Where do you place Leon Edwards in GOAT WW list?

[JustOnce]

Just wondering what Sherdog thinks about Leon's place amongst the greats at WW division.

Leon's 14-2 in UFC, with wins over Covington, Usman twice, Nate, RDA, Luque, Gunnar, Cerrone and Tumenov.

Personally, if Covington didn't look so utter dogshit, and I have always rated Covington highly before he went full heel, I would have easier time ranking Leon but he looked as bad as anyone in the history of MMA title fights. I wouldn't necessarily be in disagreement if one would argue that Aldana looked better against Nunez than Covington did against Leon.

Personally, it's GSP above everyone else and then Usman in the second place. I'm not sure where to place Leon. Leon's accomplishments are amazing, but I don't necessarily think Leon beats pre-USADA Hendricks, pre-USADA lawler, prime Rory, prime Wonderboy, prime Covington, prime Usman, prime Woodley, prime Condit, prime Alves, prime Shields, prime Fitch, and that list in my opinion would be very long. I'm not sure if Leon could get on his bike and wrestle his way to victory against Nick either.

When I try to evaluate a fighter, I try to look at their peak talent ability/skills and accomplishments. Leon's got the sterling record, win streak, and a win over arguably the best two WWs of his time. But his skillset wise, I don't necessarily rate it higher than the aforementioned fighters. I don't think Leon beats Shavkat, either.

Leon's not half the finisher what people make him out to be. Outside the hail mary of all hail mary against Usman, he only has on other (t)ko in his entire ufc run and even then that was kinda flukish. The other one was just wierd as hell stoppage with a second left in the fight. He's a clean, effective striker, but nothing more. But overall, he's a hell of a fighter.

Where would you rank Leon amongst WW all-time greats?

 

[JustOnce]

He is probably the best uk fighter of all time though, with Aspinall having all the talent in the world to make a run at that title.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

GSP





Hughes
Usman


Edwards
Woodley

 

[KOPPE]

Leon is a great student, he learned a lot from the 3 fights with Usman
and will advance even further after going 25 min with Colby.
If he beats Belal and Shavkat, he should be in the conversation of one of the greats.

 

[podsox]

TBD. Everybody is ripping on Colby’s resume but is Leon’s much different? Usman wins are extremely impressive but all his wins are over guys past their prime

 

[RonDante]

Not as high as that resume makes it seem. i don’t count the colby win for much, in my HUMBLE opinion colby hasn’t beaten a fighter coming off a win since DHKm and even then DHK’s fight with saffiedine, it seems like most media and fans give it to saffiedine, which would push it back to barberena. I don’t think he beat RDA.

RDA is good, but RDAs wins at welterweight were not the best, magny, decent, lawler decent but he didn’t win another fight until diaz’ return years later, saffiedine retired afterwards, Kevin Lee, well, we know how that turned out, and Colby, can’t beat fighters coming off wins, although he beat maia better than woodley did. Lost to usman, Leon and chiesa

Luque, I think it’s an overrated win, luque for some reason spent a very long time fighting the un ranked guys before going up. I still think he lost to Perry, the first two rounds. his ranked wins are who, old RDA by 48-47 and woodley?

Cerrone had lost 3 in a row to masvidal lawler and till, getting finished twice, before beating yancy and then losing to Leon officially 48-47. Less than a year later he starts his losing streak

Nate was years out of his prime, having spent 3 years not fighting and wasting it, up at welterweight for some reason when he never had the size to be competitive, think getting rag dolled by Rory

usmans a great win

the rest are meh, pretty sure Gunnar peaked at like number 13 or something and tumenov lost to Gunnar then went back east with acb after Leon subbed him

plus he’s not beating all these guys 30-27 or something, he’s got some 29-28s in there, he’s been dropped by unranked filler fighters like barberena. A name on a board isn’t enough for me, it’s context, context, CONTEXT

 

[TempleoftheDog]

I don’t as of now. Defend 3 more times, would put him at 3 for me. 5 more times, puts him at number 2, imo. 10 in a row makes him at least equal to the WW GOAT.

