Which fighter looked the most invincible at their peak/prime?

[Mr. Shickadance]

It has to be khabib, fedor had multiple fights where he barely hung on, with Silva you always knew his ground game was his weakness, DJ had a few losses already , jds was a monster but he never seemed indestructible, gsp would be the only other one who I consider close to khabib , but you never got invincible from him just that he was a safe fighter.
Khabib on the other hand just seemed to steam roll people, he really only had trouble twice, once against Johnson and once against tibua.
The Johnson fight seemed flukey and tibua was roided to the gills but still didn’t get much on khabib.

 

[Streeter]

Khabib literally was never in danger. Lost less than rds in career.

 

[Local Plata]

Conor

People mistake 'prime conor' for Conor fighting brawling midgets. He was in his prime when he lost to Diaz in that case, too.

 

[Local Plata]

TRTitor should get a mention.

 

[B-Man]

Khabib looked invincible, jones comes second because he had fights that could be judged either way and the roids problem, then the others come because they had losses in what could be called their prime

Khabib didn't look that invincible against Tibau...

 

[TheBulge]

Anderson Silva by a pretty big gap.

Nobody and I mean nobody made fighters look that terrified, made them fight that foolishly and pretty much hand him the win on a platter. The guy dropped his hands, sometimes walked towards absolute killers and spooked them.

It got to such a severe level that it caused his own downfall. Even HE thought he couldn't lose anymore untill reality set in.

 

[Poatan Power]

Silva and it isn't close. Jones was dominant, but he was never bobbing and weaving his #1 contender opponents and then smoking them. Neither was GSP.

Khabib for sure. I still struggle to imagine how current LW would beat him . And he was still improving every fight. Wild.

MM is another one. I had him over Henry the second fight. I strongly believe he would have knocked out TJ like Henry did. Even with a size disadvantage he's amassed a mountain of wins in multiple divisions.

Hard to argue against Khabib. I would say that Silva did it so many times in so many more fights it kind of puts Khabib in a shadow in context to this conversation.

But if you say, like, best 5 fight streak of dominance? Khabib is def up there. And I try to steal Khabib's flowers off of his careers grave every chance I get.

 

[Fight Professor]

You have to look at the level and the variety of opponents to be objective here. There are a lot of athletes that look untouchable in a local/regional gym but do not do that well at a high level competition.

Silva was dominating everyone with ease but he has not fought any elite wrestlers. Once we get to the Sonnen fight, Sonnen had no issues and only lost due to his fight IQ. The way Silva had lost the first Weidman fight has shown what happens when he could not enforce his gameplan.

Fedor had some weaknesses like wild striking and takedown defense against the elite but never lost until his decline. He has fought everyone he could and was clearly the best fighter of the JMMA era. But even if he has not declined, I do not see Fedor doing that well in a cage with clinches and more prominent wrestling where fighters know sub defense.

GSP was tested in every way possible at the highest level. His (avenged) couple of losses are the only blemish on a perfect record. I do not consider the Hendricks fight to be his prime.

Jones looked the most complete as well as dominating fighter in his prime. He did use his size as a big advantage as we have seen in the Gus fight. But size advantage cannot be counted against invincibility.

MM was as perfect as it gets at 125 lbs. I even think he won the second Cejudo fight. But he has losses at a higher weight class with more talent.

 

[TheMaster]

It was Fedor, no question.

As well as looking like a Russian terminator, he was the only one who really was close to being invincible for a time, without avoiding fighting guys bigger than him.


I will this guy to the list also.

For a time it was legitimately considered no one in the world could beat this man in unarmed combat. This was in the late 90's to early 00's when unfortunately he wasn't in MMA but was still putting the sport on the map in the US by being in the much more popular pro wrestling.

 

[Megatronlee]

I’ve cried over Andy. And I’m talking wins

 

[eddi]

Khabib didn't look that invincible against Tibau...

He won convincingly compared to jones vs reyes/santos and was young af

 

[Koala]

Anderson Silva looked invincible from the Jim Carrey fight to the Sonnen fight
Khabib Nurmagomedov looked invincible from the RDA fight to the Geaiethje fight
Ronda Rousey looked also invincible at some point but the competition was weak

 

[DarthChen731]

Spider just seemed cool as a cucumber and ready to knock bitches out. Loved that shit

 

[blackheart]

Fedor, GSP & DJ
then Anderson

 

[leatherneck]

CAIN

 

[VonSupervillain]

It's definitely Silva. Dude was just disposing off everyone thrown his way and it looked like he was barely trying.

 

[Domitian]

Anderson was God-like but it felt he always had a weakness to takedowns. Jon Jones had no weaknesses at all.

 

[maulvader]

Peak Anderson Silva looked like the favorite against any middleweight on the planet (and many LHWs).

Peak Fedor looked like the favorite against any human on the planet.

Jon Jones looks invincible as long as the opponent isn't as tall as himself. Most of his matches against fighters his own height have gone to decisions.

So, Fedor. Final Answer.

 

[PeterGriffin]

Despite the fact Khabib is the only fighter on this list that retired undefeated, I still think his resume is lacking and in my opinion, he never really carried that same aura that Fedor, Silva and GSP had. You can pretty much ignore his early fights in Russia, as his record during that time is littered with unknowns. In his 8 years in the UFC, he went 13-0 with 7 finishes and 6 decisions. It's a good record, but not exactly seemingly invincible.

GSP fought the best of his division for years, and even though everyone pretty much knew what style and gameplan GSP was going to bring to the table, still no one could really stop him. He outwrestled the wrestlers and manhandled the grapplers. Honestly, the Nick Diaz fight was probably his most surprising fight, given that most people expected him to take Diaz down, beat him up, rinse and repeat. He outstruck Diaz, and that does speak volumes towards GSP being a well-rounded fighter. When he was the challenger, he was a finishing machine. As a champ, he fought safe, and even though I knew he was capable of finishing many of his title defenses, it was his record and the amount of zeroes on his paycheques that made him play it safe. To be fair, I can't really blame him, and I am not sure I would have done it any differently if I were in his shoes.

Jones simply has too many asterisks (again, in my opinion) working against him. While he enjoyed many physical advantages (size, reach, youth) over most of his opponents, he still felt the need to cheat and fight with questionable tactics (eye-pokes, oblique kicks). There is one reason and one reason alone why you would literally hide from USADA officials, and it's not because he failed to wear clean underwear that day. The other argument being his record padded with aging and blown up MW's.

Silva had one of the most emphatic UFC debuts ever against Leben, and was a sign of things to come. I can't recall another title fight where the champion was thrashed so soundly as Rich Franklin was. It was as if Silva was fighting a complete amateur. Silva was a highlight reel one-man wrecking crew during his title reign, and it would be pretty hard to argue against him and him seeming like he truly was invincible during his prime. Even when he was being controlled and dominated by Chael, he still found a way to remain composed and still end the fight with a highlight reel finish.

 

[jeskola]

most of these people don't even fight anymore. who cares, move to Fantasy MMA bullshit forum.