I mean he wasn't a world beater, don't get me wrong. But when he entered MMA and got beat by Genki Sudo (who was what, 145 lbs at the time?), that was pretty much what I assumed Butterbean's whole career would look like. Actually, I assumed that was the last we would see of the guy. Instead, he kept at it and ended with a career of 17 - 10 - 1, which even against mostly nobodies ain't terrible. If I had an MMA career, I'd walk away fairly proud with that record.
So obviously, I haven't operationally defined legit and I'm not sure I have that definition as it pertains to MMA. I don't have the operational definition of "Can" either, but I have, like everyone, a hazy understanding of each. A gray line that seperates the greats from the goods from the decents from the not - so - good from the terribles. And I just feel like Butterbean (who by the way ended his career with more submission wins at 8, than KOs at 6), although I think he was brought in to be a freakshow like Giant Silva (2 - 6 - 0) or Akebono (0 - 4 - 0), broke the mold a bit and at least proved he was more than a can with wins over Wesley Correira who was 17 - 8 at the time, James Thompson who was 13 - 5 - 0 at the time and Zuluzinho who was 7 - 2 - 0 at the time.
Thoughts?
So obviously, I haven't operationally defined legit and I'm not sure I have that definition as it pertains to MMA. I don't have the operational definition of "Can" either, but I have, like everyone, a hazy understanding of each. A gray line that seperates the greats from the goods from the decents from the not - so - good from the terribles. And I just feel like Butterbean (who by the way ended his career with more submission wins at 8, than KOs at 6), although I think he was brought in to be a freakshow like Giant Silva (2 - 6 - 0) or Akebono (0 - 4 - 0), broke the mold a bit and at least proved he was more than a can with wins over Wesley Correira who was 17 - 8 at the time, James Thompson who was 13 - 5 - 0 at the time and Zuluzinho who was 7 - 2 - 0 at the time.
Thoughts?