If any of those things happen. I’ll revisit the topic later.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

1. GSP
2. Hughes
3. Usman

I don't feel I can have a 4th because no one else at WW has done enough to be on a GOAT list, I'll look into it again if Edwards can get many more title wins and keep defending the belt successfully.

 

[Eternalwarriorking]

Obviously he already has a nice resume, but I'd like to see him beat Belal and Shavkat decisively, for starters. Other matchups such as Brady and Della Madellena would also be intriguing and would plump out his title reign nicely.

I love his skillset, athleticism and mentality, though. He had quite a "rocky" road to the top, and I'm happy for him.

 

[Contempt]

Far too early to tell with a total of two title defences. Not top 5 yet though.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Far too early to tell with a total of two title defences. Not top 5 yet though.

Couldn't agree more. Good, looking good, great start to his title reign, but his resume pre-title doesn't raise him to the upper echelon of the all time WW rankings.

Guys like Max Holloway, win a title and they are already in the FW goat conversation because before max had a title, he already had wins over swanson, oliveria, stephens, lamas and pettis.... So adding Aldo seeds him at 2 immediately.

I'd need to see what Leon does over the course of his next 6 fights atleast before i'd consider him in the all time WW top 5.

Not as high as that resume makes it seem. i don’t count the colby win for much, in my HUMBLE opinion colby hasn’t beaten a fighter coming off a win since DHKm and even then DHK’s fight with saffiedine, it seems like most media and fans give it to saffiedine, which would push it back to barberena. I don’t think he beat RDA.

RDA is good, but RDAs wins at welterweight were not the best, magny, decent, lawler decent but he didn’t win another fight until diaz’ return years later, saffiedine retired afterwards, Kevin Lee, well, we know how that turned out, and Colby, can’t beat fighters coming off wins, although he beat maia better than woodley did. Lost to usman, Leon and chiesa

Luque, I think it’s an overrated win, luque for some reason spent a very long time fighting the un ranked guys before going up. I still think he lost to Perry, the first two rounds. his ranked wins are who, old RDA by 48-47 and woodley?

Cerrone had lost 3 in a row to masvidal lawler and till, getting finished twice, before beating yancy and then losing to Leon officially 48-47. Less than a year later he starts his losing streak

Nate was years out of his prime, having spent 3 years not fighting and wasting it, up at welterweight for some reason when he never had the size to be competitive, think getting rag dolled by Rory

usmans a great win

the rest are meh, pretty sure Gunnar peaked at like number 13 or something and tumenov lost to Gunnar then went back east with acb after Leon subbed him

plus he’s not beating all these guys 30-27 or something, he’s got some 29-28s in there, he’s been dropped by unranked filler fighters like barberena. A name on a board isn’t enough for me, it’s context, context, CONTEXT

Great Post and highlights a lot of my feelings about his performance.

He's going to need a GREAT title run before he gets to the top ATG WW's.

 

[Shaddows]

Just wondering what Sherdog thinks about Leon's place amongst the greats at WW division.

Leon's 14-2 in UFC, with wins over Covington, Usman twice, Nate, RDA, Luque, Gunnar, Cerrone and Tumenov.

Personally, if Covington didn't look so utter dogshit, and I have always rated Covington highly before he went full heel, I would have easier time ranking Leon but he looked as bad as anyone in the history of MMA title fights. I wouldn't necessarily be in disagreement if one would argue that Aldana looked better against Nunez than Covington did against Leon.

Personally, it's GSP above everyone else and then Usman in the second place. I'm not sure where to place Leon. Leon's accomplishments are amazing, but I don't necessarily think Leon beats pre-USADA Hendricks, pre-USADA lawler, prime Rory, prime Wonderboy, prime Covington, prime Usman, prime Woodley, prime Condit, prime Alves, prime Shields, prime Fitch, and that list in my opinion would be very long. I'm not sure if Leon could get on his bike and wrestle his way to victory against Nick either.

