The sheer number of recognizable names Cowboy has beat is ridiculous

[WhuffieCollector]

i cant really explain it any better than Typrune just did. makes sense to me.

also khabib ducked cowboy twice back In the day. cowboy will fight anyone anytime,
short notice, no notice, welterweight, doesn't take time off for religion.
cowboy is a true fighter and a class act.

discuss

100% agree about Cowboy being a true fighter and class act. I find his personality obnoxious but as a fighter I have nothing but respect for him.

The win section of his resume is impressive, the loss section is just a bit too long for me to consider his resume better than Khabib's.

Either way, I really hope Tony KOs Khabib stiff.

 

[WhuffieCollector]

Wrong he's 4-6, it's pretty poor form that people are looking to detract from Conor in case he wins by saying Cowboy is done just 7-8 months after he beat Al Iaquinta.

And when you look closer the guys who have beat him hardly mean he's washed up.

He's lost to

Masvidal 170
Till 170
Lawler 170
Gaethje 155
Ferguson 155
Edwards 170

Conor's last win was against Eddie Alvarez in 2016, since 2016 Cerrone has beat

Patrick Cote 170
Cowboy Oliveria 170
Rick Story 170
Yancy Medeiros 170
Mike Perry 170
Matt Brown 170
Alexander Hernandez 155
Al Iaquinta 155

Gee yersel a slap mate.

That list of people Cowboy has beaten is pretty pathetic. Al Iaquinta is a maybe top 10, and the rest are washed up (Cote, Story, Brown) or else decent but never great fighters (Oliveira, Medeiros, Perry).

I'll give you that Hernandez was looking very good when Cowboy wrecked him...that's a very good win for sure.

Agreed that his losses are all to bigtime tough and experienced fighters--but the point is that he lost to all of them and the beat none of them (his wins are all very clearly weaker opponents than his losses).

Cerrone is parked right in between the elite fighters and the rest--he's the definition of a gatekeeper. If you can beat him, you deserve a shot at a top-5. If not, you don't.

 

[Sjb1888]

That list of people Cowboy has beaten is pretty pathetic. Al Iaquinta is a maybe top 10, and the rest are washed up (Cote, Story, Brown) or else decent but never great fighters (Oliveira, Medeiros, Perry).

I'll give you that Hernandez was looking very good when Cowboy wrecked him...that's a very good win for sure.

Agreed that his losses are all to bigtime tough and experienced fighters--but the point is that he lost to all of them and the beat none of them (his wins are all very clearly weaker opponents than his losses).

Cerrone is parked right in between the elite fighters and the rest--he's the definition of a gatekeeper. If you can beat him, you deserve a shot at a top-5. If not, you don't.

That was only his wins in time since Conor's last win.

Here's more of his wins against good opposition.
Makdessi
Benson Henderson
Myles Jury
Eddie Alvarez
Jim Miller
Edson Barboza
Evan Dunham
Melvin Guillard
Jeremy Stephens
Charles Oliveira

I do agree that he's the guy sitting on top of the not quite elite list, but if overlooked he can be dangerous to a top tier fighter.

 

[egk]

When you look closely at that same list, you realize how few top 5 guys Cowboy has ever beaten. He often looks terrific against other good fighters who aren't going to make you think of champion level guys then spits the bit against the best.
The biggest wins of Cowboy's career were probably decisions over Alvarez and Bendo and I thought he lost the last fight to Bendo who he went 1-2 against.

 

[WhuffieCollector]

That was only his wins in time since Conor's last win.

Here's more of his wins against top 10 fighters
Makdessi
Benson Henderson
Myles Jury
Eddie Alvarez
Jim Miller
Edson Barboza
Evan Dunham
Melvin Guillard
Jeremy Stephens
Charles Oliveira

I do agree that he's the guy sitting on top of the not quite elite list, but if overlooked he can be dangerous to a top tier fighter.

Agree with your last statement, and well aware of his list of wins and losses.

My point was just that the list of recent wins isn't really an impressive list. His best wins in the group are a fringe top-10 and a maybe rising star.

He's been busy, yes, but hasn't recently beaten anyone who could be considered a top-5 while losing to several, and most of those recent wins are unranked fighters.

Conor is well above the level of any of those fighters on Cowboy's "recent wins" list.

 

[LoneStalker]

Al Iaquinta
Alexander Hernandez
Mike Perry
Yancy Medeiros
Matt Brown
Rick Story
Patrick Cote
Alex Oliveira
John Makdessi
Benson Henderson
Myles Jury
Eddie Alvarez
Jim Miller
Edson Barboza
Evan Dunham
Adriano Martins
K.J. Noons
Melvin Guillard
Jeremy Stephens
Dennis Siver
Charles Oliveira
Jamie Varner
James Krause
Danny Castillo

Even his loss to Nate was a legendary fight.

 

[Sjb1888]

Agree with your last statement, and well aware of his list of wins and losses.

My point was just that the list of recent wins isn't really an impressive list. His best wins in the group are a fringe top-10 and a maybe rising star.

He's been busy, yes, but hasn't recently beaten anyone who could be considered a top-5 while losing to several, and most of those recent wins are unranked fighters.

Conor is well above the level of any of those fighters on Cowboy's "recent wins" list.

Agreed, but as we all know 3+ years since Conor had a win and he looked like a sedated version of himself in against Khabib so until I see him fight like the old Conor I'm not counting Cowboy out.

 

[Tnellie30]

How many are champions or upper/upper echelon?

 

[WhuffieCollector]

Agreed, but as we all know 3+ years since Conor had a win and he looked like a sedated version of himself in against Khabib so until I see him fight like the old Conor I'm not counting Cowboy out.

Ok, now I think I've figures out where my opinion is differing from those who are disagreeing with me.

I don't agree that Conor looked bad in the Khabib fight so much as Khabib looked that good.

Poirier was on a tear heading into his Khabib fight, having 4 impressive wins in the previous 18 months, and looked at least as bad as Conor against Khabib.

I'm not suggesting the layoff hasn't affected him, it has to have some impact, I just think that the renewed focus (if it's real?) more than makes up for the cage rust.

And nothing in Cerrone's recent history makes me see that any differently--Conor is still the superior fighter IMO until he proves otherwise.

 

[Lemmy Caution]

None of those names are anywhere near as good as Conor is at MMA

True. Masvidal>Nate>Conor>Cowboy.

 

[Sjb1888]

Ok, now I think I've figures out where my opinion is differing from those who are disagreeing with me.

I don't agree that Conor looked bad in the Khabib fight so much as Khabib looked that good.

Poirier was on a tear heading into his Khabib fight, having 4 impressive wins in the previous 18 months, and looked at least as bad as Conor against Khabib.

I'm not suggesting the layoff hasn't affected him, it has to have some impact, I just think that the renewed focus (if it's real?) more than makes up for the cage rust.

And nothing in Cerrone's recent history makes me see that any differently--Conor is still the superior fighter IMO until he proves otherwise.

Khabib may have done the same thing to the best version of Conor, so it's no excuse, the result is the result.

But I could see even in the walk out that Conor looked completely off, don't know if it was the long layoff, the pressure, the partying or the foray into boxing but he was very far removed from the Conor of old, flat footed, sluggish and his punches were so much slower than what we are accustomed too.

 

[The Schmoop]

Lotta bums

 

[josh345]

That is a fantastic resume.

 

[JustAkidFrom209]

Benson Henderson > Nate Diaz > Conor.

By the power of MMAth, you're full of shit.

Conor>Diaz>Pettis>Bendo.
(Barely)