I've never heard of him and literally have no idea who that is. Just checked rankingmma.com and they have Rory MacDonald of Bellator ranked #4 at welterweight, Ben Askren of One FC at #6, and Douglas Lima of Bellator sitting at #10. So apparently not all the best guys are in the UFC. What you have is top talent scattered around several organizations not fighting each other just the way you do in boxing with HBO, Showtime, PBC, etc. I did happen to notice something though, just now. Jose Aldo, Demetrius Johnson, Dominick Cruz, and Khabib Nurmagomedov all seem to have kept their records fairly unblemished fighting in the UFC. So it looks more and more like the guys who win some lose some are just **** ups and mediocrities, and it is possible to have a good record in the UFC if you are actually good.
So true, this mentality is one of the truly shitty traits of this generations boxing fans. I like Floyd as a pure fighter, but him making such a fuss about a guy with a loss being used up and the 0 being the most important thing is a huge part (probably the biggest part) of why this way of thinking exists in today's boxing fans.
If you don't watch UFC you won't know who he is. I'd not know who the number 1 cricketer is in the world. That's the problem, right there. "Relatively unblemished" that's the mindset you need to get away from. Let top contenders consistently face each other and if they pick up losses it's fine.
To be the champion in UFC is to be the champion in MMA. It would be like if in boxing all these belts existed but only the WBC champ was ever considered the number 1 or the best. Then you could say to any bloke on the street "he's got a belt, but to be the best you need the green belt and that's why fighter X is the real champ" surely we all clamour for the same level of clarity?
But you just said "Try speaking to a random guy on the street about who the world champion is." They wouldn't have heard about this guy any more than about the boxing champions. No, you need to get away from the mindset that losses don't matter. They are an indicator of talent. Mason Menard stepped up and he got knocked down. Now we know his level. You just can't admit to yourself that the reason everyone in the UFC has horrific records is because none of them are that good. But the ones who actually are good like Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, or Demetrius Johnson have records that look like boxers. We have levels to this sport. There's only one level in the UFC, a low level. Mason Menard just proved that he doesn't belong at the very top level. But he may still prove to be a valuable B or C level talent. And by the way, we do let guys have second and third bites at the apple. When they show that they are beatable like Menard just did everyone wants to whip his ass. Look at Arreola, Stiverne, and Chisora getting passed around by all the top heavyweight contenders. They'll get all the top contenders they can handle.
Maybe it's the fact that in pro boxing it's pretty much up to you to attract competition. Boxers don't have a vince McMahon/Dana White setting up the big matches and so having an unbeaten record raises your stock and profile to demand the lucrative big money fights.
LOL @ having FIFTY FIGHTS over a TWENTY YEAR span! You know does that sort of thing? Guys who avoid the best and take long breaks from the sport. That's one of the reasons why Boxing is such a joke. "Oh he got to 45-0" yeah, and who are you genuinely fighting to go undefeated for that long? Certainly not the best anyway.
Wrong. Boxers can fight who they want for the most part, but the theme for the modern fighter isn't legacy, it's money.
No it's not. The UFC belt is completely illegitimate to begin with, it's a belt given to fighters by their ****ing promoter. Do you understand how corrupt that is? It's like Bob Arum or Don King handing out titles to fighters, being in full control of the rankings and who gets the title shots and also have the power to cut any fighter that doesn't draw away from the boxing elite. That's exactly how the UFC functions. UFC is a glorified private tournament inside a specific promotion with a horde of dumb fans who would buy anything that UFC hype machine and Joe Rogan tells them to buy.
Not to mention that those belts are given out by ****ing promoters. UFC belt is a belt that a promoter gives his fighter. That's simply a conflict of interest. I mean let's revise this again, a ****ing promoter who is only in the sport to earn money is deciding who the champion in that sport is. UFC simply isn't in position to hand out real titles, UFC isn't a globally recognized sanctioning body that could legitimately regulate a sport, it's a promotion and a private company that only has one purpose and that's to generate money. It's only natural that they will give out easier paths to the title shots to their biggest draws and protect them from dangerous contenders. When Bob Arum tries to manipulate rankings of IBF, it's called corruption in boxing. In UFC, this isn't called corruption but it's the established practice since UFC is both Bob Arum and the IBF. And people somehow think this is legit? MMA simply doesn't have a competitive structure, it doesn't have legitimate global federations regulating it, everything is just down to promoters. UFC could declare CM Punk the "champion" tomorrow and there would be no independent organization to prevent it.
You're the one who can't reply with anything that would contribute to the debate, it seems that you're the one who doesn't have basic intelligence here.
The number 1 fighter in MMA in any given division is the UFC champ. Makes it a much easier sport to follow.