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

[krelianx]

Barnett pissed hot consistently and lost to Travis Browne and Ben Rothwell. Fedor got destroyed in Strikeforce in his early 30s. Kharitoniv, really? His best wins are a ko of Arlovski and a split over Werdum, while he lost to the likes of Jeff Monson and Javy Alaya. JDS lost 5 straight starting at age 35, not exactly old for HW. Cormier beat who at HW again? Roy Nelson? Let's also not forget the rampant PED use in Pride.

Jones, Aspinall, Francis, and Jailton beat all these guys.

HIlarious that you think this. But yes, roids were rampant in those days.

 

[Royce Greasy]

After being on this thread decided to check out Aspinall's loss to Austin in Bamma, even back then I think it was 2015 Tom was really well rounded his striking and grappling were there and that's one really great thing about him is that he has the ground and stand-up covered, the problems back then that stood out were his cardio wasn't there and he got swept twice by a judo hip toss and never got up, the ankle lock which led to the top imo was again due to fatigue more than not being able to defend it.

Judging that fight from back then to now I'd say those holes aren't there and even though people think of Tom as a KO artist his base is jiu jitsu not striking, his striking has gotten so good since then though and cardio and stamina are much improved as he isn't chubby looking like back in 2015.

I don't see a past it version of Jones winning this at all and it's idiotic thinking because Jones smoked Gane that it's an indication of what would happen to Tom, Gane and Tom are totally different fighters with different strengths and Tom is much more well rounded it's crazy to base an opinion of how this fight would go off of that. For sure Jones is gonna cheat here as it will be his last fight if he even takes it so I expect a juiced up version against Tom.

 

[Taric]

His last 5 opponents have been top 10 ranked. All KO's.

Yes, you can say the division is weak but he can only beat who's there.

Are Trevor Berbick, James Smith, Pinlklon Thomas, Tony Tucker, Tyrell Biggs, almost 40 year old washed Larry Holmes,
Tony Tubbs, cruiserweight Michael Spinks etc etc all elite all time great HW boxers?

Shane Carwin had 12 first round KOs in a row, getting him the exact same UFC interim HW title that Aspinall currently holds, until his weakness was exposed for all to see and then he immediately retired because of that exposure.

Level of competition is literally everything in this sport.

 

[M4R5]

If anybody thinks prime 32yo cro cop who fought Eddie Sanchez beats yom Aspinwall, they're kidding themselves.

 

[mkess101]

Shane Carwin had 12 first round KOs in a row, getting him the exact same UFC interim HW title that Aspinall currently holds, until his weakness was exposed for all to see and then he immediately retired because of that exposure.

Level of competition is literally everything in this sport.

But it's not "literally everything". It's one aspect. An important one sure, but the eye test matters too. If you can't look at Apinall and see his skill and athletic attributes are much different than Carwin's, that's on you.

Out of curiosity, did Carwin KO 5 consecutive top 10 ranked guys to get the interim title? From what I see, he literally only had 2 UFC fights TOTAL before he beat Mir for the interim belt. So yes, knocking out cab drivers is different than beating highly ranked UFC guys. That I'd need to point out the difference between "he's beating all the top guys but the division seems historically weak" and "he KO'd a bunch of random regional bums then a couple UFC guys" is pretty ridiculous.

Mike Tyson was knocking out legit HW top ranked fighters. The division was weak at the time, but he was beating the top guys available to him. Bringing Carwin into the discussion is moronic.

And again, literally the last 5 guys Aspinall has faced are ALL top 10. All of them. Exactly how stupid do you have to be to think he's not fighting the best available competition. Gane ducked him twice and now Jones seems to be. Who the fuck do you want the guy to fight, dum dum?

 

[Taric]

But it's not "literally everything". It's one aspect. An important one sure, but the eye test matters too. If you can't look at Apinall and see his skill and athletic attributes are much different than Carwin's, that's on you.

Out of curiosity, did Carwin KO 5 consecutive top 10 ranked guys to get the interim title? From what I see, he literally only had 2 UFC fights TOTAL before he beat Mir for the interim belt. So yes, knocking out cab drivers is different than beating highly ranked UFC guys. That I'd need to point out the difference between "he's beating all the top guys but the division seems historically weak" and "he KO'd a bunch of random regional bums then a couple UFC guys" is pretty ridiculous.

Mike Tyson was knocking out legit HW top ranked fighters. The division was weak at the time, but he was beating the top guys available to him. Bringing Carwin into the discussion is moronic.

And again, literally the last 5 guys Aspinalk has faced are ALL top 10. All of them. Exactly how stupid do you have to be to think he's not fighting the best available competition. Gane ducked him twice and now Jones seems to be. Who the fuck do you want the guy to fight, dum dum?

