When Stefan Struve k.o'd stipe miocic.

[GrantB13]

He is the best HW the UFC has ever had based on his Actual in cage results. Name a HW champion in the UFC that was better. Not would win in a theoretical head to head match up but actually better in the cage.

Was Fedor better? Sure you can go with that but he never fought in the UFC under the same rules and conditions. Closest he ever came to the UFC was StrikeForce. At 34 Fedor fought in a cage in North America and lost to Werdum, Bigfoot & Dan Henderson consecutively.

At 34 Stipe beat Werdum by KO to win the belt and then defended against Reem & JDS winning by KO.

Its similar to Lewis having the KO record. On paper it looks like he's one of the best, but then you see all the times he folded to JDS, Game, Hunt, and so on. Stipe looking strictly at the number of defenses is the best but Cain Velasquez was much faster, insane cardio, had better striking, could wrestle at a high level, and deliver damage with ground and pound. Stipe would often get the job done but look regular while doing it. There's not really much that stands out with him.

 

[KarateYeah]

Beat cormier

Cormier was never that good too. The logic follows

 

[Robbocop]

"That might do it, a clean knockout for Stefan Struve!"

 

[The XL]

GOAT my ass.

Yeah, he'd have been better off being KOed by a 40 year old middleweight who had to food and water load to make 206lbs, lmao

 

[Alpha_T83]

Stipe was never that good. That's how it works

Honestly I'm inclined to agree, but I'm serious.

What really made Stipe famous? Beating an old DC and green Ngannou. Once Ngannou got some experience he KO'd Stipe. I also don't think Stipe beats the 2018 version of DC at any point. Not many people remember but DC injured his back badly and nearly pulled out of his title defense against Derrick Lewis. The only reason he fought is because he knew he would dominate Lewis in the wrestling department. DC was never the same after that back injury, which is when Stipe beat him twice.

 

[Superior]

Yeah, he'd have been better off being KOed by a 40 year old middleweight who had to food and water load to make 206lbs, lmao

Stay salty brother, Stipe will never be considered GOAT by anyone who follows this sport.

 

[Big Al's Texas BBQ]

This is usually a crap argument, but this is a case where I think it actually sorta works. Stipe isn't amazing at anything. He looked beatable in most of his fights. He's good, but I don't agree with him being in GOAT status.

I think the only real reason people call him the HW goat is because he has the most title defenses, which is only 3.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

Stipe started MMA older and was far less active though.

I would tend to reverse things and say its actually the Pride environment which was more likely to test different aspects. you had to deal with soccer kicks/knees/stomps on the ground and you couldnt get away with stalling nearly so much.

Stipe was 28 when he started and fought 24 of his 25 career fights in 11 years. The Jones fight was literally him coming out of retirement. For the bulk of his career he averaged 2.2 fights per year.

From 2004-2015 (11 years) Fedor was the same age and fought 22 times so less then Stipe. He also had a record 18 wins 3 losses and 1 NC.

Not sure how Stipe is inactive and Fedor is active??? 2 fights per year is < 2.2 fights per year. The Soccer kicks, knees on the ground and stomps aren't exactly something that would have factored into Stipe's career much as he was never one dimensional as a wrestler or grappler.

Fedor had a 17-1 record prior to the age where Stipe turned Pro but Stipe had a 5-0 amatuer MMA record and 4-1 boxing record. He also wrestled D1.

Their careers were not identical but over the same amount of years at the same age Stipe was more active and had a better record. Fedor beat some greats but he also fought a number of MWs and Freakshows. He gets a lot of credit for beating Greats like 40 year old Mark Coleman and 42 year old Mark Coleman while Stipe gets shit on for beating Over the Hill Reem, Werdum and JDS. Of course that is bogus but Sherdog is gonna Sherdog.

Fedor may well be the GOAT HW but Stipe is the GOAT UFC HW Champion. Can't argue that really.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

Its similar to Lewis having the KO record. On paper it looks like he's one of the best, but then you see all the times he folded to JDS, Game, Hunt, and so on. Stipe looking strictly at the number of defenses is the best but Cain Velasquez was much faster, insane cardio, had better striking, could wrestle at a high level, and deliver damage with ground and pound. Stipe would often get the job done but look regular while doing it. There's not really much that stands out with him.

If we were to pick a single HW to fight on a single night to save Mankind from global catostrphy I would be inclined to pick Prime Cain. I saw his UFC debut at UFC 83 in Montreal and it was like watching a man with the speed of a LW and the power of a SHW. He was 2-0 as a pro but I had heard about him and that he could not get anyone to fight him on the regional scene because he was far too good.

 

[moreorless87]

Stipe was 28 when he started and fought 24 of his 25 career fights in 11 years. The Jones fight was literally him coming out of retirement. For the bulk of his career he averaged 2.2 fights per year.

From 2004-2015 (11 years) Fedor was the same age and fought 22 times so less then Stipe. He also had a record 18 wins 3 losses and 1 NC.

Not sure how Stipe is inactive and Fedor is active??? 2 fights per year is < 2.2 fights per year. The Soccer kicks, knees on the ground and stomps aren't exactly something that would have factored into Stipe's career much as he was never one dimensional as a wrestler or grappler.

Thats just pointless cherry-picking of stats, you ignore the first 4 years of Fedor's career for some reason when he was at his most active and instead you include a period of the 2010's when he was in retirement for 3 years after he'd already declined.

Fedor had a 17-1 record prior to the age where Stipe turned Pro but Stipe had a 5-0 amatuer MMA record and 4-1 boxing record. He also wrestled D1.

Their careers were not identical but over the same amount of years at the same age Stipe was more active and had a better record. Fedor beat some greats but he also fought a number of MWs and Freakshows. He gets a lot of credit for beating Greats like 40 year old Mark Coleman and 42 year old Mark Coleman while Stipe gets shit on for beating Over the Hill Reem, Werdum and JDS. Of course that is bogus but Sherdog is gonna Sherdog.

Fedor may well be the GOAT HW but Stipe is the GOAT UFC HW Champion. Can't argue that really.

18 MMA fights before the age Stipe turned pro, combat sambo career and was a Judoka at a much higher level than Stipe was a wrestler, finished 3rd in the Russian championships twice.

People have rubbished his Colemans for years but thats not really something his career is built on were as many of Stipe's biggest wins were in questionable form. Personally I don't think theres much wrong with the Werdum win even if he was towards the end of his prime and Reem whilst you could argue his Uber form may have been better he was still in good econo form at that point, Hunt, Arlovski and JDS though I do think were clearly post prime, arguably DC in the rematches as well. Likewise Coleman in 2004 still looked in similar kind of form to when he won the 2000 GP to me although again most would agree he wasnt ever at the level of the very top HW's from latter eras

 

[pamirec]

Jon's eye poking is more then just poking the eye to blind or hurt his opponent. If you are the fighter who needs to close distance (literally all of Jon's opponents) the threat of his fingers in your face changes how you close distance. It drives me crazy that refs don't get that Jon is changing the fight by constantly having fingers near his opponents face where it might "Accidentally" cause an eye poke. So many refs give warning after warning.

Either way it’s beyond absurd. It gives the eypoker a big advantage. Fighters like that should get a point deducted without any warning or maybe just one warning and then a deduction. How many times has he poked his opponents in the eye? You can write a whole fucking book about his dirty shit inside the cage and series of books about his madness outside the cage.

 

[Rolento]

I wish they woulda let struve ko brandon schwaeb before he retired

 

[jooohnmatrix]

Casuals don’t recall Stipe being eye poked half to death before that punch.