The UFC Welterweight Title: A Visual History

[pankrat]

There is no discussion about who the GOAT WW is.

The idea that WW is the best division in history is much more questionable: there is no WW other than GSP in top10 p4p rankings, and many would not have any top20 neither.
Its funny that you mention Demian Maia to back it up, when he is often mentioned as a weak contender in an allegedly weak MW division ruled by Silva, a narrative parroted by the many gsp fanboys around these boards

 

[AmonTobin]

Nice graphic. The rematches really mucked up Usman’s title reign for me. Would have been so much better had he fought all different opponents.

 

[Fight Professor]

I still have Hughes over Woodley and Usman. And I am not sure who is better between those 2. Woodley seemed to have a better potential but he had dropped out of his prime very suddenly. The opponent strength is similar if we disregard the Usman/Masvidal 2.

 

[Rationality]

Amazing how quickly the champs decline. There's always a bunch of hungry lions at WW.

 

[pankrat]

Even if you consider Usman and Woodley opponent strenght to be equal, Usman won way more emphatically.

Hughes opponent strenght is the weakest in the comparison since wasnt champ in the premier org at the time which was Pride

 

[Cptn1NSAN0]

Even if you consider Usman and Woodley opponent strenght to be equal, Usman won way more emphatically.

Hughes opponent strenght is the weakest in the comparison since wasnt champ in the premier org at the time which was Pride

Hughes had like 12 top ten wins, his record is easily better than anybody in Pride at that time. A lot of people had him ranked #1 P4P back in the day

 

[HuskySamoan]

Leon is the best Lightweight in UFC history. Would definitely headkick Islam, he's very underrated.

 

[andgonsil]

Westler division = worst division

 

[dmwalking]

Gsp was such a decision machine. But he was so dominant for so long. Hard to argue against him being the goat.

kinda crazy seeing it all laid out like that.

 

[Simple Southerner]

Gsp
Usman
Hughes
The rest

 

[pankrat]

Hughes had like 12 top ten wins, his record is easily better than anybody in Pride at that time. A lot of people had him ranked #1 P4P back in the day

His record might be better than anybody in Pride back then, yet its still true he wasnt consistently fighting the best guys his size worlwide to the same extent Usman, Woodley, GSP or any modern UFC champion did.

As a matter of fact, he defended his tittle vs Sakurai who was basically coming off a loss. And a emphatic one. Can you imagine that happening today? A UFC champion defending vs a guy who just lost in Bellator or any other org?
That was the case because Pride offered the winner (A.Silva) a better deal than UFC did. Same for Pele Landi who actually KOed Hughes yet got recruited by Pride, simply because they paid better.
This is a context that can't be ignored.

Same for Sakuraba of course, who many would have favoured to beat Hughes by the same time he was submitting Rampage or Randleman.
If Saku was fighting the likes of Mirko Cro Cop for much, muuuuch better money than the UFC WW tittle challengers doesnt change the fact that he is a natural WW who steps into he cage weighting the same than Hughes and that would have fought Hughes if UFC had even close to the required sum of money to invite him to do so.

Among others who had to fight one or two weightclasses above WW despite being the same size then Hughes as Amar Suloev (who got a UFC offer to fight Liddel instead of the guy his same size, not because that was his own choice.).

You need to understand the context of the sport back then.

 

[Fight Professor]

I still have Hughes over Woodley and Usman. And I am not sure who is better between those 2. Woodley seemed to have a better potential but he had dropped out of his prime very suddenly. The opponent strength is similar if we disregard the Usman/Masvidal 2.

I bumped this thread because of a similar thread that has gotten bumped.

Colby and Masvidal wins did not age well for Usman. The Burns fight went exactly how much top Burns fights go. Can we agree that Woodley and Usman are very close in terms of legacy and far away from GSP's and not as impressive as Hughes' career?

 

[KORNBR3AD]

GSP for sure. Sucks he had so many decisions, but at least he ended the reign of Hughes