So, what's better, leave being in prime like Khabib or retire on the shield like Tony?

[JKS]

Khabib no doubt between the two.

But the perfect road would be GSP or Jones

 

[WildShrimper]

Dumbest fucking question ever.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Mods, add poll please.
No we saw two models of retirement. First is to retire on peak (but obviously with some fights left in you). On other hand there's Tony who gave it all, but his losing streak looks terrible.

Uh well it would have been better if Tony retired 3 fights ago

 

[613]

Ehh you're right it's not a great example, but I mean the way Floyd sort of took risk off the table later in his career vs Manny who fought whoever for fun. Mostly opponent selection and how he kept pushing for challenges.

I think that's kinda a false narrative people started because people hate floyd and love Manny. Is Ugas, Thurman, Broner, Horn and Matthysse really better than fighting Bertto, Manny, Maidana, Canelo, Cotto, Guerrero? That's 3 top 10 P4P boxers floyd finished out fighting and the other 3 were all top 10 at WW.

 

[Espresso]

As a fan, the Tony route. 100%

 

[Tweak896]

I think that's kinda a false narrative people started because people hate floyd and love Manny. Is Ugas, Thurman, Broner, Horn and Matthysse really better than fighting Bertto, Manny, Maidana, Canelo, Cotto, Guerrero? That's 3 top 10 P4P boxers floyd finished out fighting and the other 3 were all top 10 at WW.

Good point.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Some fighters will want to fight till the very end while others may prefer to go out on top without having to experience the ugly side of MMA. It can't be a one size fit all scenario. If I was a fighter I would want to go out on top

From a Fan's perspective people will definitely hate on the guy who retires early because they feel like they were robbed in a manner of speaking.

 

[rtodd]

I like the way Khabib and GSP left.

They left champions with relatively little damage to their brain.

Tony is probably going to be like Gary Goodridge in 5 years. That's a shame.

 

[Aurelian]

Khabib probably made a shit load of money off the Conor fight and then all the being Muslim rewards he reaped. It was probably easy for Khabib to retire with like 50 million in the bank.

 

[Number11]

Neither, somewhere in the middle like Anderson

 

[Brigfa2]

It's like asking which one is better Hitler or Stalin
Khabib retired waaaay early, Tony waay late. Khabib retired because he realized he didn't need to fight for money anymore, Tony is broke as fuck.

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Tony way for my viewing pleasure

 

[Here's Johnny!]

A better example would be Anderson Silva.... is it better to have 10+ title defenses and considered an all time great but eventually lose and keep testing yourself losing fights... or go 29 and 0 with only 4 or 5 good opponents and 3 title defenses with a ton of questions about your career.

 

[DestinedAussie]

Mods, add poll please.
No we saw two models of retirement. First is to retire on peak (but obviously with some fights left in you). On other hand there's Tony who gave it all, but his losing streak looks terrible.

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2023...ght-loss-bobby-green-eye-poke-impaired-vision

Tony going nowhere.

 

[TheGamb1er]

Being a warrior is better than being a pussy, running scared to lose, holding on to your record. This is the way of the warrior. Invincibility is overrated and doesn't matter, everyone will start losing someday. Only the segment in your career when you were great is important, and the opposition. For example, Roy Jones Jr. lost a lot of fights against average boxers after his main career, but this does not make him any less great, does not cancel the segment in his career when he was a god in this sport. He is still one of the greatest, a boxer on the same level as Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson.

 

[Huligani]

The option that results in you being able to speak when you reach your mid 40s.

 

[AfroBanana]

Compare Khabib to champions that challenged themselves further. Why compare him Tony?

Is it better to be GSP or Carlos Condit…….. you should be asking if it’s better to be GSP or the guy ahead of him.

 

[markg171]

Whichever accomplishes more.

Fedor, Anderson, GSP, Aldo, Mighty Mouse, Cruz, Val, Joanna, Nunes, DC, Izzy, Volk, Usman, Hughes, Randy, Wand, the list goes on all have more losses than Khabib and are still ahead of him in GOATness because they accomplished more.

Being undefeated means jack shit if you didn't accomplish all that much while doing so.

 

[markg171]

Compare Khabib to champions that challenged themselves further. Why compare him Tony?

Is it better to be GSP or Carlos Condit…….. you should be asking if it’s better to be GSP or the guy ahead of him.

Because if you tried to compare him to someone like Anderson the answer is still obviously Anderson.

The undefeated thing's all they have going for them so they constantly want to re-direct the conversation back to it.

 

[PunchyMcSplodo]

Being undefeated means jack shit if you didn't accomplish all that much while doing so.

Accomplishments are relative to weight class. People like GSP fought at weight classes less than half the size of a post-Strikeforce merger LW, which accelerated how quickly one entered top 10 status and title contention.

Who are you claiming accomplished more than Khabib at LW, the deepest and most dangerous of all the divisions?

Oliveira I think may have caught up to the seven or so Top 10 wins Khabib has with the Dariush win, but he had to rack up multiple losses to accomplish the same total, so it's not as impressive. Same goes for Gaethje with the Dustin win, maybe (I'd have to double check the totals).