When I try to evaluate a fighter, I try to look at their peak talent ability/skills and accomplishments. Leon's got the sterling record, win streak, and a win over arguably the best two WWs of his time. But his skillset wise, I don't necessarily rate it higher than the aforementioned fighters. I don't think Leon beats Shavkat, either.

Leon's not half the finisher what people make him out to be. Outside the hail mary of all hail mary against Usman, he only has on other (t)ko in his entire ufc run and even then that was kinda flukish. The other one was just wierd as hell stoppage with a second left in the fight. He's a clean, effective striker, but nothing more. But overall, he's a hell of a fighter.

Where would you rank Leon amongst WW all-time greats?

I don't mean to be mean, but how the fuck are you putting him so high already???

He just arrived at the top!!!
If you ask me, he is nowhere even close to the GOATS!
He didn't even surpass Usman yet!!

Let his continue defending his title, and climbing the mountain... but he is not even on the frozen peak yet!

 

[HuskySamoan]

Leon's resume is really thin. Outside of an aging Usman and an aging Colby, who has he beat? Those are solid wins but he fought Lightweights like Cerrone and RDA and mid level guys like Gunnar and Tumenov, almost got knocked out by Nate and Barberena. Not a lot of wins aged that well.

 

[Hdfi]

around #5 or 6.
1. GSP
2. Hughes
3. Usman
4. Lawler
5. Woodley or Edwards

 

[OldBoy91]

Somewhere in the 4-6 range.

He beat what were the consensus #1 and 2 welterweights in his era. Proving that he was #1 all along and they were 2 and 3 at best.

His legacy this far is built on the 2 Usman wins, and now the Colby win, and after that his resume falls off a bit but is still underrated by the casuals on Sherdog.

Dominated Diaz for 24 minutes 30 seconds and people only remember the fight for a single punch Diaz landed.

Dominated RDA, former LW champ and had only lost to Usman and Xokby at 170 to that point.

Beat Cerrone. Not in his prime but certainly before he was washed. People falk about the score being 48-47 but I think that's harsh on Leon. Fight was much more one sided than that.

Beat Luque but gets no credit because most of Luquesbbig wins came after he lost to Leon.

Beat Gunnar Nelson by actually grappling with him the majority of the fight.

The forgotten win against Tumenov. This may be Leon's 3rd best win after Kamaru and Colby. He's a really underrated guy that was let go by the UFC wrongly imo. Leon is the only guy to ever finish him and he's 7-0 since that loss.

 

[OldBoy91]

Leon's resume is really thin. Outside of an aging Usman and an aging Colby, who has he beat? Those are solid wins but he fought Lightweights like Cerrone and RDA and mid level guys like Gunnar and Tumenov, almost got knocked out by Nate and Barberena. Not a lot of wins aged that well.

You can do this with anybody's resume. This is extremely negative view of those opponents and you do this with every fighter that isn't Russian tbh.

 

[ferrisjso]

Number 2 behind Marty.

Having Hughes ahead of Edwards is embarassing IMO.

 

[SuperNerd]

Number 2 behind Marty.

 

[Liverkick-king56]

It's hard to tell.
In terms of skill I think there's a ton of holes in his game and a clear cardio issue he reminds me of Woodley where he's extremely good at what he does but is showing hes uncomfortable outside of that.

I know they aren't rated highly now days but I'd easily pick prime Lawler and Condit over him despite having losses because they fought in such a stacked WW Era.

 

[OldBoy91]

It's hard to tell.
In terms of skill I think there's a ton of holes in his game and a clear cardio issue he reminds me of Woodley where he's extremely good at what he does but is showing hes uncomfortable outside of that.

I know they aren't rated highly now days but I'd easily pick prime Lawler and Condit over him despite having losses because they fought in such a stacked WW Era.

Interesting. What holes do you mean outside of the cardio issue?

I can only think of one thing he does technique wise that I don't like, other than that he seems pretty flawless to me.

I have some concerns about his gameplanning sometimes like his habit of grappling with grapplers, but I'm struggling to think of holes in his overall game.