Media Tom Aspinall says he was watching cro cop and implies his level of skill and that time period doesn't compare to modern mma, timestamp is 17:59

[JonnyBonesPharmacist]

CroCop from 15 years ago was completely washed. He wasn't even top 15 at the time.

With a few exceptions, the HW division from 15 years ago was better and deeper than the current HW division. Matching up sherdog's March 2010 HW rankings vs their current rankings, I'd favor 2010 to win 9 or 10 of them.

1. Fedor (Aspinall)
2. Brock (Jones)
3. Mir (Francis)
4. Cain (Gane)
5. Big Nog (Volkov)
6. Brett Rogers (Pavlovich)
7. JDS (Blaydes)
8. Arlovski (Almeida)
9. Carwin (Spivac)
10. Werdum (Tybura)
11. Aleks (De Fries)
12. Gonzaga (Ferreira)
13. Overeem (Jairzinho)
14. Rothwell (Lewis)
15. Big Foot (Gotsov)

Prime Fedor smokes that whole list

 

[Captain Herb]

Cro-Cop would be a killer at LHW today. He fought in the lows 220s in his prime as a HW.

He would be small even for LHW today

 

[Ladder Master]

I think he should shut the f up about it and respect the OGs.

This right here.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

I don't think he meant to be disrespectful like that(but very pretty much was), but he does have a point in saying these guys would have to adapt to fight today's fighters. He definitely could've worded that better, but he does have a point which honestly is valid. Pretty much all the pride guys were all natural killers, wheras today's guy aren't killers like that but a lot more technical and definitely harder to beat on average than in those times.

Let's give today's HWs a 10 minute 1st rnd and let's see how technical they are. Also today's HWs IMO aren't more technical, they've purely adapted to the rule set and fighting platform (cage) of the UFC. Today's HWs bar a few are completely lost on the ground and lack the fluidity of guys from previous generations.

 

[mkess101]

Tom Aspinall is a Heath Herring level fighter.

Window licker take

 

[Poatan Power]

Guys from 20 years ago, born and raised and trained back then, wouldn't hang with the guys who have been born raised and trained in the modern era built on the knowledge and training of the 20 years ago guys? Of course not. It's like having a time machine.

 

[Rum that Chimay-Leffe]

Refreshing genuine fighter
But I still think Francis, Jones, Gane, Volkov and him can easily hang with the Pride ones and demolish each of 'em

 

[Young Calf Kick]

Damn, lotta angry boomers in this thread

 

[Equinox Shadow]

Sweet revenge!

View attachment 1088422

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

Sweet revenge!
View attachment 1088490

View attachment 1088491

sweeter than sugar

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

i hope one day we do get a time machine or some sort of super real simulation so we can see how lame these new guys actually are. for tom aspinall to say anything, is just a complete lack of understanding of the previous eras. 2006 OWGP Cro Cop destroys every fighter on planet earth. tom aspinall's knee completely snapped at random movement. he also needs a major humbling. ngannou vs aspinall would have been good. seriously sucks there is no one else at HW who can even string together 1 or 2 wins that look impressive. UFC needs to just hire all glory HW fighters at this point, and give them the poatan benefits. ya know, the kind where you avoid wrestlers you're whole MMA career, until the one moment you have to fight a guy that knows a takedown, and you absolutely falter and demolish your own aura.

 

[AmalgamOpus]

It doesn't compare but realistically he's the only one representing that skill level of this modern era so it's kind of a funny statement.

 

[lsa]

TBT. Aspinall wouldn't win the 2006 Pride OWGP.

of course not.. He was like 13 years old.

 

[lsa]

Ironically, it is the other way around. Tom wants to fight someone who IS from that old generation over a decade ago and is STILL able to be the LHW champ and second best HW fighter in Tom's era.

That makes it self-evident that he is wrong.

Only because he holds the belt.

“I would like to fight Jon Jones for [the undisputed title]. That would be pretty cool,” Aspinal reiterates. “But if it doesn’t happen, I’m not bothered. Like I say, Jon Jones isn’t my focus. My focus is the undisputed heavyweight title. Anything else, to me, is pretty irrelevant at this point.”

 

[VirginNose]

There's more money and thus a larger talent pool today

in lower weight classes but LHW and HW defitinely not.

 

[Brigfa2]

Forget about the LHW and HW, even DDP and Khamzat would destroy Fedor and Cro Cop

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Him and Jon are very skilled but they are outliers in the current HW scene. Even Ngannou, as good as he is, is not really super technical.

Saying that the modern HW era is somehow "evolved" compared to what it was 20 years ago either technically or athletically is ridiculous honestly. And I dont even shit on the current scene as hard as most do.

 

[NoSmilez]

Skill level is much better now but it doesn't mean Cro Cop is an inferior athlete. I am pretty sure if you take someone with his exact skillset and give him today's training then that fighter would do well. Mirko might have to drop to LHW or even MW. He is a small HW by today's standards.

 

[World eater]

In other news, race cars today are faster than race cars from 20 years ago. If you could magically teleport a modern race car back to 2005, it would break all speed records.
A HW champion from 2045 will find holes in Aspinall’s game as well.

 

[fica]

Cro Cop was a left handed southpaw with a powerful left kick. If he competed in modern era with the skill set he had in his prime he would most likely lose.

But I say but, if Cro Cop had fought in our modern era as a young man, he would had improved and adapted his skillset, and would do well in our era.

Old school fighters were tough, modern era males are a bit softer, if you gave old school fighters the knowledge and ressources of today, they would certainly outshine the modern fighers. If not the moden fighters would outshine them.

cro cop and fedor would be good in any mma era. these two guys did not just throw recless haymakers they fought smart and yes soccer kicks are not allowed in todays mma they would have to learn grappling but they could do it