematch that he gassed. He gassed because he is out of his prime. A younger DC could've pounded on Stipe's face for 5 full rounds. Just because he won his previous fights doesn't mean he was in his athletic prime. It only means his B game is still better than most fighter's A game. If the first fight against Stipe would've gone to the 4th round DC would probably have lost that one too.

 

[oldschoolmmafan]

Even though Cormier is 40 its hard for me to say he's past his prime as he's still competing at such a high level.

Plus he got into MMA late in his career.

 

[ostlerrage]

DC hit Stipe so much in the rematch that he gassed. He gassed because he is out of his prime. A younger DC could've pounded on Stipe's face for 5 full rounds. Just because he won his previous fights doesn't mean he was in his athletic prime. It only means his B game is still better than most fighter's A game. If the first fight against Stipe would've gone to the 4th round DC would probably have lost that one too.

This. Imo a prime cain beats stipe and so does composed ngannou.

 

[oldschoolmmafan]

DC was a year younger than Werdum was when they lost to Stipe. Hard to argue one was past their prime and the other wasn't.

Many factors contribute to a fighters prime fighting era, not just age.

 

[Ghostoftheville]

Many factors contribute to a fighters prime fighting era, not just age.

very true, and while Werdum has more fights under his belt, both have been competing at a very high level for the past twenty years in combat sports.

 

[ReadWrite]

I was channel surfing yesterday and found MMA Junkie TV. They showed a site poll on the HW GOAT. The majority said Stipe is the HW GOAT not Fedor. The commentator claimed this is because Fedor didn't face any of the "monsters" Stipe faced.

First, Stipe hasn't faced more than one "monster" if you want to call Francis a monster. Second, Fedor's best wins against prime Big Nog and prime CroCop are greater than all of Stipe's top prime wins. Third, Stipe has so few wins compared to Fedor, he loses not only on quality but also volume.

The hype around Stipe's GOAT status was completely destroyed by the voters here who exposed Stipe as extremely lucky to be in the UFC when most of the fighters were subprime.

He was also lucky in his two biggest wins that Werdum did something completely uncharacteristic and dense (unforced error), chasing him; and Cormier also did something completely uncharacteristic and dense (unforced error), striking when his coach was pleading for him to wrestle.

Stipe is a good fighter but he was dealt a great hand. Lucky bastard!

 

[IsNormal]

Haven't most successful HW:s of this decade been quite old?
Is physical prime really all that significant in the HW division?

We haven't seen that many recent HW:s who peak in their 20s.

When someone has some of the best performances of their career and becomes the best in the world isn't it a bit ridiculous to argue that a victory over them should be de-valued because they were "out of prime"?

 

[boss429]

https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Stipe-Miocic-39537

WIN Daniel Cormier
WIN Francis Ngannou
WIN Junior dos Santos
WIN Alistair Overeem
WIN Fabricio Werdum
WIN Andrei Arlovski
WIN Mark Hunt
WIN Fabio Maldonado
WIN Gabriel Gonzaga
WIN Roy Nelson
WIN Shane del Rosario
WIN Philip De Fries
WIN Joey Beltran
WIN Bobby Brents
WIN William Penn
WIN Gregory Maynard
WIN Jeremy Holm
WIN Paul Barry Moosin
WIN Corey Mullis

Only Francis and JDS (but he got robbed imo, talking about the first fight obviously) but, Werdum, DC and Reem were all also great wins but as far as physical prime is concerned none of them would qualify. (Too be honest though I can't offer an opinion on the last 6 guys cause I have no clue who they are so they may have been in their prime for all I know, lol.)

 

[Saku'sEar]

Old Werdum at his prime in the ufc? Lol
ngannou in his prime?? Wtf it was his third fight or something lol.

 

[Phi-]

Imo any fighter that Stipe faced left his prime a short while before the fight. Like a week before or something.

And Fedor left his prime about a week before his loss to Werdum too. Because everybody knows that getting caught by a BJJ world champion in the first round is a clear sign of age induced weakness and low cardio.

 

[Wicked_1]

I dont think francis is in his prime yet still. Hes close, but not quite, they rushed him to a shot because the division needed filling. DC it's hard to say is in his prime since he started so late. He may have had a prime if he started at like 20 that was around 25 or 26 and been a way better fighter, and because hes 40s now would have been on the downslide compared to his younger years. I dont think he is in his prime now and wont improve later. Has to be past, like when he was doing the Olympics. He has a lot of wear from wrestling, just not from striking too much, but both wear in you at high levels for years.