@Oceanmachine
You are calling a UFC HW champ with 2 title defences not "elite"? is everything alright with you? Brock is more elite than ngannou could ever be.
Brock doesn't like to get hit. He'd turtle up after the first jab from Big Frank
@Oceanmachine
You are calling a UFC HW champ with 2 title defences not "elite"? is everything alright with you? Brock is more elite than ngannou could ever be.
The HW GOATS have typically been smaller for the weight class. Ie Cane, Fedor, DC and Stipe.
True. Making a fighter bigger or taller would not necessarily make him any better. In some cases, it may actually make him worse. In boxing, many people say that Mike Tyson would be even badder and deadlier if he were 6’4” with an 80” reach. But I doubt it. At those dimensions, he would no longer be the explosive Iron Mike. He would lose many of the attributes that made him special. He’d have to adopt a completely different style if he were several inches taller and longer.Taller means less muscle mass to make weight or who knows if he could maintain his speed being even bigger and cutting to make 265, DC was the champ at HW being basically an overweight LHW, a lot shorter than Ngannou.
I tend to agree with all your points except height.LHW Jones has the perfect build for MMA. Francis is too jacked. It does give him great power, but in order to dominate for years in this sport, you have to have great cardio like Jones, GSP, Anderson, Fedor, Aldo, Khabib etc. You typically can't have cardio like that with mountains of muscle like Francis, Brock, Carwin etc. There are some freaks with somewhat decent cardio that are jacked like Reem or Jeff Monson, but they're uncommon.
I would say the perfect build for an MMA heavyweight is about a 265lb version of LHW Jones.
NBA player Dwight Howard comes to mind at 6'10" 265lbs
It’s amazing that he can be so lean at such a heavy weight. Most big guys at that size look more like Derrick Lewis than they do Ngannou. George Foreman at 260 pounds looked like the Pilsbury Doughnoy.Build wise he's about as great you can be within the 265 limit
I think lot of aspects of him are overrated, including his power, but honestly his build is phenomenal... height, reach, he's not clumsy, move fluid and he's strong af with vey good power
Even though very few heavyweight fighters have ever been 6’4.5”. All the past greats were 6’3” and below — with most being closer to 6’2”.I tend to agree with all your points except height.
As the late great trainer Manny Stewart said, optimum height for a HW is 6'4-5, anything taller and a fighter becomes "chinny" and is easier to knock down and tends to have less stable "legs"
I actually meant 6'4-6'5.Even though very few heavyweight fighters have ever been 6’4.5”. All the past greats were 6’3” and below — with most being closer to 6’2”.
He’s not a big HW.Stipe is not small. He couldn't make 205.
He says Ngannous is a natural 265lber cutting a little or no weight to make 265lbs, is mostly muscle. Important note Francis did weigh in the high 250s before as I recall
Anyone know what is the lightest Francis ever weighed?
Id say be 6"6, with 86 inch reach. Francis could be taller, 6"4 is still in the range of average for a HW
The era of small HW is over. And DC is the exception not the normal
Brock was never an elite fighter. He would get wrecked
Stipe is not small. He couldn't make 205.
You are talking of an excessively small and biased sample. You can't draw conclusions based on that.The key to defeating Ngannou is not taking him down. The key to defeating him is wearing him out. Ngannou has never won a fight that has gone beyond two rounds. Not getting KO'ed is easier said than done of course, but take Ngannou into championship rounds and he'd be easy pickings to be taken down and beaten up.