When will there be an mma fighter like Usyk?

[HHJ]

MMA doesn't have the foundation for someone to achieve what Usyk has done.


Usyk is an olympic gold medalist and unified all 4 belts in two divisions and has never been defeated.

Even when they took his belts away he just took them back.

MMA doesn't really have all that going on. The best you can do is win a UFC title and hold on to it til you retire

What Usyk 's done is way better than that.

 

[PrideNverDies]

Seems like all the best boxers currently can wrestle as well

it would only be usyk if he transitioned to mma

Crawford has strong wrestling too

 

[shunyata]

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.

Honestly we're kind of due for it.

Right now HW is as thin as it's ever been and tons of the talented athletic guys who could show up at 226 - 245 lbs no cut for HW are cutting down to MW and LHW.

It would just take one guy who's athletic and fast at ~235 lbs to go on a run at HW before the championship weight cutters question their whole way of playing the game.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Honestly we're kind of due for it.

Right now HW is as thin as it's ever been and tons of the talented athletic guys who could show up at 226 - 245 lbs no cut for HW are cutting down to MW and LHW.

It would just take one guy who's athletic and fast at ~235 lbs to go on a run at HW before the championship weight cutters question their whole way of playing the game.

While I would love to see it and as one of Sherdog's biggest underdog pickers I would be fuckin rootin for him, but there's a brick wall at the top of HW who isn't anything like the rest of the generation...

MMA doesn't have the foundation for someone to achieve what Usyk has done.


Usyk is an olympic gold medalist and unified all 4 belts in two divisions and has never been defeated.

Even when they took his belts away he just took them back.

MMA doesn't really have all that going on. The best you can do is win a UFC title and hold on to it til you retire

What Usyk 's done is way better than that.

"Better" is subjective. It's a lot more difficult due to the politics of boxing, that's certain, but there's no one begging MMA to be structured like boxing.

 

[godhatesacoward]

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

randy couture was these things right

 

[AmonTobin]

Usyk bless.
@Luthien dunno if you follow boxing but his nickname is The Cat

This would be a cool UFC viral challenge. Nevermind the punch power machine.

 

[godhatesacoward]

When Dana decides to pay fighters near what boxing does, so never.

who's the woman in your profile picture?

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

I'm his biggest fan, always was!! Totally @HI SCOTT NEWMAN we love him

New favorite fighter, we love him

 

[Versez]

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

If Dricus Duplessis beat Khamzat this next saturday, pretty sure it would be on the same level, always an underdog but the guy ends winning.

 

[savemgs]

I'm in my 40s. I watched fedor, he ain't usyk or Floyd

Floyd has around 30 top wins. Even more. He has countless top 5 wins, never mind top 10. So I'm not sure what you are getting at about padding record. He only did that for the first year or 2 to get the rounds in as a young pro and had many easy fights often in the first couple of years. He became the. Best super feather at 21 and was still schooling guys like canelo when 36. What was fedor doing at 36?

You can make a point, but sitting over a guy as accomplished as Floyd will backfire.

Also what do you mean 90% of his career was against overmatched opponents? Floyd was fighting top guys regularly from 98 until he retired.

Let’s get this straight — I’ve said multiple times I respect Mayweather’s accomplishments in boxing. I never “shit on” them, so drop that strawman.


That said, facts are facts: Mayweather’s first 15+ opponents weren’t even notable enough to have Wikipedia pages. By the time some like GSP, Chris Weidman or Vitor Belfort had 15 fights, they ware UFC champions and battle-tested — not padding records with 15 less then journeymen fights.


Almost all of Floyd’s biggest-name wins — De La Hoya, Mosley, Pacquiao — came when those guys were past prime. His best win in my opinion? Canelo Álvarez, who was young, in his prime, and already experienced. And even then, Floyd avoided plenty of dangerous fights until the timing suited him. That’s just reality.


Now, Fedor? Different beast entirely. Within his first few fights, he already had wins over killers like Ricardo Arona, Renato Sobral, and Semmy Schilt. When he fought Nogueira for the PRIDE heavyweight title, he beat him at his own game — taking the best heavyweight on the planet into his strengths and still dominating.


By the end of his career, almost everyone who beat him went on to win a UFC title (Werdum) or challenge for one. Yeah, the Mitrione loss was rough — but that was one of those one-in-a-million double knockdowns.


And I noticed you didn’t touch my points about Usyk. Like I said before — I’m not calling Usyk or Mayweather bums. But they did benefit from the typical boxing path: years of can-crushing and very careful fight selection. Fedor, on the other hand, fought anyone, anytime, often undersized.


And just for fun? Fedor could get off the couch right now, at damn near 50, and make Usyk beg for his life if they ever fought.