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Top 5 peaks vs top 5 careers

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At his peak Conor got beaten to a pulp by Chad Mendes while Mendes gassed himself out, stood idly by while Jose Aldo ran full steam into Conor's fist, lost to Nate Diaz, struggled mightily to beat Nate Diaz, and had a good win against Eddie Alvarez.

It was a good peak

Not good enough for all time status or anything, but probably up there in terms of striking peaks for mma.
 
Gus is the only actual LHW who was in his prime

That version of Bader got finished by a washed Tito in the midst of his losing streak
Rashad and machida were still in their primes. Rampage was slightly past his at 33.

Belfort was trtfort, so basically in his artificial second prime.

gus was a good win mostly because of how Jones ended it in the 4th and 5th. The rumor is he was partying leading up to it by people close to the ufc.

It was a close fight, but in the context that it wasn't the best version of Jones, it was an interesting win because he had to dig and pull it out at the end.

DC is still the best version of Jones we've seen and the best win though, nothing else can really compare to it.

Nobody has actually beaten DC in his prime other than Jones.

That was like our modern version of Fedor vs crocop.
 
Poirier was washed; Khabib crushed a better version of Dustin with far less trouble.

Islam's first win over Volk was questionable, and his second was when Volk was jumping off the couch.

All in all, not a top 5 peak.
Poirier knocked out BSD and won the first round agains gaethje less than a year prior... him losing to a random headkick doesn't mean he was washed lol, that's odd logic.

Islam's first win over volk was not questionable, only clear round volk won was round 5, every other round Islam landed the more significant strikes. Maybe on live watch you could be convinced it was questionable but not on replay.

I'm also curious why you have Ilia as #1 because volk was coming off a knockout loss so using your logic we can say that was a washed volk
 
DC is still the best version of Jones we've seen and the best win though, nothing else can really compare to it.

Nobody has actually beaten DC in his prime other than Jones.

That was like our modern version of Fedor vs crocop.
Jones was busted all three times he was scheduled to fight DC (UFC 185, 200, 214), even pre USADA

Jan 2015 (2 months before UFC 185): Greg Howard (who spent a lot of time with Jones to write a comprehensive article on him), reported that Jones was rumored to have hid under the octagon when the drug testers showed up at JacksonWink, prior to the first Cormier fight.

Jones later confirmed that he did in fact hide under the octagon to avoid drug testers
UFC 185 testing - “If they see a deviation in the T/E ratio of greater than 30 percent, there is something up. That’s a red flag,” Conte explained. “If you look at Daniel [Cormier’s] two ratios, they were .42 and .47; that’s about an eight percent deviation. If you look at the numbers for Jon Jones, his was basically an 80 percent deviation. His is suspicious and Daniel Cormier’s is not. It’s not just that he’s got very low [testosterone] levels, much lower than Daniel. Daniel’s are normal, his are extremely low.”
“These are highly suspicious for Jon Jones,” Conte said. “This is the reason that sophisticated anti-doping officials do target testing. So based on what we see here, my opinion is Jon Jones should be on a very short leash and should be random tested here until they sort out why he has these anomalies.”

Rashad, Machida, Belfort were all much smaller than Jones
 
Poirier knocked out BSD and won the first round agains gaethje less than a year prior... him losing to a random headkick doesn't mean he was washed lol, that's odd logic.

Islam's first win over volk was not questionable, only clear round volk won was round 5, every other round Islam landed the more significant strikes. Maybe on live watch you could be convinced it was questionable but not on replay.

I'm also curious why you have Ilia as #1 because volk was coming off a knockout loss so using your logic we can say that was a washed volk
BSD was also beating Poirier until he was caught; Moicano dispatched BSD with far less trouble than Dustin did.

Getting KO'd is terrible for a fighter (RE: Dustin vs Gaethje), and Volk beat Islam in their 1st meeting. Hugging someone from the back does not score anything.

Ilia's win over Volk was far more impressive than Islam's because Volk took the Islam fight on short notice, and a weight class up.
 
BSD was also beating Poirier until he was caught; Moicano dispatched BSD with far less trouble than Dustin did.

Getting KO'd is terrible for a fighter (RE: Dustin vs Gaethje), and Volk beat Islam in their 1st meeting. Hugging someone from the back does not score anything.

Ilia's win over Volk was far more impressive than Islam's because Volk took the Islam fight on short notice, and a weight class up.
Dustin was pulling guilotines which is the only reason that fight was close, even after pulling 5 guilotines and giving BSD so many chances to grapple him dustin still slept him lol. If you notice in the Islam fight dustin didn't try a single gilly because he knew Islam was a threat unlike BSD

You just said getting ko'd is terrible for a fighter, but Ilia's win over volk is more impressive than Islam beating a prime volk even though volk got brutally ko'd 3.5 months prior? How?

And Islam hugged volk only in round 4 where nothing happened, he literally dropped volk to a knee in round 1 and out struck him in rounds 1,2 and 3.
 
Dustin was pulling guilotines which is the only reason that fight was close, even after pulling 5 guilotines and giving BSD so many chances to grapple him dustin still slept him lol. If you notice in the Islam fight dustin didn't try a single gilly because he knew Islam was a threat unlike BSD

You just said getting ko'd is terrible for a fighter, but Ilia's win over volk is more impressive than Islam beating a prime volk even though volk got brutally ko'd 3.5 months prior? How?

