Was Mousasi a better fighter than Strickland?

If my memory doesn't fail me, Mousasi fought in a stronger era with some great grapplers in it and he looked bad against guys who could mix it up. Strickland is fighting in the most striker-dominated if not one dimensional MW era ever.

A good indication of Mousasi's striking is the fight against Santos where he clipped him pretty swiftly. Santos as we later found out is no joke standing.
 
Black Blood said:
On an on-night, yeah. Like, the best performance we've ever seen from Mousasi sure makes him look better than the best we've seen from Strickland.

Strickland is at least consistent and could definitely get the better of Mousasi.
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Mousasi's resume was also filled with nobodies like this. Even after 20 fights. Even a lot of his "big name" wins were past their prime, like post-TRT, 40+ year old versions of Hendo & Belfort, +40 year old Machida in their rematch, washed post-UFC Jardine who took him to a draw, etc.
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TheBulge said:
If my memory doesn't fail me, Mousasi fought in a stronger era with some great grapplers in it and he looked bad against guys who could mix it up. Strickland is fighting in the most striker-dominated if not one dimensional MW era ever.

A good indication of Mousasi's striking is the fight against Santos where he clipped him pretty swiftly. Santos as we later found out is no joke standing.
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No. See my post after yours. Izzy, DDP, Poatan, Usman, Cannonier and even Costa etc. were a LOT better than the many scrubs on Mousasi's resume.
 
mkt said:
No. See my post after yours. Izzy, DDP, Poatan, Usman, Cannonier and even Costa etc. were a LOT better than the many scrubs on Mousasi's resume.
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Disagree. Every single one of those guys except for DDP is a striker who avoids grappling. It's a showcase for a guy like Strickland who does the same thing.

Mousasi was facing prime Jacare, Weidman, Hendo(albeit old) peak MW Machida, Latifi etc. Those guys can grapple and/or mix it up well.

My point is not really about who had a better resume but the type of era's they fought in and the Adesanya era is one dimensional and lacking.
 
TheBulge said:
Mousasi was facing prime Jacare, Weidman, Hendo(albeit old) peak MW Machida, Latifi etc. Those guys can grapple and/or mix it up well.
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DDP has better TDs than any of those guys except Weidman, who was declining on a 2-loss streak when Mousasi fought him. He's also more dangerous than any of them besides Jacare if he gets you on the ground. He's super strong and has good submissions and GnP. He's probably the most dangerous MW from the top since prime Rockhold.

Hendo was pretty much zero threat as far as TDs by his mid-40s. Machida peaked 5 years before the first Mousasi fight. He'd gone 2-2 and LHW and moved to MW because of his decline. Peak Machida was 30 years old (same age as Mousasi in their first fight) when he beat Rashad.
 
For me, the fact that one guy held a belt in UFC and the other never could answers everything that matters.

Was Mousasi more skilled? Perhaps, but what good is that if you can't turn it into being more successful?
 
mkt said:
DDP has better TDs than any of those guys except Weidman, who was declining on a 2-loss streak when Mousasi fought him. He's also more dangerous than any of them besides Jacare if he gets you on the ground. He's super strong and has good submissions and GnP. He's probably the most dangerous MW from the top since prime Rockhold.

Hendo was pretty much zero threat as far as TDs by his mid-40s. Machida peaked 5 years before the first Mousasi fight. He'd gone 2-2 and LHW and moved to MW because of his decline. Peak Machida was 30 years old (same age as Mousasi in their first fight) when he beat Rashad.
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You're trying to nitpick Mousasi's resume there while staying silent on Strickland's one dimensional resume.

Strickland may beat that version of Hendo but he would never run right through him within seconds like Mousasi did. I want you to rewatch that short fight and pay attention to his footwork, shot selection and finishing. His footwork especially, he didn't waste one inch of movement in that sequence, he was in the perfect spot every second to unleash and land. Same way he outstruck Santos, another impressive win you ignore. Strickland has never shown that kind of lethal effectiveness.

That version of Machida was at his best, only declining after losing to Weidman in a 5 round war. Machida kicks, counter punches and trips Sean and most MW's all over the place today.

Sean gets to pitty pat against fellow strikers for 25 minutes almost his entire career. Because of this you are now hyping up DDP like he's the second coming. Pretty embarrassing.
 
Strickland is an overachiever. I doubt anyone would say that about Moose, even though I think he's more talented
 
I'm a Strickland hater, but he's clearly a better fighter than Mousasi. Who's the best fighter Mousasi beat while they were still in their prime? Certainly no one even remotely close to Izzy's level.
 
People love to hate the Moose on here and recency bias favours Strickland.

But honestly Mousasi at his peak was just built to run through upper-middle of the pack guys like Strickland.

His problem is that he showed unmotivated/sleepy sometimes and that cost him (Jacare 2, Uriah Hall 1, Machida 1 etc.)

He avenged most of those losses tho.

IMO Prime on his A game Mousasi beats and finishes Prime on his A game Strickland.

He is just a more versatile striker, can actually finish fights both standing and on the ground, and has the edge in jiu-jitsu.
 
Mousasi also did pretty well at LHW. He seems naturally a little bigger than Sean, who was making WW in his younger years.

With that said if you want to outstrike prime Mousasi you need a speed advantage, which only Machida was able to do.
 
Clark Rogers said:
For me, the fact that one guy held a belt in UFC and the other never could answers everything that matters.

Was Mousasi more skilled? Perhaps, but what good is that if you can't turn it into being more successful?
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Multi time Strikeforce, Bellator and DREAM champion. Strickland won the UFC belt and immediately lost it.

UFC the highest ceiling it's true, but isn't the end all be all, even WEC guys were a problem for UFC guys when they merged. His accomplishments are still impressive.
 
Koya said:
Multi time Strikeforce, Bellator and DREAM champion. Strickland won the UFC belt and immediately lost it.

UFC the highest ceiling it's true, but isn't the end all be all, even WEC guys were a problem for UFC guys when they merged. His accomplishments are still impressive.
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Didn't say they weren't impressive.

Strickland was a UFC champ, Mousasi never could make it happen. In terms of UFC Strickland is 'better' by prizefighting definition - success.
 
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