The Case for Big Nog as the all time #2 HW and top 10 P4P

[cade187]

DC was undefeated and untested against HWs including, Barnett, Mir, Nelson, and TRT bigfoot. He was also the reigning lhw champ who had only lost to Bones. He was easily one of the 2 baddest men on the planet coming in.

I'm not downplaying the quality of his wins over DC, but you said his last 8 fights were between the 1 and 2 ranked HWs, which is untrue.

 

[Typrune Goatley]

It was 7 years between Coleman and Mir, and he wasn't the clear 2 or wven 3 that whole time.

He was gifted the Ricco fight, was smashed twice by Mir when they did eventually fight, and never fought AA, Pedro Rizzo etc.

Top 5 fighter in the historically weakest weight for about 8 years while competing against "style vs style" guys early on

2001 to 2008. All 8 of those calendar years Nog was top 5 in the world. He was clear #1 until 2003 when Fedor beat him, and then he was mostly #2 for the next several years. You obviously weren't watching then and probably still haven't even watched his fights.

Gifted Ricco fight? Ricco layed there and did nothing while Nog actually attempted submissions. Sure, he never fought AA or Rizzo but Nog fought and beat more ranked Heavyweights than any HW ever. Nog is the most proven HW and it is not even close.

And style vs style? Look at today's HW fighters and they are all mostly one dimensional. Nog beat guys like Barnett and Sergei who were much more well rounded than today's HWs.

 

[pankrat]

2001 to 2008. All 8 of those calendar years Nog was top 5 in the world. He was clear #1 until 2003 when Fedor beat him, and then he was mostly #2 for the next several years. You obviously weren't watching then and probably still haven't even watched his fights.

Gifted Ricco fight? Ricco layed there and did nothing while Nog actually attempted submissions. Sure, he never fought AA or Rizzo but Nog fought and beat more ranked Heavyweights than any HW ever. Nog is the most proven HW and it is not even close.

And style vs style? Look at today's HW fighters and they are all mostly one dimensional. Nog beat guys like Barnett and Sergei who were much more well rounded than today's HWs.

Im not confident Nog beat Francis, Jones or Miocic tbh, all of them fairly well-rounded. I want to see more from Aspinall.
Imo the HW division had its peak around a decade ago and has regresed since then. Nogueira's case for #2 HW all-time is still very compelling

 

[Fioretti]

Very few fighters lived for 8+ years in the top 3. He was #2 for most of that time, briefly moving down to #3 it for a few months between the Barnett fights.

Outside the 6 or so obvious divisional GOATs (GSP, Silva, DJ, etc), can we even name another fighter who has done that, in any weight class? Probably not, though Benavidez might come close. Hughes might come close.

I won't debate whether he's overrated or not (I've heard arguments like 'the entire HW division sucked between Bas and JDS'), but it is a hell of a statistic you must admit.

He was only #2 for a few years, friend.

 

[Yellowcrab]

Exposed in the UFC, but delusional nostalgics will act as if it never happened

 

[ThunderStruck]

Nog is top 5 but definitely not top 2.

 

[Rob-G]

I’m lucky enough to of been an MMA fan during the time Nogueira fought Bob Sapp. That whole event was mind blowing. Fedor/Nogueira 1 was pretty shocking when it first happened, used to think Nogueira was unbeatable. Both Nogueira’s are legends in my book

 

[Dionysian]

good wins are werdum and maybe mirko
alot of them where green when he fought them.
i dont even know half of these you posted
lmao
prime nog wont survive the guys stipe fought
and yes they where older but was at the peak of their fighting prime

You might not want to advertise you're a casual fan so loudly as typing something like "i dont even know half of these you posted lmao" when he lists a bunch of legends of the sport.

 

[Asking for Total War]

Fedor beat pretty much everyone who was good between 2000-2010...that's where the line stopped at. The Pride fans are the people who were younguns back in those days who want to flex on the younger generations by saying he could beat all the newer fighters which is false. They want to keep their heyday going.

I am 42 myself...it is not our time anymore and we cannot claim that the fighters from our generation were better than the ones fighting now. It is the young people's time now...this is their time to shine, just like every other sport. This is not 2002 when we had to travel an hour to the nearest BW3's and pay a $10 cover to see Pride and UFC events.

Yeah. Hypotheticals about past generations vs. previous are pointless. Oranges and apples, Just enjoy them all in their glory regardless of time.

Couture is the stange exception. Starting MMA at 34 and retired at 47!