Tony hate is out of hand.

[Deadwing88]

I'm not doing it base on wins and accolades. I'm doing it based on Skillset. If Conor gets dustin out of the first round, You going to hold that same opinion still? He's accomplished more as a fighter than Dustin. He's a better fighter than dustin, imo. Weightclass be damned.

Well, where you rank a ATG LW should be based on accolades and resume, with skillset and how dominant you were during your run also being a factor...

Conor has one win at LW and thus shouldn't be ranked higher than Dustin.. that's my point.

Anyway, we really don't know if he is a better fighter than Poirier at that weight class, with his lack of activity.. it's a hypothetical which should be answered soon enough.

 

[LoneStalker]

Nah, nobody hates Tony.
The fact that he is 36 and is on his last steps is not hate.
Great fighter, took a massive amount of damage, ruined his career using sunglasses in a dark room full of cables, and at 36 have two bad loses in a row.
But no, nobody hates Tony.

 

[Peli]

Well, where you rank a ATG LW should be based on accolades and resume, with skillset and how dominant you were during your run being a factor...

Conor has one win at LW and thus shouldn't be ranked higher than Dustin.. that's my point.

Anyway, we really don't know if he is a better fighter than Poirier at that weight class, with his lack of activity.. it's a hypothetical which should be answered soon enough.

I rank conor as a better fighter and better accomplishments overall, not just weightclass over poirier.

I would be shocked if Dustin beats Conor, especially how he had to have a war with hooker. We'll see though.

 

[BangBang]

They were never fans.....

 

[Bend NvR Break]

The Tony hate is what happens when a fighter is blown ridiculously out of proportion. There were threads on here, not only about how he would beat Khabib, but he was probably the LW GOAT. Serious threads.

He had a great streak, and was a legit top 5 for sure, but there were goat discussions about a guy who never won the real belt and never defended the fake one.

Yep. The out of proportion hate is equal to the out of proportion love that people wanted to toss at him.

Also the whole Khabib ducking Ferguson thing just itched me the wrong way. Ferguson's decision making the last 2 years have made it hard to be a fan.

 

[Dana's Moonface]

I dislike him because he is a fucking dickhead

I never liked him since his stint on the ultimate fighter

He also behaved like sore losing idiot after getting slapped around by Justin

 

[CPH]

Anyone notice how he was feeling belittled/threatened by Oliveira putting his arm over his shoulder, to the point of pushing it back? What kind of insecure moron plays these ego games after a fight, even as the opponent is embracing him and giving him props?

I used to be a fan until I heard him talk and started noticing the absolutely insane behavior in moments like these. The guy is impossible to like.

 

[RemyR]

Sherdog runs on hate.

and stupidity. Lots of stupidity.

 

[jimmy dakine]

There is like a million Tony hate threads right now and it blows my fuckin mind. Maybe the toughest fighter that's ever made the walk and you sherbros shit on him because he loses a couple fights.( vs. 2 amazing fighters)

If anything these last two fights confirmed why I am such a fan. His heart is fucking legendary. Everybody else taps to that armbar. Everybody else would have been unconscious when Justin tagged them like that and somehow after 4 rounds he was still there trying sad imenari rolls for a hope in hell at victory.

Fuck you fair weather fans that only root for a fighter when they are winning. Real fans hate you. War Tony!

well, thats a bit dramatic....but you make a fair point.....there are many sherdootz who are simply trenders and love only the winners and jump on and off bandwagons...but why get annoyed at them...they are just as the Governor of NJ says.......putzes

 

[CodCommando]

Lol imagine a new fighter in the UFC hoping they get their dream 1st fight vs "not even gatekeeper" Tony... yeah fuckin right.

I get the fact some of yall brought up about Tony being overhyped and crowned the goat of the division (which is obviously ridiculous, Khabib exists) but for some of yall to say dumb shit like "he's not even a gatekeeper" because he lost to Justin and Charles is crazy to me, especially considering how much of a warrior the guy is.

One thing that does scare me is Tony's team doesn't seem to realize what they are sending into the cage. He will not protect himself from himself like most fighters will. If I was in Tony's corner I would have that towel ready to go. They should've never sent him out for 5th round of Justin fight. Only so much damage the body can take. That being said it wouldn't shock me if Tony gets right back in the title picture by this time next year.

You're right, he is a gatekeeper, but what I should have said is, he's way past his sell by date. His last hope was against Khabib, which he blew. It was tit for tat on the the injuries / fuckups between them, tiramisu vs a metal pole, etc.

I have no doubt Tony's a tough sob, but I DO doubt his mentality, which is also what's held him back! if someone tears your arm off, you need to switch the gameplan, you either quit (smart) or risk further and go for a finish (didn't do that either, nor show any urgency). HIs team have always been useless, yeah yeah his ground game in the gym don't mean shit. Of all Tony's recent fights, all I can say is, he has the best elbows at LW, his ground game looked pretty disappointing as of late aswell. I mean, he's literally lost his touch past 2 fights. Justin 100% gave him brain damage.

 

[AugustBurnsRob82]

There is like a million Tony hate threads right now and it blows my fuckin mind. Maybe the toughest fighter that's ever made the walk and you sherbros shit on him because he loses a couple fights.( vs. 2 amazing fighters)

If anything these last two fights confirmed why I am such a fan. His heart is fucking legendary. Everybody else taps to that armbar. Everybody else would have been unconscious when Justin tagged them like that and somehow after 4 rounds he was still there trying sad imenari rolls for a hope in hell at victory.

