This is why Jones, GSP, Anderson, DJ, Fedor, Aldo are so impressive and are considered the GOATs

[mister piscadinha]

sports fans in general are very easily manipulated into buying the hype of the current thing.

that's why we endup with fools thinking usman's routine of wall'n'stall + footstomps is even comparable with gsp beating the shit outta better opponents

or that izzy's leg kicking and jabbing is similar to anderson matrixin' lhw's on the regular

 

[mister piscadinha]

harder to remain at the top in the modern game, lots more people taking up and competing in MMA.

Harder to compete at a high level in pool of 100,000,000 to 150,000,000 practitioners compared to a couple million before MMA became truly mainstream (Brock, Rousey, Conor and onward era).

Modern fighters that fight regularly (2-3 times a year) and reign as champ for 3-4 years is enough to enter the conversation for all time great status. Volk/Adesanya or anyone else for that matter aren't there yet.

this is the kind of take i'm talking about

some dudes will argue till they're blue in the face that a division where marvin "average at everything" vettori is a top5, somehow is the "evolution of the sport"

the same kinda people thought gane was the "evolution of the sport"

 

[ToochMcCrotch]

It’s wild to be on top for years, GSP stayed on top through three generations of top WW’s. Guys that studied his tapes for years, yet still come up short.

 

[Gilday]

Way too many people get GOAT shouts nowadays, none of these guys are even GOAT of their division. Volk and Khabib are the only guys who can make the argument that they're the best fighter their division has ever seen and could make an argument of them being the GOAT.
Usman was incredible and his run deserves more respect, but his legacy is nowhere near GSP's. Izzy is great and maybe he could still get there, but Anderson's 10 defences in a row + multiple wins at LHW is still far more impressive.

I'm happy the likes of Khabib and GSP had incredible runs and bowed out on top, it's also why I'm rooting for Jones to beat Stipe and ride off into the sunset having never really been defeated.

 

[onSMASH]

Anyone putting Cejudo in that talk is just delusional lmao.

 

[Sweater of AV]

And when you do it without cheating at the highest weight class where it's damn near impossible to keep a lengthy streak going and you're simultaneously dominating a separate sport at the highest level....

GOAT bless.

 

[Captain_Dammitt]

That's why Jones and Fedor are the real GOATs. GSP and DJ would find your weakness and exploit it, Silva would bring into his game and beat you there whereas Jones and Fedor would fight you and beat you at your own strengths.

 

[djacobox372]

You forgot Aldo, but
Yes, besides PEDs polemics for some of them, it'll takes a lot of time to see a fighter able to sit at these giants table

The fighters that fought during the ped era were fighting against other fighters on peds, so it evens out.

 

[NovaJon93]

Agreed. There' something to be said for longevity at the top. GSP, DJ, Silva, Jones, and Aldo had some seriously unrivaled staying power.

As great as Izzy is, matching Silva's longevity was always going to be extremely difficult to achieve. Silva managed to win an unheard of 14 consecutive fights after obtaining the belt. His record for the longest title reign, and DJ's record for most consecutive title defenses will take a very long time for anyone to break.

 

[Poatan Power]

Khabib should never be mentioned in the GOAT discussion because he doesn't have the accolades. he does, however, have the expertise and dominance that the other guys had on a "peak excellence" scale.

But you're totally correct about the title defenses thing. It's why it's so laughable that people tried to put Dustin P in a "top 5 LW" discussion. Dude could never even crack the champ status, god forbid defend the title like more than half a dozen other guys did. Doing so to the tune of 6+ defenses against 6+ different opponents is god tier excellence. GSP, Jones, Silva, DJ...

 

[jeff7b9]

Goat shouldn't be mentioned until a guy retires or has double digit title wins.

Aldo won 11 title fights (8 UFC +3 WEC)

Jones has won like 16* straight.

GSP won 13

Anderson won 11 straight with 3 first round kos up 2 weight classes from his starting mma weight class (167 in shooto)

Mighty Mouse won 12 UFC title fights then won 3 OneFC title fights.

