Tony Ferguson - top 5 lightweight in UFC history?

[Fight Professor]

But you have to compare a fighter to his era. The sport moves quickly. Tony and Khabib have had the benefit of learning and evolving with the sport. All the early champions would get smoked by the current champions but that's a fact in every aspect of sports and life.

Comparing 2006 BJ Penn to 2020 Khabib would be as ridiculous as comparing 2006 Penn to 2006 Khabib, two years before his first professional fight.

Is Khabib really that much better than Hughes? Prime BJ vs Prime Khabib would have been a competitive fight.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Yes he is for me, he is very good everywhere and so creative, and I would pick him to beat all the guys on the list, and the Khabib one is 50/50 and would be so great to watch. He is way better than a guy like Henderson

 

[JKS]

100% Tony is top 5. Khabib, Tony, Bendo, Edgar, and then you can have RDA, Penn or someone else round out the top 5.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

eddies title wins in all promotions helps. a win over pettis (then WEC champ, Later UFC champ), melendez (then Strikeforce champ) and RDA really help his case. Micheal chandler is no slouch either but these things transcend ufc history

I understand that, but the question was in UFC history, if we start including stuff outside the UFC then we have to consider Gomi, who's UFC run was awful.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

What about Dustin,Justin and Conor they are top contenders and i think they can beat Tony

Maybe they can, but you can't base a greatest list on hypotheticals, it has to be on actual achievements. Conor is 1-1 at LW, Dustin has some great wins and is probably the closest of the three. Gaethje has some good wins, but needs a good few more to catch Tony.

 

[markg171]

He has two top 5 wins: RDA and Cowboy.

No.

 

[Hazuki Ryo]

I think he is top 3

 

[Issac Newton]

Top 5 fun to watch maybe. Overrated and Khabib will walk right through him. Cowboy was going toe to toe with Ferguson.....Enough said.

 

[BFoe]

Jed Meshew at MMAFighting wrote today that Tony Ferguson is a top 5 lightweight in UFC history:

"I believe Tony Ferguson is one of the top-5 lightweights ever and based on his accomplishments, should be regarded as a top-5 P4P fighter in the world right now. In another world could easily have been champion, but in this world, he’s a slow starter who is very hittable and relies on otherworldly cardio and self-belief to outlast opponents, and that doesn’t match up all that well against the mentally strong and offensively potent forces that populate the top of the division right now."

https://www.mmafighting.com/2020/4/...alling-out-and-jon-jones-place-in-mma-history

I can't but wonder how a guy whose signature wins are Anthony Pettis and Rafael dos Anos, with only an interim title win over an infected Kevin Lee and no defenses, is considered top 5. Then you look at the short list of champions and he might have a point:

1. BJ Penn
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Frankie Edgar
4. Benson Henderson.

5.??? Tony Ferguson? Donald Cerrone? Nate Diaz?

As for top-5 P4P in the world - that is a huge stretch.

In the UFC? Maybe Tony.
Sherk?

 

[BangBang]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[Fesaine]

Is Khabib really that much better than Hughes? Prime BJ vs Prime Khabib would have been a competitive fight.

Lol khabib is much better than Hughes at everything. Bj penn got wrestle fucked by frankie, he would stand zero chance against khabib.

 

[BFoe]

What about Dustin,Justin and Conor they are top contenders and i think they can beat Tony

Definitely not 1-1 Conor. I don’t think Dustin or Justin have done enough to be top 5 all time, even if we’re just talking about the UFC.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

In the UFC? Maybe Tony.
Sherk?

Sherk is a problem head to head for people, but I don't think he has that many great LW wins. Florian is a great win and Griffin, Franca and Dunham are all solid (though I felt he lost to Dunham), but I don't think that stacks up well against the win lists of Tony or even Poirier.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Him and Khabib are #1 and #2.

Nobody ever had streaks like that.

BJ lost a lot. Frankie lost a lot. Conor, RDA, Eddie, Benson, Pettis, etc weren't nearly as dominant.

Fuck off with that shit of BJ Penn as #1 lightweight... LW was weak as fuck during his time. He beat a bunch of scrubs.

 

[chinarice]

Jed Meshew at MMAFighting wrote today that Tony Ferguson is a top 5 lightweight in UFC history:

"I believe Tony Ferguson is one of the top-5 lightweights ever and based on his accomplishments, should be regarded as a top-5 P4P fighter in the world right now. In another world could easily have been champion, but in this world, he’s a slow starter who is very hittable and relies on otherworldly cardio and self-belief to outlast opponents, and that doesn’t match up all that well against the mentally strong and offensively potent forces that populate the top of the division right now."

https://www.mmafighting.com/2020/4/...alling-out-and-jon-jones-place-in-mma-history

I can't but wonder how a guy whose signature wins are Anthony Pettis and Rafael dos Anos, with only an interim title win over an infected Kevin Lee and no defenses, is considered top 5. Then you look at the short list of champions and he might have a point:

1. BJ Penn
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Frankie Edgar
4. Benson Henderson.

5.??? Tony Ferguson? Donald Cerrone? Nate Diaz?

As for top-5 P4P in the world - that is a huge stretch.

If Khabib is #2 then Tony has to be #3. Their resumes are nearly the exact same

It's actually this:
Tony/Khabib -1a/1b
Everyone else.

 

[GOATtalks]

Ferguson
2 top 5 victories in RDA (#2) and Cerrone (#4)
4 top 10 victories in Lee (#7), Barboza (#6), Thompson (#9), and Pettis (#8)

What about this resume says top 5 ever exactly?

12 fight win streak

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I do think Dustin deserves a lot of love in this discussion though. When you look at his win list at LW, there aren't many fighters who have a best 5 wins as good as Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez, Anthony Pettis, Max Holloway and Diego Ferreira/Jim Miller.

 

[bartleby929]

he is 4 or 5 but could go as high as 1.

without question he is 4 or 5 now the way he represents new mma. best example was when he clowned josh thompson, didn't even seem like a fair fight.

 

[BFoe]

Sherk is a problem head to head for people, but I don't think he has that many great LW wins. Florian is a great win and Griffin, Franca and Dunham are all solid (though I felt he lost to Dunham), but I don't think that stacks up well against the win lists of Tony or even Poirier.

Sherk has a win over Nick Diaz as well. But I feel you, a lot of the guys on Sherk’s resume are kind of meh. I guess probably Tony should be in that #5 spot. Maybe Dustin; I’m a little hesitant to put RDA there but he did have a great run.

 

[Drugstore Cowboy]

lets not pretending like dustin and conor are the same as pettis and cowboy in regards to resume . they are not even remotely similar in caliber

Yep, Poirier himself is greater lightweight than Ferguson and Conor too but P4P.