Let's compare Cro Cop and Tom Aspinall's careers for a moment in terms of level of competition and showcase how it means absolutely everything in this sport.

Aspinall has been fighting for over 10 years and has fought a grand total of 4 different ranked fighters in his entire career.

On the flip side when Cro Cop was the same age as Tom is now he had fought 12 different top 10 fighters in PRIDE, and another dozen in kickboxing with records of 21–4–2 in MMA and 19-6 in kickboxing respectively. We knew what Cro Cop was. Was he champion level? No, but we knew what he was because he fought a shit ton of elite fighters with varying elite skill sets.

These fighters today fight a few ranked fighters in their entire careers and think they've done something. This twats been fighting for more than 10 years and has barely done fuck all. Congratulations

We knew what Cro Cop was at the age of 31 in the pantheon of MMA and rankings in the moment because he was fighting elite fighters for a decade. We know absolutely fuck all about Aspinall.

 

[mkess101]

Let's compare Cro Cop and Tom Aspinall's careers for a moment in terms of level of competition and showcase how it means absolutely everything in this sport.

Aspinall has been fighting for over 10 years and has fought a grand total of 4 different ranked fighters in his entire career.

On the flip side when Cro Cop was the same age as Tom is now he had fought 12 different top 10 fighters in PRIDE, and another dozen in kickboxing with records of 21–4–2 in MMA and 19-6 in kickboxing respectively. We knew what Cro Cop was. Was he champion level? No, but we knew what because he fought a shit ton of elite fighters with varying elite skill sets.

These fighters today fight a few ranked fighters in their entire careers and think they've done something. This twats been fighting for more than 10 years and has barely done fuck all. Congratulations

We know what Cro Cop was at the age of 31 in the pantheon of MMA and rankings because he was fighting elite fighters for a decade. We know absolutely fuck all about Aspinall.

Yes, guys are brought along more slowly now. What's your point? His last 5 opponents (4 different guys, Blaydes twice) are top 10. He's now fighting top ranked guys every fight. Do you think he's done? We know he's not knocking out bums now is what we know. He's knocking out top ranked guys, EVERY FIGHT. And not losing (outside a non contact freak knee injury).

You can sit there like an old crusty geriatric and lament about how this generation hasn't accomplished anything. Those of us that can see things rationally will keep watching this guy knock everyone out and appreciate his talent. And also understand that just because Aspinall is really good, that doesn't undermine what guys like Cro Cop did.

 

[Taric]

Yes, guys are brought along more slowly now. What's your point? His last 5 opponents (4 different guys, Blaydes twice) are top 10. He's now fighting top ranked guys every fight. Do you think he's done? We know he's not knocking out bums now is what we know. He's knocking out top ranked guys, EVERY FIGHT. And not losing (outside a non contact freak knee injury).

You can sit there like an old crusty geriatric and lament about how this generation hasn't accomplished anything. Those of us that can see things rationally will keep watching this guy knock everyone out and appreciate his talent. And also understand that just because Aspinall is really good, that doesn't undermine what guys like Cro Cop did.

Championship level fighters are not brought along slowly.

JDS had fought 10 ranked fighters, and fought for 5 championships, by 31
Cain had fought 9 ranked fighters, and fought for 6 championships, by 31

Elite level fighters fight other elite level fighters early in their careers because when you are elite it's obvious to everyone early.

This guy is a nobody, and was seen as such, by his own camp and UFC.

 

[mkess101]

Championship level fighters are not brought along slowly.

JDS had fought 10 ranked fighters, and fought for 5 championships, by 31
Cain had fought 9 ranked fighters, and fought for 6 championships, by 31

Elite level fighters fight other elite level fighters early in their careers because when you are elite it's obvious to everyone early.

This guy is a nobody, and was seen as such, by his own camp and teammates.

That's an utterly retarded take for multiple reasons. First, because guys careers take different paths. Second because he already has a belt and wants to unify and the champ seems to be petrified of him.

"Derp he's knocking out nothing but top 10 guys now but he's not elite because he's already 31 while doing it!"

"Volkanowski isn't an all time great FW, he was already 31 when he won the belt!"



Just when I think I've seen every moronic take this site has to offer...

 

[Taric]

That's an utterly retarded take for multiple reasons. First, because guys careers take different paths. Second because he already has a belt and wants to unify and the champ seems to be petrified of him.

"Derp he's knocking out nothing but top 10 guys now but he's not elite because he's already 31 while doing it!"

"Volkanowski isn't an all time great FW, he was already 31 when he won the belt!"



Just when I think I've seen every moronic take this site has to offer...