Fuck you fair weather fans that only root for a fighter when they are winning. Real fans hate you. War Tony!

Tony is as tough as they come. That said, unfortunately MMA is such "what have you done for me lately" sport. People only look at your most recent fight.

Everyone seems to forget that up until the loss to Justin, Ferguson was on a 12 fight win streak with his last win being June of last year. A 12 fight win streak in arguably the most stacked division is extremely impressive. Mma fans are just so fickle

 

[machidafan99]

He is a legend.

 

[moosaev]

There is like a million Tony hate threads right now and it blows my fuckin mind. Maybe the toughest fighter that's ever made the walk and you sherbros shit on him because he loses a couple fights.( vs. 2 amazing fighters)

If anything these last two fights confirmed why I am such a fan. His heart is fucking legendary. Everybody else taps to that armbar. Everybody else would have been unconscious when Justin tagged them like that and somehow after 4 rounds he was still there trying sad imenari rolls for a hope in hell at victory.

Fuck you fair weather fans that only root for a fighter when they are winning. Real fans hate you. War Tony!

IMO the Tony hate is a backlash against the absurd Tony worship over the last 2 years. Even though there were clear signs of decline Tony has always been put on a pedestal as the "boogeyman" when in fact he hasn't really been impressive for a while (since before the Kevin Lee fight). Tony has been overrated for quite some time so its just folks that were waiting to dance on his grave. Its like a pendulum, it was too pro Tony before and now its too anti-Tony.

 

[bigconan]

The Tony hate is what happens when a fighter is blown ridiculously out of proportion. There were threads on here, not only about how he would beat Khabib, but he was probably the LW GOAT. Serious threads.

He had a great streak, and was a legit top 5 for sure, but there were goat discussions about a guy who never won the real belt and never defended the fake one.

you can't be a goat, if you've never won a title. sorry, but interims don't count, cause they aren't real titles.

 

[morrisondafalln]

Hate is the lifeblood that keeps Sherdogers are usually responding to a post of another post of a sherdogger hating 80pct of the time.

 

[TripTictonic]

I haven't bashed Ferguson once since the event, but I did say he was overrated and his win streak was overrated months ago.

Yeah, I was right.

Porier is overrated too. Tony and Dustin are both good fighters, maybe very good, but they aren't elite. They were hyped up in a world where half+ fans hated McGregor and another swath wanted to see someone actually challenge or beat Khabib.

Neither guy was ever on their level. And for the record if LW was stacked, McGregor would still be an ~elite LW but not at the top of the pecking order at all either, most likely. LW has been weak lately, even with Khabib and McGregor competing.

Porier/Ferguson were two interim champions and won their respective belts over Kevin Lee (how's he look now) and a featherweight Holloway debuting at LW (whom Porier held a win over).

That was the reality of the situation whether people wanted to admit it or not. Ferguson is still a good fighter, maybe he's washed up, maybe he wasn't recovered from the Gaethje mauling, maybe both. But he was a good to very good fighter and shouldn't be bashed...he was however never the best LW or really ever truly elite.

lol so Ferguson and Poirier were never elite LWs but Conor definitely is? He’s 1-1 in the division, will one spectacular win and one beat down. Tony might have had 2 rough losses at age 37 to elite comp, but never did he once get absolutely melted by a short notice gatekeeper straight off a bender in Cabo. Things might have looked a little different if he turned around and handled him easily like GSP did to Serra in a rematch, but he barely scraped by on life support in a rematch.I mean....how many elite LWs have handled Nate with relative ease? There are quite a few. If he didn’t want to see Nate after 2 rounds, he definitely wouldn’t wanted to have seen a 2015-18 Tony after 2, that’s for sure. Conor had his flaws just like Tony and Poirier. I think they are/were all
elite 155ers at their best.

 

[Kwic]

Yup. We need to show Tony some love and support when he needs it.

 

[TripTictonic]

Here's the short version since I wrote an essay:

Cowboy won 8 in a row and beat Benson Henderson, Eddie Alvarez, and Edson Barboza. Fought for a real title against a likely PED filled RDA and got destroyed.

Tony won 12 in a row and beat RDA (coming off a loss, USADA'd), Kevin Lee, Edson Barboza. Won an interim belt, injured. Raped by Gaethje in interim title fight 2.0.

Those were their title runs. So why was Tony's run great and Cowboy's just good? Cowboy needed to beat some facebook prelim guys a couple times to bump up to 10-12 in a row?

Can you spot your sources saying RDA was on roids or was USADA’d? Didn’t the RDA that lost to Tony move up to WW and steamroll several top 10’s and even fight for an interim title even though he was notably undersized for 170? His 5 round conditioning looked as good as ever when he wrecked Lawler and his physique has always looked the same. Isn’t he still top 10 at 35 yrs old and tons of mileage? Mods, are unfounded PED accusations considered fighter bashing?? Did Nate have steroids in his tequila shots when he ate Conor’s lunch the following week? Surely because I’ve never seen Nate handle an elite fighter like that.

 

[RockyLockridge]

So much of this. I got shit so many time for saying years ago that he was not sound technically.

Me too. I've always seen him as a fighter who is as beatable as he is entertaining

 

[RockyLockridge]

Were they wrong about him, though. He really accomplished what he accomplished. Just because he's past his prime now doesn't mean people were wrong about who he was when he was at his best.

No, they were wrong. I'm not speaking from hindsight. I've always said this. he faces adversity in almost every match up even ones that should be somewhat 'easy' for a top lw to win like pettis or cerrone or vannata what have you. The man goes life or death with everyone he fights.