Only definitive loss in the UFC is Whittaker. Romero and Gastelum losses were very questionable especially the former. Even at 39 he's still an absolute phenom and it wouldn't shock me in the slightest if he avenged one of his losses and snatched the belt finally. What a legend.
Rockhold, Romero and Gastelum could all easily have gone to him. Him and Romero are two absolute beasts and despite never tasting MW gold they're two of the very best to ever step foot in the octagon. Both are clearly above the likes of Rockhold, Weidman, Bisping and Franklin for my money. With Jacare it's his combination of attributes. Great stamina, durability and the best submission game ever. His stand up game is a world class mixture of counter shots and aggressive sharp shooters. When he struggled with Gastelum I figured he'd finally grown old. But an and man doesn't survive a war and emerge on top the way he did. I'm not sure he'll ever beat Whitaker, but he's arguably the greatest MW ever himself. This is why I love UFC. A fight like this just wouldn't occur in boxing.
You have to be an incredible finisher like Whittaker or catch him with a 1/1000 kind of shot like Mousasi did the first fight to finish Jacare it seems. His recovery is just too damn good. What really struck me about his performance last night was the body shots. Those were killing Weidman and ultimately were the difference maker in more ways the one. In the final sequence he catches Weidman with a brutal left hook to the liver that caused him to drop his hands and boom.... That's all she wrote. Nice to see a KO set up like that in MMA.
@IntentionalButt Did you miss this one and only catch the horrid main event? This was the true main event and a great fight.Would recommend checking it out.. You probably remember Jacare from the old days. He fights today like he was possessed by Antonio Margarito.
He looked like a kid against Rockhold. It was shocking. I remember his camp saying that he was focusing on cardio but it was clear the stricter testing was having an effect on him. His reflexes and athletism has also never been the same as before.
Weidman used to talk all that **** about P.E.D. users, but his record is 1 and 4 since the USADA testing started.
Seeing a sub specialist stand and slug was amazing. Even more is that this is easily one of his greatest ever victories.