Guy. One of the five top 10 fights you keep talking about is an injury loss. He has 4 top 10 victories in his entire career. 4

Serghei Spivac was ranked 14 and Tom Aspinall was ranked 13 when they fought.

The rankings of those 4 ranked fighters he's defeated when he defeated them was 6, 10 (which isn't really top 10 when you include the champion), 3, and 4.

For a dozenth time, Aspinall has yet to fight anyone. Shane Carwin had yet to lose a fight, or even see the second round, until he began fighting the best fighters of the HW division.

Fighting the absolute top of the food chain is different. It just is. And doing it consistently is when you yourself are the top of the food chain.

 

[Discjockeyshtud]

if cro cop and gonzaga weren't at their very peaks in 2007, i'd love to know when their peaks were. cro cop was coming off the GP in pride. gonzaga was undefeated in the UFC. if not then, then when?

did cro cop magically fall off a cliff between september of '06 and april of '07? i'd love to know.

as a guess, i'd assume, conveniently, his prime existed perfectly between losses.

Crocop waited over a minute and threw a lazy body kick in the Gonzaga fight which was completely different to his GP performance, the 2nd Wand fight might be his best MMA performance

I vaguely remember hearing at the time Mirko had to get a bunch of his hamstring removed to get put in his knee Before the Gonzaga fight but could be mistaken

 

[Discjockeyshtud]

you beat me to it.
who's the highest ranked fighter Tom has beaten, Pavlovic?
Do people here think that Pavlovic could have been a top 3 fighter in the Nog-CroCop-Fedor's era?

Prime Barnett'd be champ today btw.

100%, anyone remember the time Pav lost to Overeem? Prime Fedor and Nog would perform as well today as they did way back when

 

[Superzorro]

Get on a voice call? So we can argue about when he's feinting and baiting guys into throwing? If you refuse to see it now with his fights easily available to watch, me saying verbally "see how he slid out of range and then countered" isn't gonna convince you. And why the hell would I want to spend more time than just replying here anyway?

And yes genius I know HOW you were trying to equate him to Lesnar. The comparison is ridiculous even in how you're framing it. I didn't say you were claiming they were similar fighters stylisticslly dum dum, your premise that both are just athletic guys that are lacking in skills is false. So it's YOU that's misrepresenting what I'm saying. Pathetic indeed.

I'm not offended and kid...I don't have "heros". This is a forum. We talk about stuff exactly like this. I'll happily rebut silly views like the one you hold but in the end there's no law against being clueless.

Yeah, I figured. You’re scared because you know if we watch it play by play and I force you to point it out, it would expose that you’re full of shit. And you wouldn’t be talking like that anymore. Why would you want to use your actual voice and talk like a man instead of sitting here typing out paragraphs of insults over the course of days? You know, that’s the funny thing about you people. For the most part, you’re all soft as hell. I have to remember who I’m dealing with. And you want to talk about pathetic? Twitter fingers is the definition of pathetic.

No? That’s not me misrepresenting what you’re saying because that has nothing to do with what you’re saying. Repeating what I say verbatim makes you sound like a little ass girl.

Let’s be real here. You’re an Aspinall fan girl. It always puzzles me when fans that claim to have been around for a while choose to ride these new generation fighters so hard. Why not wait for them to actually prove themselves and do something of merit? Couldn’t be me.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Shane Carwin had 12 first round KOs in a row, getting him the exact same UFC interim HW title that Aspinall currently holds, until his weakness was exposed for all to see and then he immediately retired because of that exposure.

Level of competition is literally everything in this sport.

Shane Carwin retired because he had a bad back. You just made up he retired because he was exposed, that doesn't even make sense. That wouldn't be a reason for retirement.

He wasn't really "exposed" anyway, gassing himself by nearly killing Brock Lesnar isn't much of a weakness lol. If that fight happened today he would have been champion due to the damage he did to Lesnar.



Tom Aspinall has been in the UFC nearly 3x as long as Carwin was before Carwin got title shot. Carwin only beat two guys with legitimate careers while Tom has beaten at least 6. Tom already has a much larger sample size than Shane Carwin.


Aspinall is nothing like Carwin. Aspinall is not coming from the regional scene.

 

[SuperAlly]

I can't wait for Jon to shut this gum flapping fool Diva Tom up

Hope you can wait

As Jon is hiding for at least 6 more months, per Jon's own gum flapping

 

[mkess101]

Guy. One of the five top 10 fights you keep talking about is an injury loss. He has 4 top 10 victories in his entire career. 4

Serghei Spivac was ranked 14 and Tom Aspinall was ranked 13 when they fought.

The rankings of those 4 ranked fighters he's defeated when he defeated them was 6, 10 (which isn't really top 10 when you include the champion), 3, and 4.