Nunes won 11 WMMA title fights

Matt Hughes and Randy won 9 each
_____________________________


New fans want to GOAT someone with 4-5 title wins is bullshit.

Let's see them continue to remain focused, stay healthy and keep taking out the best guy there is fight after fight for years on end.



* one NC where he put Daniel Cormier to sleep.

 

[HoelHomero]

It’s wild to be on top for years, GSP stayed on top through three generations of top WW’s. Guys that studied his tapes for years, yet still come up short.

This.
Look at what happens when a dude with heart and decent boxing gets to study Adesanya's tape for a few years.
Made him look silly, because he knew every strike that was coming.

What Silva, GSP, Aldo and others did is not easily replicated.

 

[jeff7b9]

And when you do it without cheating at the highest weight class where it's damn near impossible to keep a lengthy streak going and you're simultaneously dominating a separate sport at the highest level....

GOAT bless.

That's why Jones and Fedor are the real GOATs. GSP and DJ would find your weakness and exploit it, Silva would bring into his game and beat you there whereas Jones and Fedor would fight you and beat you at your own strengths.

Good to see the respect on Fedor's name.

Fedor won the Pride FC HW title and proceeded to win 19 more fights with the target on his back of #1 HW in the world.
16 of those he won by stoppage, 14 of those in the first round.

And he took out 2 of arguably the best UFC Champs during his reign, both by first round stoppage.

Arlovski flatline KOed
Timmey 32 second ko+choke

And has more UFC HW champ scalps in that run:

Coleman 2x
Randleman
Nog (IC) 2x

_______

Jon has won 16 (15+DC "NC) straight UFC title fights. That is fucking crazy.

______

Mighty Mouse won 15 world title fights

12 UFC + 3 OneFC
________

All these guys who stayed on top of their divisions for 6+ years deserve crazy respect.

 

[Chillez]

Volk is on his way there. Nobody else current is anywhere near it

I agree Volk is a special talent amazing fighter

 

[textwarrior]

And this is why number of title defenses matter when debating who belongs on that list.

The last couple of years I've seen a lot of people say that Khabib is the GOAT or that hes on equal footing with those guys.
Or how Usman (before the Edwards loss) also belonged on that list or how hes already better than GSP.
Or that Cejudos streak puts him up there with those names or potentially even surpasses them.

People will argue this by saying that DJ beat a lot of cans, or that GSP beat guys like Dan Hardy for a title defense. They will say that Khabib could have easily defended his belt 7 more times if he wanted to and thats why he belongs there, and honestly I'm also convinced that Khabib could have racked up 10 title defenses if he wanted...

butttttt....

two days ago I was also convinced that Strickland had nothing for Izzy. Two days ago I was convinced that Strickland was gonna be a just a decent name on Izzys record. The same way we were all so convinced that Du Plessis was a bum who was gonna easily get starched by Whittaker.

When someone is the champ for a long time they have the entire division gunning for them, analyzing every aspect of their game. There is a lot of tape on them, every camp is studying them, and every small succes that a contender has can be used and further built upon by the next challenger. They are constantly fighting the best or near the best the division has to offer, they are constantly fighting all kinds of unique fighting styles (of which some might be a bad stylistic bad match-up) and bodytypes, and every challenger is extremely hungry and motivated because hes fighting the most important fight of his career and a win can completely change his life, while for a long time defending champ its just another defense.
Also there is the simple reality of one strike ending it all. Just one instance of unlucky movement or timing and it can be all over just like that.

People want to downplay DJs career, but Strickland showed that any unassuming challenger can turn out to be a nightmare match-up, and thats why 11 title defenses in the UFC, and going 5-1 in One is a legendary career.

