The #2 middleweight all time

Dan O'Burke said:
Solid list...where would you put Bisping at?
Click to expand...
Bisping would be right out of the third tier. He has good wins mixed with bad losses. But who beats Anderson , Rockhold ( Champ ) and Hendo in a row...
 
Based on resume at185lbs alone, how is even a discussion? Israel since some time now.

Among "natural" MWs across different weightclasses, Hendo and Machida have a case imo.
Whittaker is up there too.
 
Kowboy the Konqueror said:
Top Tier
Anderson

Second Tier
Israel, Hendo

Third Tier
Mousasi, Weidman, Franklin, Belfort
Click to expand...

The UFC/USA bias is heavy in ranking Franklin above Whittaker or Rockhold based on resume at 185lbs alone, or even above Romero or Jacare
And above Machida if we also include bouts at LHW.
 
Hendo isn't even in the conversation for top 3 at MW. For those who were around back then, Hendo was actually a better LHW than MW. And for those who were really around back then, he was also gifted a bunch of decisions throughout the years. That being said, he's an icon of the sport, and his historical relevance is more in the p4p debate (whatever that's worth).

Izzy is the clear #2. Anyone trying to argue against it is just an Izzy hater. For what it's worth, Izzy is one of my least favorite fighters.
 
Machida if we consider him a MW that was winning fights at LHW against fighters bigger than him... the opposite of AS who was fighting fighters smaller than him... Belts and weight classes means nothing.
 
Last edited:
Dan O'Burke said:
And personally, I have Izzy at two and arguably at one, since he beat Anderson already, but I'm fine with him at the two spot.
Click to expand...
Beating Anderson outside his prime doesn't really pull the same weight. Bader doesn't rank higher all time than Fedor despite having 2 wins over him. Same deal. With that being said, Izzy is the #2 behind Anderson and has potential to pass him eventually, but he is just not there yet.
 
Anyone who counts Henderson as the #2 all-time middleweight is including his achievements outside of the 185-pound division. You can't do that, that doesn't make sense. He knocked out Fedor as a heavyweight, knocked out Wandy for the Pride title as a light heavyweight, beat Vitor at 205, won the SF title at 205, had his all-time great classics against Shogun also at 205.

As a middleweight, his achievements include: UFC 17 tourney winner (Although he weighed 193, pre-unified Rules), 2005 Pride WW GP winner plus the title he never defended, the Bisping KO, and knockouts of Boetsch and Lombard of note.

Compare that to Izzy, my gosh, it's not even close.
 
JayPettryMMA said:
Anyone who counts Henderson as the #2 all-time middleweight is including his achievements outside of the 185-pound division. You can't do that, that doesn't make sense. He knocked out Fedor as a heavyweight, knocked out Wandy for the Pride title as a light heavyweight, beat Vitor at 205, won the SF title at 205, had his all-time great classics against Shogun also at 205.

As a middleweight, his achievements include: UFC 17 tourney winner (Although he weighed 193, pre-unified Rules), 2005 Pride WW GP winner plus the title he never defended, the Bisping KO, and knockouts of Boetsch and Lombard of note.

Compare that to izzy, my gosh, it's not even close.
Click to expand...
What izzy did is nothing in comparison to what Hendo did.
 
U Fight Cheap said:
Machida if we consider him a MW that was winning fights at LHW against fighters bigger than him... the opposite of AS who was fighting fighters smaller than him... Belts and weights classes means nothing.
Click to expand...

Anderson moved up from WW. He literally fought at WW the very same year he dismantled Franklin for the MW belt.
 
pankrat said:
I just stated a fact.
No lols and retarded eye tests from a white belt change it
Get another hobby
Click to expand...
haha "lol" my join date is older than you, I'm also "just stating a fact", despite the fact that I don't post much. AS walked off season with more than 230 pounds, how is that smaller than Machida and how his height and reach is smaller than Machida? I can't see how he is smaller "MW" than Machida, the man was a true LHW back in his days, yet he still has hidden himself in the MW division crushing midgets smaller than him and although nowadays there is off course much larger LHWs than him like Jon Jones.
 
#1. GOAT. Keep your weight classes.

4937f2x2svx01.gif
 
DS66 said:
I think it's pretty clearly Izzy at this point. He gets a ton of hate obviously, but his 12 fight win streak at MW over all of the top contenders in the era is something pretty special. And then avenging the Pereira loss with the big KO has definitely cemented it. Hendo obviously had an amazing career and is a legend, but a bunch of his biggest wins are at LHW and he just doesn't have the run of success at MW that Izzy does.
Click to expand...
He never fought Jacare and Gegard, so he did fight all "the top contenders" on his way / during his streak. Maybe UFC contenders, and he could have even fought Jacare when he was sliding down the ranks, and get a notch on his belt. No one would have begrudge him fighting a legend when there was no other clear contenders. For whatever reason, and I freely admit that I might be wrong, but I think Jacare had the right style to beat Izzy circa 2018, even though he was no longer the scary fighter he was a few years before.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,280,673
Messages
58,310,806
Members
175,997
Latest member
joshvegas

Share this page

Back
Top