The middleweight "division".

[LetThemBleed]

You mean the 2 most overrated middleweights of all time...

Mousasi loses to Lovato Jr, fanboys oh he was juicing, beats a clearly shopworn Machida by split decision, fanboys oh Machida's still legit, beats Lima a WW, fanboy's oh Lima'd be a beast at MW despite fighting at WW, Mousasi beating him clearly shows he's the GOAT. Only thing worse is the Romero never lost a fight troupe.

 

[Dana's Plight]

Fuck off with this shit. Gegard's best contender win at 185 against a natural MW was against Weidman coming off of back-to-back brutal KOs.

He got tooled by prime Machida and prime Jacare.

Brunson handled shopworn Machida much easier than Mousasi did in their rematch.

Dude has NEVER proven that he's anywhere near the legit #1 in the division.

Im I disagreeing? I said he is overrated but he beats Izzy. Not very observant are you.

 

[YungSithLxrd]

So you didn't watch that fight did you? Third swing and a miss. One more? You've got 3 in a row go for one more....

Saw it live

 

[Chael_Sonnen]

So when Rob wins a close decision over Romero in the rematch where he arguably lost = Whittaker won twice

Adesanya wins close decision against Romero = Izzy arguably lost

Cmon man I know you hate Izzy but show some objectivity.

Romero/Adesanya was a terrible fight, but I don’t see how the title can change hands when neither guy did much of anything.

The Vettori fight wasn’t close, and if you actually watched the fight you would know that. It was a clear 29-28 Izzy, he clearly won rounds 1 and 2. Vettori took him down in the third while laying and praying doing no damage. The only judge who scored for it Vettori was Chris Lee who also scored Felder over RDA and Gastelum over Till. In the 8/11 split decisions that he judged in 2020 he was the only person that went against the other 2 judges.

Now you are taking my words out of context. I said the Vettori fight was close, not that it was a wrongful decision. I agree, it was clearly 29/28, but it was far closer than Whittaker would have made it.

And Rob won the first Romero fight incredibly clearly. I get that your a bit biased, but he won both fights on average far more clearly than Izzy won his one.

I'm also not talking about the title. I'm talking about the fight. You said it yourself, it was a terrible fight.

 

[Chael_Sonnen]

Romero arguably beat rob in the rematch

Sure, but the first one was a clear cut decision. Way more clear cut than Izzy vs Romero.

 

[Eszopiclone]

The MW division of 10 years ago is better than today’s.

Better in what sense? Better fighters, entertainment?

 

[Deleted member 567183]

MW only looks weak because there’s a significant gap between Adesanya and the rest of the division.

No one can beat Izzy at MW right now but IDK maybe Holland can beat Izzy but it is very unlikely

 

[LetThemBleed]

Saw it live

And what got distracted during the 3rd round? Cannonier wobbled him. If the Reaper's chin's gone he would have been finished, ditto the Till fight when he dropped Whittaker early.

 

[Deleted member 567183]

The division is a MESS right now

 

[Deleted member 567183]

agree its pretty lackluster. costa was embarrassed. and cannonier got beat by a dude who isn't interested in fighting.. either because he's injured or wants to spend time with his family. aside from those 3 guys the only other interesting thing at MW this year was chamaev's 1 punch KO of Gerald.

thats why they're sending izzy to LHW.

The reason Izzy is moving up is because there is no clear contender because he already beats Robert and when Izzy beats Costa he calls out Jared but Jared has to fight and beat Rob but unfortunately he did not win

 

[sampuncher]

The division isn't great atm but it hasn't been for a few years.


However, that still doesn't make Mousasi or Romero the best MW's about.

<{cruzshake}>

 

[sampuncher]

The MW division of 10 years ago is better than today’s.

