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

[m249viking]

Fantasy opinions. STFU about Cro Cop and get Jones in the cage

 

[RoseHDCovington]

He's not all that cuz he's knocking everyone out too quickly!!

--Sherdoggers

(Slaps head)

I don't think you understand what was being said. Let me dumb it down a little more for you: Tom beats people so quick that we have no idea how good his cardio is, if he can take a punch, any weaknesses in his game. So a self professed tape watcher like Jones has no way of feeling confident in exposing any holes in Tom's game

 

[JustOnce]

Dude I'm happy most of the time. And yes, of course we don't need to be in lockstep on exactly how good he is or can be. I'd have thought that goes without saying LOL.

okay man, i'm glad to hear that. I respect your passion as a loyal Aspinal fan.

 

[KO Shotz]

Some truth to that, he's probably a little defensive when people say "But But But who have you beaten?"

There's also some revisionist history that takes place. I pointed it out earlier, but Cro Cop won the 2006 OWGP then headed to the UFC. Beat Eddie Sanchez (LOL) and then in his next fight got flatlined by Gabe Gonzaga. Less than a year after winning the OWGP and now people are like "Cro Cop was washed when he went to the UFC!"

There's a romanticism that happens when some people look back in time. The steroid use and rumors of fight fixing in Pride aside, the gap in the talent pool simply isn't as wide as some like to claim in now vs then.

CroCop got caught with a head kick. It happens. Since he got caught we just gonna throw out all the times Mirko kicked somebodys head off? Usman got caught with a head kick from Leon but we all know Usman is truly better than Leon. Anyway, I do agree to an extent with what you just said about romanticizing while looking back, but there is no doubt that the HW talent back in the day was far better than todays HW talent. Back in the day HW's were household names & helped put MMA & the UFC on the map. In today's HW division there is no excitement, no draws, & almost no fighters to be remembered of, unlike the HW legends such as Mirko, Fedor, Big Nog, & I can go on & on.

 

[Luthien]

Watching Stuart Austin submit him on repeat and enjoying it greatly

 

[Luthien]

 

[RoseHDCovington]

Prime CroCop, Fedor, Overeem, Big Nog, Rizzo, Mir, Coleman, Igor & even Josh Barnett & Hunto run through the HW division today. Yes, some divisions are better than what it was back in the day, but the HW division has fallen completely off. The HW MMA division today is nowhere near how good it was back in the day.

Jon & Tom would be interesting vs those guys above in their prime years, but the talent in the HW division in todays MMA world is not even in the same convo of how good the MMA HW division was back in the early days of MMA.

40 year old hunt was running through the UFC division not too long ago with primarily one skill.

 

[Superzorro]

FFS. He's 255 lbs, moves like a middleweight and has faster hands at HW than anyone ever outside maybe prime Fedor. He's easily submitted highly ranked guys like Volkov so his ground game quite obviously is solid.

Use. Your. Eyes. You're right-- you cannot make this stuff up. You guys see things and pretend you don't. Because I refuse to believe you're so dumb as to not see it.

All I’ve gotten so far is “he’s big and he’s a good athlete.” That’s it. I look for skills. I don’t care about any of the flashy stuff. That works when you have nobodies in front of you. But when you’re in with elite fighters, all that rushing in and swinging with reckless abandon without using your brain goes out of the window.

By the way, Volkov isn’t a grappler— and in all honesty, he’s not that high level. He could barely cut it in Bellator. And he got knocked out dead by the Black Beast.

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

But could he handle sea level cain though?

 

[Intermission]

His opponents look like barroom brawlers but he somehow thinks cro cops era was weaker

 

[mkess101]

I don't think you understand what was being said. Let me dumb it down a little more for you: Tom beats people so quick that we have no idea how good his cardio is, if he can take a punch, any weaknesses in his game. So a self professed tape watcher like Jones has no way of feeling confident in exposing any holes in Tom's game

We don't know if he can take a punch? Pretty sure I've seen him get hit. The cardio question...sure.

The problem is (I'll dumb this down for you) that's not how this is being worded in most posts itt. As opposed to phrasing it like "there are some unknowns..." these things are being presented as objective negatives.

 

[mkess101]

CroCop got caught with a head kick. It happens. Since he got caught we just gonna throw out all the times Mirko kicked somebodys head off? Usman got caught with a head kick from Leon but we all know Usman is truly better than Leon. Anyway, I do agree to an extent with what you just said about romanticizing while looking back, but there is no doubt that the HW talent back in the day was far better than todays HW talent. Back in the day HW's were household names & helped put MMA & the UFC on the map. In today's HW division there is no excitement, no draws, & almost no fighters to be remembered of, unlike the HW legends such as Mirko, Fedor, Big Nog, & I can go on & on.

