I understand the light heavyweight title picture. It has been a mess, but this is also the first time for a long period that we haven’t had a dominant champion, so naturally, Alex beating champs/former champs is going to be a bit easier, just like Jones had these oppurtunities because there was never a dominant long reigning champion before himself. Jiri & Jan were either champs or top 2/3 when Alex fought them. Hill climbed from 8 I think when he beat Glover, maybe the Hill win gets better with time, we’ll see What separates DC and Jones from Pereira is an ATG win. While Alex does have a win over the second best middleweight of all time, he also lost in the rematch and it isn’t quite on the level of Jones beating DC and DC beating Stipe (although he lost the rematch and the rubber) That being said Alex is tied 3rd for most LHW title defences already. If you take off the stipe win his resume really is just as good as DCs if not better already.
100% although the wrestling background for DC definitely should be considered as it’s already been touched on above. Alex: Jiri x2, Blchowicz, Hill, Rountree, Izzy, Strickland DC: Gustaffson, Johnson x2, Henderson, Ozdemir, Stipe, Derrick Lewis (similair level victory to rountree) The stipe win is what elevates DC above pereira, but without it, I don’t think his resume falls short of Alex’s, but that win over Stipe is an all time great win and that’s why DC is above him, but based on resume it’s still close. Jon jones is in a different tier on his own though.
Alex was a world champion kick boxer before joining the UFC he beat Izzy in two kickboxing matches before joining the UFC.
Wrestling isn't really a combat sport despite what the official description might be. It's a rough sport, but not really combat. Any sport where you aren't allowed to render your opponent unconscious is no combat sport. Hell, aren't slams illegal?
Where you got this definition from ? Combat sport is a sport where you engage with the opponent in the most physical contact and the aim is to outcombat the opponent within the rules that are more or less limited. Grappling is combat sport, you only don´t render your opponent unconscious because there is a ref and rules.. sometimes even then it happens though. This content is protected
Alex is great, but I feel it´s too early to call him an ATG. My best friend is a former Alex team-mate, Alex is cool and an amazing guy, but a lot of things can still happen, it´s hard to call someone an ATG when his career is incomplete yet.
