When will there be an mma fighter like Usyk?

[Dana's Moonface]

I'm not saying this to troll or start an mma v boxing debate. But is it only a matter of time until we get a guy who fights with the stack against him often and keeps winning, despite being near 40. Usyk's only weakness is realitve inactivity, but covid and Fury messing him around has done him no favours

Jones is seen by many as the mma goat, but at a similar age he is afraid to lose his zero. I'm a big jon fan, but it's the truth. If boxing had the equivalent of aspinall, not only would usyk fight him, but he would fight him in his own city and beat him

Can't compare gsp or fedor to usyk either. Usyk is 38 and has never been stopped in over 300 amateur fights that I'm aware (dropped to the body) or as a pro.

Will we ever get a fighter like this? Or because of the mix of styles, is it too much to expect such dominance. Especially as an older fighter

 

[Elvis.]

So , just to be clear , is the criteria, undefeated, small for the division and pushing 40 ?

 

[Dana's Moonface]

So , just to be clear , is the criteria, undefeated, small for the division and pushing 40 ?

Fighting in opponents back yards and not giving a fuck who is next. Will fight and beat anyone

Gsp is great, as was khabib, but they retired way too early. Usyk is past his prime and still schooling bigger, younger opponents away from home.

I don't think he is the boxing goat, not enough stats, but it's amazing what he's doing at such an advanced age

I just would love to see an mma guy at his lev or Floyd for dominance. But with the mix of styles it's probably too difficult.

 

[bng]

When will there be an mma fighter like Usyk?

when giving your health away in mma can make you just as rich as in boxing

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I think if we're only talking HW, Ngannou is pretty close to this if he isn't this already.

 

[milliniar]

Handy Couture says hi.

While not undefeated he was an old man beating up younger guys that on paper should've beat him.

 

[SuperNerd]

Randy's return to heavyweight

^beat me to it

 

[HuskySamoan]

It'll probably be some elite Russian or Central Asian guy that then UFC never bothers to sign.

 

[Dana's Moonface]

Handy Couture says hi.

While not undefeated he was an old man beating up younger guys that on paper should've beat him.

Good shout, but he was getting chinned left right and centre as a lhw. That's an exaggeration, but you know what i mean

Usyk is like randy and jones combined. He's dominant and beating giants on their own turf

Good shout though, but randy is not as good at mma as usyk is at boxing. Not close for me, but certainly very daring

Edit
It appears I'm bashing mma, my apologies. Not my intention. Good picks so far. I enjoy different opinions. Let's have some fun and debate with this

 

[Trabaho]

Boxing is limited so you can get closer to perfect at it. No way in MMA. MMA has 3 more dimensions. More like 5 that boxing doesn't have.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

So , just to be clear , is the criteria, undefeated, small for the division and pushing 40 ?

Not undefeated but we had someone that rivaled Usyk's run when it came to "He's too small the big guys will kill him"

Handy is the spotlight of "Small old guy" in MMA, don't really have a better one.

Understand the difference in overall skill your scenario takes:
One is being able to box against the best while being undersized at HW. Love Usyk, but Tyson did it even better as a smaller guy (Usyk is still fucking 6'3", my height, I ain't a small dude, Mike was 5'10" prime) and Foreman did it better as an old dude.

The other would be the same physical disadvantage (older, smaller) but able to not only box with the best, but kickbox with the best, wrestle with the best, sub grapple with the best, and be able to beat every single one of those quasi-specialists at their own game?

You're looking for someone to do what Fedor did during his run against the likes of Cro Cop and Big Nog, but for the guy to also be in his 40s.

So, we need a reincarnation of Flamma.

 

[tymikeson]

it would only be usyk if he transitioned to mma

 

[Hymen Crusher]

Hw boxing is unique in most older guys get better. Its so heavily depended on strength and timing. Speed is almost non existent for most these guys and he is way faster and he isnt even that fast

 

[Söze Aldo]

So , just to be clear , is the criteria, undefeated, small for the division and pushing 40 ?

