The Robbie, Johny, Rory era in the 2010s was the last time the WW division was truly great

[ExitLUPin]

TWood era was horrible but Robbie lost the title because he was in too many wars at that point

He defended the title against 40yo Demian least attempted strikes ever and gatekeeper Till who we realized really wasn't that good. He basically drew with Wonderboy for 50 minutes straight.

Then Kamaru "GOAT WW" era had LW journeymen like Burns and Masvidal ranked top 5 and getting title shots. Shot Pettis moved up and KOd top 5 WW Wonderboy. Journeyman Chiesa moved up and was top 10. Journeyman Nate got ranked after beating Anthony and nearly KOd Leon. 40yo Demian was top 10 for a long time too. Belal got ranked for beating him in a lackluster 29-28.

Kamaru and Colby were seen as the best WWs but it was a WEAK era and Belal was probably better than Colby all along anyways. Colby has been fighting 40yos and really hasn't proven much but his fights with Kamaru got him inflated. Against a young prime champ like Leon he had nothing.

Then Leon was the next great.... Nope. Neil Magny still ranked somehow. Ghost of Luque. Buckley, Holland LOL. 40yo Wonderman still top 10. Ian Garry who is MID is almost top 5. Burns still ranked top 5 when his only wins in the 2020s are Journeyman Jorge in his retirement fight and Neil Magny.

Belal is good. Props to him.... But he is a budget GSP in every way. It's like you take Georges and put all the sliders down at every level and you get Belal LMAO.... And he IS THE CHAMP in 2024, hasn't lost in 5 years and basically won 10 straight in this era.

This era of WW only has Shavkat.... Maybe Brady and Belal? LOL Jack is good but he almost lost to Hafez and was losing to ancient Burns before the late round 3 KO.

The era where we had Johny, Rory, Robbie at the top with Condit, Ellenberger, PRIME Maia, Kampmann, Matt, pre USADA Lombard, Shields, TWood, Story, Kelvin.... Alan Jouban was part of that era and he beat the piss of out Belal even though Belal did get better over the years. As legit a champ as Belal was I think we can agree he is not some special transcendent talent. He would not have made it to a title shot in a better WW era.

 

[Croaker]

tl;dr

the only great divisions in mma history, were the LW from like 2006-2013, LHW from 04-09 and HW from 2000-2011

I may have the years off by a year or two, but most mma divisions have been top heavy or flat out weak for a long time. 135 was looking good like 7 years ago.

 

[ExitLUPin]

tl;dr

the only great divisions in mma history, were the LW from like 2006-2013, LHW from 04-09 and HW from 2000-2011

I may have the years off by a year or two, but most mma divisions have been top heavy or flat out weak for a long time. 135 was looking good like 7 years ago.

FW had Aldo, Conor, Max, Frankie, Mendes, Lamas and a bunch of other killers. If we include the Bellator FWs too like Pitbull, Straus, Curran then that is even more

MW division after Strikeforce merge was one of the best divisions ever too. Chris, Luke, Saucy, Yoel, Jacare, Rob, Lyoto, Anderson, Vitor, Bisping

 

[Bork Neslar]

Too many hematches hurt the division, but there are some exciting prospects now.

 

[Substance Abuse]

Sherdog: "Everything fucking sucks except for that one time."

 

[maximus__]

tl;dr

the only great divisions in mma history, were the LW from like 2006-2013, LHW from 04-09 and HW from 2000-2011

I may have the years off by a year or two, but most mma divisions have been top heavy or flat out weak for a long time. 135 was looking good like 7 years ago.

The Pride era of LHW and Pride/UFC merger era were awesome. We literally had the best fighting the best for a good 2-5 years there and then the Strikeforce guys came across and pumped new blood in.

My god that was a good time in MMA.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

The Ruthless Era was a solitary bright spot in a largely sleepy division.

 

[fortheo]

It's at a turning point where a lot of the older guys -- Usman, covington, burns, wonderboy etc etc are on their last leg. Young guys like Gary, JDM, and shavkat are breaking through, and more will come.

The problem, like with many divisions, is that the top guys barely fight, and the UFC sucks at making matches that help divisional turn over, and instead prefer matches that milk "names" for the worth that they have.

 

[Milenkovic]

A bit off topic but i think Condit Lawler is the most overlooked underrated fight, especially from that era, and it's mostly cause of the Rory Lawler fight before it

 

[Substance Abuse]

A bit off topic but i think Condit Lawler is the most overlooked underrated fight, especially from that era, and it's mostly cause of the Rory Lawler fight before it

Condit getting absolutely fucked over for the belt against Lawler in a fight he won 4-1 is really indicative of that era being great. Truly. Just ask TS.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Condit getting absolutely fucked over for the belt against Lawler in a fight he won 4-1 is really indicative of that era being great. Truly. Just ask TS.

 

[fortheo]

Condit getting absolutely fucked over for the belt against Lawler in a fight he won 4-1 is really indicative of that era being great. Truly. Just ask TS.

I wanted Condit to win because I liked condit, but also because I knew Maia would run through him and get the belt, and I'm a huge Maia fan. Unfortunately, Maia ran through him, but didn't get any belt. He was uncrowned champ for a second in my eyes, though.

 

[Barteh]

Sherdog: "Everything fucking sucks except for that one time."

About 50% of the time "that one time" will be during the PRIDE era.

 

[aerius]

It's at a turning point where a lot of the older guys -- Usman, covington, burns, wonderboy etc etc are on their last leg. Young guys like Gary, JDM, and shavkat are breaking through, and more will come.

The problem, like with many divisions, is that the top guys barely fight, and the UFC sucks at Making matches that help divisional turn over, and instead prefer matches that milk "names" for the last worth that they have.

The stagnation at the top is brutal for younger prospects, many of them are starting to age out themselves while waiting for fights. Almost everyone is their late 20s or early 30s by the time they make it near the title, there's pretty much no chance for a strong prospect to become a contender unless they suck uncle Dana's cock.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

About 50% of the time "that one time" will be during the PRIDE era.

Funny thing, that. Almost as if that era was unrepeatably good

 

[fortheo]

The stagnation at the top is brutal for younger prospects, many of them are starting to age out themselves while waiting for fights. Almost everyone is their late 20s or early 30s by the time they make it near the title, there's pretty much no chance for a strong prospect to become a contender unless they suck uncle Dana's cock.

I know man, and the UFC just delays inevitable match ups for so long like the belal vs. edwards fight that just happened, like the Suga vs. merab fight that is going to happen soon etc etc. It's just a slow moving sport naturally, and the UFC's matchmaking makes things even slower.

 

[Barteh]

Funny thing, that. Almost as if that era was unrepeatably good

Before my time, sadly. The highlights don't do much for me because I don't have the nostalgia.

 

[CashMoney1991]

When Robbie was champ that was when WW was at its most entertaining

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Before my time, sadly. The highlights don't do much for me because I don't have the nostalgia.

That's sad. You should try to watch a full event sometime to get the full picture.

 

[AmalgamOpus]

You guys are really upset about the Belal situation, huh?