1. 
   Rankings
   
   Noteworthy- Chris Leben (21-7), Maiquel Falcao (26-3), Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-3), Alessio Sakara (15-7-1), C.B. Dolloway (11-2)
   
   10- Mark Munoz (9-2)
   
   9- Brian Stann (10-3)
   
   8- Alan Belcher (16-6)
   
   7- Demian Maia (13-2)
   
   6- Michael Bisping (20-3)
   
   5- Nate Marquardt (30-10-2)
   
   4- Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1-1)
   
   3- Chael Sonnen (24-11-1)
   
   2- Yushin Okami (26-5)
   
   1- Vitor Belfort (19-8)
   
   Champion- Anderson Silva (27-4)
   

 

[Lemmy Caution]

The division isn't great atm but it hasn't been for a few years.


However, that still doesn't make Mousasi or Romero the best MW's about.

<{cruzshake}>

I rarely, if ever, argue who's best, but it is enough that they can beat anyone. The UFC MW division would have been relevant if they were in it. That it was self-inflicted makes it so much worse. We understand that there is ebb and flow, but the UFC kneecapped the MW division of own volition.

 

[boss429]

I agree, there was such a large skill gap between Prime Anderson and the competition that he made them look like amateurs.

Anderson is my all time favorite but that isn't entirely true.

Anderson had clear and exploitable weaknesses that were exploited many times but he was such a dynamic finisher if you made a single mistake he could turn the lights out.

That's what made Anderson so special, he was definitely beatable but he had the heart of a Champion, the pure will to win and could exploite even the smallest of openings.

Later in his reign he also enjoyed a psychological edge over his opponents after such a long run of dominance guy's like Okami and Vitor would freeze up in front of him and seemingly get overwhelmed by the moment. This also kind of happened with Brunson, Izzy and Hall at points in those fights.

 

[sampuncher]

I rarely, if ever, argue who's best, but it is enough that they can beat anyone. The UFC MW division would have been relevant if they were in it. That it was self-inflicted makes it so much worse. We understand that there is ebb and flow, but the UFC kneecapped the MW division of own volition.

Mousasi left like 3 years ago and no-one ever really noticed, no-one was saying how the division was significantly weaker without him in it, it was a shame we didn't see him fight guys like Rockhold, Whittaker, Bisping etc but it didn't kill the division like FLW did when MM initially left it. Romero leaves more of a gap because he was coming off a title loss for the release but let's not forget he's in his 40s now and does only have a few years left of fighting in him, even then, he's fighting at LHW isn't he in Bellator so it's a stupid argument to make to say Romero and Mousasi make Bellators MW division better when one isn't even fighting at 185.

 

[pseto223]

While prime Anderson would've been a top 2 fighter in current MW, I'm not sure if above or below Izzy, the rest of the top 10 wouldn't fare very well against the current top 10. Small Maia, extremely mediocre Chael, Mark Munhoz? Dan Miller, ffs?

 

[ThunderStruck]

Now you are taking my words out of context. I said the Vettori fight was close, not that it was a wrongful decision. I agree, it was clearly 29/28, but it was far closer than Whittaker would have made it.

And Rob won the first Romero fight incredibly clearly. I get that your a bit biased, but he won both fights on average far more clearly than Izzy won his one.

I'm also not talking about the title. I'm talking about the fight. You said it yourself, it was a terrible fight.

You don't realize it but you are extremely biased and no one can take you seriously.

 

[Brock Sapp]

It reminds me of when Anderson was head and shoulders above the rest and made the division seem weak.

Happy Izzy is going to lhw no more interesting matchups left at 185 (Vettori needs 1-2 top wins)

 

[GrantB13]

Classic example of extrapolating an entire career out of a couple of examples. "Styrofoam chin". Ok.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

MW boring af Kelvin done at that weight fatso needs to buy a treadmill, Shabazyan is bigger Lando (heard it here first), Till is Feint Master Extraordinaire, Brunson fights a like a fat high schooler, Costa is the pretty Kid who only won fights after his big growth spurt in elementary school, and Robs chin is made of Styrofoam. I dotn even like Izzy but hes the ONLY middleweight right now. Except for Vettori bc I like him and hope he can beat Izzy.