The last two are Randy Couture and DC. It's hard for anyone in MMA to keep an undefeated record.

 

[savemgs]

Fighting in opponents back yards and not giving a fuck who is next. Will fight and beat anyone

Gsp is great, as was khabib, but they retired way too early. Usyk is past his prime and still schooling bigger, younger opponents away from home.

I don't think he is the boxing goat, not enough stats, but it's amazing what he's doing at such an advanced age

I just would love to see an mma guy at his lev or Floyd for dominance. But with the mix of styles it's probably too difficult.

Actually, MMA had one before boxing did — you might just be too young to remember. His name was Fedor Emelianenko. A very undersized heavyweight who didn’t just win — he beat opponents in their strongest areas. Granted, the “hostile backyard” thing doesn’t quite fit since most of it happened on neutral ground in Japan, but still, his run was legendary.


As for the “advanced age” thing — Usyk’s best wins are against guys close to him in age. That’s not the same as beating prime, younger killers. By the way I'm not saying Usyk is a bum. He is an extremely talented in amongst the best the sport has to offer at the moment but what I said is the truth.


And about the Floyd Mayweather comparison… sorry, but this is MMA. You don’t get to pad your record with a dozen cans before facing real competition. MMA fighters are matched with opponents at their level almost every time out. That’s why guys like GSP were so special — he consistently fought the best in the world, no soft touches. Not saying Floyd wasn’t talented, but 90% of his career was spent against overmatched opponents.


That’s the biggest difference between MMA and boxing — and I’d argue it’s even bigger than the difference in rules or ways to lose.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Boxing is limited so you can get closer to perfect at it. No way in MMA. MMA has 3 more dimensions. More like 5 that boxing doesn't have.

Yep so many ways to lose in MMA, that's why a 20-0 MMA fighter is incredibly rare, not so much for boxing.

 

[BroScienceTalkatWork]

Usyks an all time great man. Like top 5 ish… in a sport way older than UfC. Yku can take away point for fighting in a weak era but also he fought amongst giants and kinda ended the super HW era

oh and most importantly we’ll never see a HW athlete of that caliber choose UFC over boxing. Not enough money

 

[Dr. Rose]

Actually, MMA had one before boxing did — you might just be too young to remember. His name was Fedor Emelianenko. A very undersized heavyweight who didn’t just win — he beat opponents in their strongest areas. Granted, the “hostile backyard” thing doesn’t quite fit since most of it happened on neutral ground in Japan, but still, his run was legendary.


As for the “advanced age” thing — Usyk’s best wins are against guys close to him in age. That’s not the same as beating prime, younger killers. By the way I'm not saying Usyk is a bum. He is an extremely talented in amongst the best the sport has to offer at the moment but what I said is the truth.


And about the Floyd Mayweather comparison… sorry, but this is MMA. You don’t get to pad your record with a dozen cans before facing real competition. MMA fighters are matched with opponents at their level almost every time out. That’s why guys like GSP were so special — he consistently fought the best in the world, no soft touches. Not saying Floyd wasn’t talented, but 90% of his career was spent against overmatched opponents.


That’s the biggest difference between MMA and boxing — and I’d argue it’s even bigger than the difference in rules or ways to lose.

i think if mma is to grow, they may need to start adopting that from boxing. It will help build stars.

And now for a hot take....

I would also argue that this has been done in mma, and in everyone's favorite org, PRIDE. Half the times their champions fought, it was non-title fights and against opponents that could qualify as cans or journey men (and the occasionally freakshow fight). Also look at half the opponents in their tourney's, local favorites that rarely stood a chance.

 

[daydrinking]

It's a different sport, being undefeated in MMA isn't really a thing unless you quit very early. And weight cutting is alot more of a thing, since there aren't classes every 3lbs

 

[Cletus Fertitta]

literally 100 years from now or maybe 50 with the speed of information and ease of travel. MMA is so young compared to boxing.