Stipe wouldn't even survive during Fedor's era

[Baba Ghanoush]

Big Nog and Crocop were both well past their prime when they came into the UFC.

Cro Crop came to the UFC only a few months after the biggest accomplishment of his career with the OWGP.

You pride nut huggers are fucking idiots.

 

[spardeous]

It’s mind blowing that people are saying Stipe is the HW Goat. Retarded actually.

He would have been Aleks level in Pride.

Nog in 2003/4 would kill prime Stipe. We don’t even need to include Fedor.

The UFC hype machine has done its job.

That's a really good comparison; I kinda forgot about how fearsome Aleks was. I mean, he out-struck a prime Kharitonov - feat in and of itself.

 

[Stagliano]

he got slept by lhw randleman in his prime, and lhw michael mcdonald in his prime k-1...

Randleman is one of the most athletic fighter in the MMA history. There is no shame to lose to him. By the way Mirko did what he has to do in the rematch.

And lol at McDonald, I've forgotten that.

 

[jx820]

Can you see Stipe survive to the german suplex that Kevin did to Fedor? Please be honest in your answer.

How Stipe would handle a breakfall like that is unknowable because to the best of my knowledge he's never been thrown like that. More to that point, I honestly can't see any version of Ranleman getting that on Stipe. Maybe as a young fighter, but not at the championship level. The only person in the last 5 years to get Stipe down was Cormier and he wasn't able to throw him.

He'd probably handle Randleman's wrestle boxing the way he handled DCs. He'd probably handle Nogs BJJ the way he handled Werdum, Gonzaga, and Nelson, he'd probably handle Crocop's striking the way he handled Hunt, and Overeem.

 

[Myrddin Wild]

TS's pov reminds me of all the Pride fans back in the day posturing up against the UFC guys when Pride was in its prime.

Then we mix the orgs together & find out it was a mixed bag & both orgs were basically equally as dominant.

The Cro Cop example from TS is the stranges though, because he's one of the pride guyz who didn't do well against UFC guys. Teh fook happened to right foot hospital Left foot cemetary? I have a feeling the blue coolaid had something to do with that, but all speculation aside, Cro Cop lost his dominance & slid to mediocrity while in the UFC.

The narrative about what Fedor would've dun with Stipe is questionable as well. We obviously can't compare his wins against Arlovski & the Maniac because neither of those guys had dun as well as Stipe. They had their moments, but nothing like Stipe's run. We'd have to enter into this conversation too that not even an olympic wrestler could hold Stipe down & so Fedor would likely have to get this dun on his feet. So that evens things up a whole lot.

I'm not one of these guys calling Stipe the GOAT like the UFC hype is saying... & I do in fact have Fedor with more significant wins over top competition... & so Fedor is currently higher on my GOAT list than Stipe. That said, I'm not buying this narrative that Stipe couldn't hang with Prime Fedor... & if he wins just a couple more fights he'll be right up there with Fedor for the top GOAT convo.

 

[spardeous]

Cro Crop came to the UFC only a few months after the biggest accomplishment of his career with the OWGP.

You pride nut huggers are fucking idiots.

Biggest accomplishment of his career, but not the biggest fight by a country mile. He was the favorite going into the Wanderlei fight.

He'd already been fighting for over 10 years when he came into the UFC. You just refuse to look at it objectively.

 

[lsa]

So much salty goodness.

Imagine being this fragile.

Stipe is my hero

 

[Deleted member 110072]

I'm a big fan of Pride FC, and the era we are talking about. Stipe would've done great during this era IMO Great hands, solid chin, and great takedown defense. Pretty much a better version if Sergei (1 of my favs). Watching Stipe and Hunt go at it would've been epic.

He'd have been a successful HW definitely as would, Cain, JDS and Cormier BUT I think they'd have been tested more thoughly in that era than they have been in this.

In the current era it just seems like fighters are facing less diverse offence and opponents with much clearer flaws in their game. You fought Fedor, Nog, Crocop, Sergei, Aleks, Barnett, etc back in the day and you didn't generally beat them via exploiting some clear opening, you had to go to war.

 

[gluehuffer1776]

Stipe would be undefeated if his opponents had the pride gloves on. Only way Stipe can get defeated is via eye pokes i.e Struve and DC 1

 

[Reaper_mma_MKII]

5'8 Daniel cormier, I think you managed to insult DC more than Stipe on this one. Hate to break it to you, DC has been the smaller man his entire career, despite having the frame and build of a chubby MW, he's in GOAT discussions and LHW and HW, I think he could have absolutely pushed Fedor and make him know he's in a dog fight.


In the case of Stipe, in a trilogy, Fedor probably takes the first fight. Stipe has shown he can make improvements and take the fight back, something I feel he doesn't get enough credit for (he did it against JDS, he did it against Werdum, and now DC x2)

 

[Deleted member 110072]

Biggest accomplishment of his career, but not the biggest fight by a country mile. He was the favorite going into the Wanderlei fight.

He'd already been fighting for over 10 years when he came into the UFC. You just refuse to look at it objectively.

Really though the issue is Gonzaga upset him the way Randleman did, poor prep for the cage and injury might have been an issue but ultimately it was an upset in which everything needed to go Gonzaga's way IMHO.

Its after that point I think you see clear decline set in, second UFC run Mirko is clearly not close to peak Mirko and had to totally change his game because he lacked the speed to land his old fight ending counters.

The way prime Mirko fought was dangerous, basically standing right infront of an opponent and doing very little to disrupt their standup(few weaker jabs or lowkicks, etc) depending on speed and timing entirely. It meant upsets were possible but I don't think they represent superiority.

 

[firstroundpick]

Randleman is one of the most athletic fighter in the MMA history. There is no shame to lose to him. By the way Mirko did what he has to do in the rematch.

And lol at McDonald, I've forgotten that.

Stipe would be a bigger problem

 

[Brit_Brawler]

Prime Miocic was battered by Struve.

Prime with 9 Pro fights ?

 

[CatfishCapone]

Mirko was 7 months removed from head kicking Wanderlei into early stages of CTE and stopped Barnett the same night. He absolutely came to the UFC in his prime.
Stipe would smash him, along with Nog n Fedor.

 

[Okajima]

That's a really good comparison; I kinda forgot about how fearsome Aleks was. I mean, he out-struck a prime Kharitonov - feat in and of itself.

Now that was an actual Heavyweight fight. The trash the UFC throws at us these days is pathetic.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

Cro Crop came to the UFC only a few months after the biggest accomplishment of his career with the OWGP.

You pride nut huggers are fucking idiots.

And everybody said he was going to run right through the division because the division is so terrible. He was defeated by fighters that were given zero chance to defeat him.

 

[I WILL CUT YOU]

I would like to see a 24 year old Stipe starting mma.


It sucks he is old, and his competition is ancient. DC is a good win but the dude is too fat, old, and broken down to wrestle for more than a shot or two.

 

[mjfan23]

He fights in pretty much the same era. Big Ben, AA, Doom, Reem, and until recently Alexi were all active and on winning streaks in Stipes Modern evolved UFC HW division

 

[mjfan23]

Fedor and Cro Cop would both be difficult fights for sure - but couldn't think of a better stylistic match up for Stipe than Big Nog..

Brendan Schaub felt the same way when facing dead old Nog

 

[Deleted member 53199]

It would be a definitely a harder for Stipe in prime PRIDE era than now, no doubt... but he would do good though.