Who makes the "Fight IQ" Mount Rushmore?

[lerobshow]

Name your top 3. I'll go with mine:

1) Jones
2) GSP
3) Volk

How about y'all?

 

[Adamant]

Randy
Greg Jackson
GSP
...

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

Isn't 4 on mount rushmore?

 

[Natural Order]

 

[Natural Order]

GSP
DJ
Jones
Khabib

 

[codfather]

Jones stupidly got DQ'd against Matt Hamill. He also would've gotten DQ'd against Anthony Smith, if Lionheart had just said he couldn't continue.

Many people thought Volk came back too quickly to fight Topuria; which I'd argue is fight IQ.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Jones and GSP for sure.

Randy was a clear predecessor. I don't think I even considered the term "game plan" before Randy.

Volk for sure is a great tactician in there. Dude gets better in rematches. A clear example of someone capitalizing on superior tactics and skill when they're the older fighter at a power disadvantage.

Off the top of my head, that's four. Could be convinced otherwise on the latter two, but the former are irrefutable imo. Of course, some knucklehead will come in here and fling shit everywhere talking about how roids made Jon a better tactician

 

[gosuasus]

Randy Couture, Jon Jones, Greg Jackson, and Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.

 

[HNIC215]

 

[mooseman17]

Volk, Jones and GSP were my choices even before entering the thread. All super well rounded enough to fight their opponents at their weaknesses or change up their game plan mid fight.

Islam is a good choice as well imo.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

GSP
Pride Fedor
Jon Jones
Khabib / Mighty Mouse

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

Tom Aspinall - protected his status, secured potential boxing negotiations with max leverage, didn't "lose" against gane

Connor - richest MMA fighter of all time, secured the bag, paving the way for future nobodies to go into boxing and fade into an oblivion

Dana - made the UFC into what it is now today, a major conglomerate reminiscent of boxing minus 0 stars, except for some guy who says "chama."

 

[Natural Order]

I'm one of Khabib's biggest detractors on here....his career is heavily overrated. But he was obviously a ludicrously skilled fighter and from my perspective, most of that came from his always on fight IQ. Outside of a few moments, always one step ahead of his opponent. One of the smartest fighters I've seen in the cage, I'll give him that.

 

[TheMaster]

Frank Shamrock
Frank Mir
GSP
Khabib

 

[jeff7b9]

GSP
Mighty Mouse
Jon Jones
Alexander Volkanovski


All of these men made it a point to possess the skills which would allow them to dictate the fight to be on their terms and exploit their opponents weaknesses.

I think of it like "Rocks Paper Scissor" strategy, where you prepare to always have an answer which puts you at a tactical advantage

 

[laleggenda27]

Jones
GSP
Volk
MM

In that order.

 

[Travis Alexander]

1. Jones
2. GSP
3. Volk
4. DJ

In that order.

 

[Shay Brennan]

Volk has the best fight IQ out of all the champions.

He performs better as the fight goes on, get's better in rematches, knows how to point fight on the highest level, knows how to steal rounds, can adjust mid fight.
He is never out of fights after getting hurt because of his recovery.

Volk is the only fighter ever to dominate Aldo and Holloway.

He was even beating on Makhahcev in the 5th round of her first fight.

Nobody can beat prime Volk by decision and is very hard to submit.

 

[ocfightfan]

Jones stupidly got DQ'd against Matt Hamill. He also would've gotten DQ'd against Anthony Smith, if Lionheart had just said he couldn't continue.

Many people thought Volk came back too quickly to fight Topuria; which I'd argue is fight IQ.

Jones definitely has a weird tick where he cheats when he doesn't even have to, but overall he is a fighting genius. He knows his opponent inside and out and changes tactics on the fly in fights.

 

[Unheralded Truth]

Khabib
GSP
Topuria
Rakhmonov