TLDR: Izzys loss shows why going on a longgggg title defending streak is some godtier shit

MMA is like treading water, JJ was being engulfed to his neck by water at the time he left LHW...his end was coming and you could see it by his last 3 or 4 fights before he left. Its not just JJ it was GSP and others...you see it happening because the team behind the fight learns allot during the fight, ...and so does the next team....and even more so the next team...even if each fighter lost with their team....the analysis and break down and reads are growing to the point that as time goes on you start to see that goat getting closer and closer to being figured out like treading water and slipping under to the force that only last so long until you drown.

I agree, all those MMA fighters you listed were amazing....goats....you can't judge the past cause you already knew what happened, and why you never judge the present because you don't want to look like a fool, in other words, what all goats did in their present time, you have to respect and there was a reason all fans thought they were the goats at that time...it was not because they were fooling people...it was a true accolade and accomplishment in goat status.

 

[L0ki]

And this is why number of title defenses matter when debating who belongs on that list.

The last couple of years I've seen a lot of people say that Khabib is the GOAT or that hes on equal footing with those guys.
Or how Usman (before the Edwards loss) also belonged on that list or how hes already better than GSP.
Or that Cejudos streak puts him up there with those names or potentially even surpasses them.

People will argue this by saying that DJ beat a lot of cans, or that GSP beat guys like Dan Hardy for a title defense. They will say that Khabib could have easily defended his belt 7 more times if he wanted to and thats why he belongs there, and honestly I'm also convinced that Khabib could have racked up 10 title defenses if he wanted...

butttttt....

two days ago I was also convinced that Strickland had nothing for Izzy. Two days ago I was convinced that Strickland was gonna be a just a decent name on Izzys record. The same way we were all so convinced that Du Plessis was a bum who was gonna easily get starched by Whittaker.

When someone is the champ for a long time they have the entire division gunning for them, analyzing every aspect of their game. There is a lot of tape on them, every camp is studying them, and every small succes that a contender has can be used and further built upon by the next challenger. They are constantly fighting the best or near the best the division has to offer, they are constantly fighting all kinds of unique fighting styles (of which some might be a bad stylistic bad match-up) and bodytypes, and every challenger is extremely hungry and motivated because hes fighting the most important fight of his career and a win can completely change his life, while for a long time defending champ its just another defense.
Also there is the simple reality of one strike ending it all. Just one instance of unlucky movement or timing and it can be all over just like that.

People want to downplay DJs career, but Strickland showed that any unassuming challenger can turn out to be a nightmare match-up, and thats why 11 title defenses in the UFC, and going 5-1 in One is a legendary career.

TLDR: Izzys loss shows why going on a longgggg title defending streak is some godtier shit

Besides really new fans, I don't see anyone calling Kabob GOAT seriously.

Agreed that fighters get figured out.

Are you giving Izzy props for his lengthy run or not?

Izzy is an exciting fighter. As a person it's kinda whatevs.

That said.....

I do think he handily lost to Rob in the rematch and scored the Yoel fight 48-47 Romero. IMO, and especially now with the Strickland loss, Izzy has been trading wins and losses for years now.

DJ did awesome. It's just unfortunate the smaller guys don't get as much of a crowd as the heavier classes. It's awesome technique.

 

[Captain_Dammitt]

Good to see the respect on Fedor's name.

Fedor won the Pride FC HW title and proceeded to win 19 more fights with the target on his back of #1 HW in the world.
16 of those he won by stoppage, 14 of those in the first round.

And he took out 2 of arguably the best UFC Champs during his reign, both by first round stoppage.

Arlovski flatline KOed
Timmey 32 second ko+choke

And has more UFC HW champ scalps in that run:

Coleman 2x
Randleman
Nog (IC) 2x

_______

Jon has won 16 (15+DC "NC) straight UFC title fights. That is fucking crazy.

______

Mighty Mouse won 15 world title fights

12 UFC + 3 OneFC
________

All these guys who stayed on top of their divisions for 6+ years deserve crazy respect.

Much hespect but I was saying that Fedor beat the best bjj in his division (Big Nog) in his guard and the best striker (Cro Cop) on the feet. That was some gangster shit.