For a dozenth time, Aspinall has yet to fight anyone. Shane Carwin had yet to lose a fight, or even see the second round, until he began fighting the best fighters of the HW division.

Fighting the absolute top of the food chain is different. It just is. And doing it consistently is when you yourself are the top of the food chain.

Gane ducked him twice. Ngannou left. Jones is ducking him and the books are making Aspinall the betting favorite if Jones ever actually agrees to fight him.

What exactly do you want him to do, guy? For the zillionth time, he can't force people to agree to fight him. He's knocking out everyone that does agree, including only top 10 guys over his past 5 fights. You keep bringing up Carwin which is idiotic. Carwin only had 2 fights IN THE UFC before winning the interim title. The fights prior to that weren't only not top 10 guys, they weren't even UFC caliber. Comparing that to Aspinall is too stupid to fathom.

 

[mkess101]

Yeah, I figured. You’re scared because you know if we watch it play by play and I force you to point it out, it would expose that you’re full of shit. And you wouldn’t be talking like that anymore. Why would you want to use your actual voice and talk like a man instead of sitting here typing out paragraphs of insults over the course of days? You know, that’s the funny thing about you people. For the most part, you’re all soft as hell. I have to remember who I’m dealing with. And you want to talk about pathetic? Twitter fingers is the definition of pathetic.

No? That’s not me misrepresenting what you’re saying because that has nothing to do with what you’re saying. Repeating what I say verbatim makes you sound like a little ass girl.

Let’s be real here. You’re an Aspinall fan girl. It always puzzles me when fans that claim to have been around for a while choose to ride these new generation fighters so hard. Why not wait for them to actually prove themselves and do something of merit? Couldn’t be me.

FFS you think because I don't want to spend my time and energy getting on a voice call with a stranger I'm "scared". Are you 12 years old? You either watch the tape and get it, or you don't. And you...don't. "Use my actual voice and talk like a man". Holy shit it's like you want your desperation to show. "If you just type on a forum you're a pussy, but if we get on the phone from our unknown locations that makes us men!"
Tell you what tough guy, if Jones agrees to fight Aspinall I may well go to Vegas for it. You're free to also make the trip and tell me to my face how "soft" I am.

I gotta remember who I'm dealing with. Apparently people without a whole lot of intellect. You can see my join date, you know that right? So my "claim" to being around awhile is pretty easy to verify if you have a working brain.

 

[TheTribalQueef]

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.

Modern era men are softer? You do realize melenials took the fighting world by storm in the mid 2000s early 20teens when gen xers like fedor and cro cop were still well in their early 30s and late 20s

Now melenials are hovering around late 30s and early 40s and theyre still dominant, zoomers havent passed even them up yet, you realize that don't you?

 

[markg171]

What? In the first fight when he blew his knee out? You're saying it was already injured and that's why it gave out?

Tom's knee very clearly blew out from getting dropped by Blaydes when he recklessly charged in with zero defence:

No different than CC's against Gonzaga, Cain's against Ngannou, and countless other examples of dudes injuring themselves while going down from being temporarily out. It's kinda what happens when your brain shuts off but your body keeps moving.

Tom fans will never admit this though and instead pretend he just randomly "accidently" misstepped. He missteped because his brain was in the Thames.

 

[mkess101]

Tom's knee very clearly blew out from getting dropped by Blaydes when he recklessly charged in with zero defence:

No different than CC's against Gonzaga, Cain's against Ngannou, and countless other examples of dudes injuring themselves while going down from being temporarily out. It's kinda what happens when your brain shuts off but your body keeps moving.

Tom fans will never admit this though and instead pretend he just randomly "accidently" misstepped. He missteped because his brain was in the Thames.

Dude, you've already established you're an absolute moron with this take numerous times. Is it your mission that EVERYONE see how dumb you are? Why?

You chose literally the most retarded hill to die on, and then reanimated yourself over and over to keep getting mauled on the same hill. It's like you take some bizarre enjoyment out of looking stupid.

You're literally comparing this to Gonzaga head kicking Cro Cop flush and knocking him out cold to where his leg buckles underneath him. In your own gif (that shows only the one angle of course) the punch barely lands and he's just replanting his leg when it buckles.

Have you ever wondered why you're the ONLY one beating this drum despite their being plenty of skeptics and or outright haters of Tom on this forum? Nah, of course you haven't.

Edit: Holy shit you've added that you think Tom was "temporarily out"??? I can't stop laughing, there's no way you're that stupid so obviously you think just telling a lie over and over will have people accept it. He's grabbing at his knee the instant his foot replants. Before he even falls back to the mat.

This is the absolute emporer of stupid takes dude. Like...beyond just dumb. It's next level moronic.