And Islam hugged volk only in round 4 where nothing happened, he literally dropped volk to a knee in round 1 and out struck him in rounds 1,2 and 3.
We've already established that BSD isn't any good.

Ilia's win over Volk is much better than Islam's, considering context. Also, lol @ your pathetic lie about Islam outstriking Volk in 3 different rounds. Islam only outstruck him in 1 round, and he himself was dropped, and wobbled multiple times.

Screenshot_20241203_125531_Chrome.jpg
 
We've already established that BSD isn't any good.

Ilia's win over Volk is much better than Islam's, considering context. Also, lol @ your pathetic lie about Islam outstriking Volk in 3 different rounds. Islam only outstruck him in 1 round, and he himself was dropped and wobbled multiple times.

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considering context makes Ilia's win worse since volk got ko'd 3.5 months prior so that makes no sense.
And using UFC sig strike stats to say who won a fight is funny, go rewatch that fight and you'll see Islam landing cleaner shots and getting bigger reactions, he was kneeving volk in the chin and hitting him with left hands that were snapping his head back. Round 1 volk had more significant strikes than Islam, does that mean he won? No because he got dropped to a knee in that same round and wobbled
 
considering context makes Ilia's win worse since volk got ko'd 3.5 months prior so that makes no sense.
And using UFC sig strike stats to say who won a fight is funny, go rewatch that fight and you'll see Islam landing cleaner shots and getting bigger reactions, he was kneeving volk in the chin and hitting him with left hands that were snapping his head back. Round 1 volk had more significant strikes than Islam, does that mean he won? No because he got dropped to a knee in that same round and wobbled
The context of Volk jumping up in weight on a week's notice is far more consequential than the damage he received in that fight.

Your eyes must not be serving you correctly, as Volk landed the cleaner, harder shots all fight; the only time Volk was hurt was in Rd 1. Islam was hurt in Rds 1 and 5, and Volk had the only decisive round of the fight which was arguably a 10-8.
 
One of my favorite peaks was JDS on his UFC debut and quest to beat Cain for the title. He went on a 9 fight streak that included Werdum, Cro Cop, Carwin, Cain, and Mir spread throughout.

Just a marvelous run for the revered heavy hitter at HW.
 
Jones was busted all three times he was scheduled to fight DC (UFC 185, 200, 214), even pre USADA





Rashad, Machida, Belfort were all much smaller than Jones
The Nevada commission said jones test results showed no signs of doping for the first fight with Cormier and that is who i believe not some quack Conte. Both tests were positive for benzoylecgonine though, the main metabolite in cocaine.

Jones was cleared of any PED infraction by carbon isotope ratio (CIR) tests ordered by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

People forget that DC;s testosterone level for the first jones fight was 7000/ngl. There is no plausible way to suggest that 7000ng/dl testosterone level in an athlete is normal. So, the reality is that DC had some anomalies that would paint a picture of possible doping.
 
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I think the problem is that peak is being ranked by a period of time like career. These are different things but they should be separated more. Career should be based on the best streak they had, peak should be based on their best fight and their best form and how they would match up to everyone if that could have been maintained.

I have never thought about peak fighters and I don’t want to just wipe up a list that is meaningless, but I have heard people talk about Cain and BJ as people who are their best could beat anyone, but they couldn’t maintain it. Meanwhile career is speaking about the usual suspects… Jones, DJ, GSP, Silva, Aldo. (Maybe fedor or others fit in there)
 
Best peaks
1. Jon Jones
2. Fedor Emelianenko
3. Georges St-Pierre
4. Cain Velasquez
5. Khabib Nurmagomedov (relative to competition, its a big question mark)/Anderson Silva

Beat careers
1. Jon Jones
2. Georges St-Pierre
3. Fedor Emelianenko
4. Anderson Silva
5. Demetrious Johnson
 
People forget that DC;s testosterone level for the first jones fight was 7000/ngl. There is no plausible way to suggest that 7000ng/dl testosterone level in an athlete is normal. So, the reality is that DC had some anomalies that would paint a picture of possible doping.
The only time DC's ratios came into question were from urine tests when he was cutting weight, which the NSAC and PED expert Conte both stated were completely normal for a male in his late 30's cutting weight.


The Nevada commission said jones test results showed no signs of doping for the first fight with Cormier and that is who i believe not some quack Conte.

Jones was cleared of any PED infraction by carbon isotope ratio (CIR) tests ordered by the Nevada Athletic Commission.
So Jones was clean a few months before USADA came to the UFC then immediately started to juice as soon as they arrived.

Most likely explanation:
dana-money.png
 
Best peaks

1. Shogun gp 05
2. Cody vs dom
3. Rockhold vs weidman
4. Kid Yamamoto k1 dynamite tournament
5. Khabib title run

Best career

1. Jones
2. GSP
3. Mighty Mouse
4. Fedor
5. Anderson
 
Is there a difference, in your estimation, of the fighters who had the best careers vs fighters who had the best peaks?

Best peaks
1. Ilia Topuria
2. Fedor Emelianenko
3. Georges St-Pierre
4. Cain Velasquez
5. Khabib Nurmagomedov

Beat careers
1. Georges St-Pierre
2. Jon Jones
3. Demetrious Johnson
4. Fedor Emelianenko
5. Anderson Silva

As you can see, my peaks list is very different from my careers list.
Yes, your peak list is heavily influenced by recency bias
 
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