No, we don't forget all the good stuff about Mirko either, of course not. And yes the names were absolutely bigger back then. The talent pool was better too...just not as much better as people want to believe. Exact because those guys were better known. It gets equated with them sometimes being remembered as more elite than their talent actually was.

 

[RoseHDCovington]

We don't know if he can take a punch? Pretty sure I've seen him get hit. The cardio question...sure.

The problem is (I'll dumb this down for you) that's not how this is being worded in most posts itt. As opposed to phrasing it like "there are some unknowns..." these things are being presented as objective negatives.

So your problem is it's not being worded the way YOU like? Well, I understood it and everyone else seems to get it. I think problem might be you

 

[KO Shotz]

No, we don't forget all the good stuff about Mirko either, of course not. And yes the names were absolutely bigger back then. The talent pool was better too...just not as much better as people want to believe. Exact because those guys were better known. It gets equated with them sometimes being remembered as more elite than their talent actually was.

ok, so who is better or on the same level in todays HW division compared to Mirko, Fedor, Big Nog, Igor, Overeem, Mir, Werdum, Arlovski, or even Barnett? That's not named Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall. Let's throw Couture in there too.

 

[TimeToTrain]

Crocop was good during his time but let’s face it, his kicks were too predictable for today’s fighters. Fighters can see when that kick will becoming. Hell, Kevin Randleman KO’ed Crocop. Gonzaga read Crocop like a book and gave Crocop a taste of his own medicine.

 

[usernamee]

The crazy part is that apparently Tom has been training BJJ since he was a little kid, but he gets caught like that?? And then taps to what looks loose af??

I know this was a long time back but my point is the dude grew up training BJJ

 

[mkess101]

All I’ve gotten so far is “he’s big and he’s a good athlete.” That’s it. I look for skills. I don’t care about any of the flashy stuff. That works when you have nobodies in front of you. But when you’re in with elite fighters, all that rushing in and swinging with reckless abandon without using your brain goes out of the window.

By the way, Volkov isn’t a grappler— and in all honesty, he’s not that high level. He could barely cut it in Bellator. And he got knocked out dead by the Black Beast.

Re: Volkov--he was dominating BB and got caught late. It happens. He just beat Gane (don't care what the judges said). He's a highly ranked guy. We can argue about what "elite" means but he's clearly one of the better HW's alive. Not a grappler no, but a seasoned vet who's been on the mat how many times and survived? But couldn't last a minute on the ground with Tom.

If you want more a skills breakdown on Aspinall, sure. He has big power like plenty of HW's. But unlike almost any other, he needs no windup to generate it. He throws short, accurate shots in tight spaces with timing and accuracy that we very rarely have seen with guys his size. If you think he "rushes in with reckless abandon"...I honestly don't know what to tell you. Go watch his KO's of Blaydes and Pavlovich again. He doesn't do even remotely what you're claiming. He lands counter shots on both as THEY come at HIM. A short 2 punch combo vs Pavlovich, a right hand counter over the top vs Blaydes. Both with handspeed that HW's aren't used to having to deal with. If you think that's him "not using his brain"...there really isn't much else to say. We see the sport very differently.

 

[mkess101]

So your problem is it's not being worded the way YOU like? Well, I understood it and everyone else seems to get it. I think problem might be you

Words have meaning is how I'd put it. But sure, we can pretend they mean whatever we want them to I guess.

 

[mkess101]

ok, so who is better or on the same level in todays HW division compared to Mirko, Fedor, Big Nog, Igor, Overeem, Mir, Werdum, Arlovski, or even Barnett? That's not named Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall. Let's throw Couture in there too.

Guys like Gane, Ngannou, Volkov would absolutely compete with that list. Not saying I'm picking all the current guys to win all those fights of course. So add in Jones and Aspinall and the current list is a bit smaller. There's a gap in the depth (like I said) but it's not the gaping chasm some make it out to be.

 

[mkess101]

The crazy part is that apparently Tom has been training BJJ since he was a little kid, but he gets caught like that?? And then taps to what looks loose af??

I know this was a long time back but my point is the dude grew up training BJJ

Heel hooks are weird. You aren't ever cranking on them at the gym. He definitely panicked a bit there. Can't see it as relevant a decade later.