Say Hendo Finds a Way to Defeat Bones

No, let Jones prove more to us before a victory over him alone can make anyone the GOAT.

 

He is top 5 already.

 

Did you even bother to read this thread?

Nobody has said that a victory over Jones in and of itself would make anybody the GOAT. The point that I and several other posters have made is that beating Jones, who's clearly established himself as an elite fighter (to claim otherwise at this point is ****ing ridiculous), and winning a UFC title in the process would top off Henderson's already impressive resume.

Honestly, these discussions about who the GOAT is in MMA are pretty ****ing silly. The sport is less than 20 years old. Now that it's mainstream, we're going to see higher level athletes participating in it. We're also going to see more fighters like Jordan Mein, Rory MacDonald and Michael McDonald who are well-rounded killers at a very young age. You guys really think that you are going to be able to call Shogun the LHW GOAT based on a two year run in PRIDE ten or even five years from now?

 

I agree with all of this except the part about higher-level athletes entering. Extremely high-level athletes have been operating in MMA since the '90s as evidenced by the significant number of guys who claim Olympian status and big-time NCAA accomplishments.

 

This is true. I didn't mean to insinuate that there haven't been a lot of legit athletes in the sport since its inception, but I do feel like the quality of fighters has been steadily increasing.

 

And I think that's due to the sport existing long enough to figure out what does and doesn't work in a real fight. Mark Coleman was a serious, serious athlete, roiding or not, but prime Coleman would be murdered today because he couldn't do anything except wrestle and headbutt. Now those same type of athletes are training the proper disciplines and apply proper conditioning methods to what is one of the most grueling and cardio-intensive sports around which is why we are seeing some straight beasts.

 

NO...

... I read the thread title then posted my response, I`m just getting around to the rest of the posts now.

 

If there was no Bones Jones, then Shogun-Henderson might very well have been for the light-heavyweight title. And winning that belt to become the alpha of the UFC's light-heavyweight division might just have pushed Hendo into the #1 ATG spot, because really what more could he be asked to do?

Unfortunately for Henderson, Jon Jones does exist, and instead of Shogun-Henderson being an epic war for the title belt, it was an epic war to win a close decision over one of Bones' children. :yep

:hat

 

[Nah, hendo still has too many losses to be considered the greatest of all time. now, if he defeated jones and silva afterwards, he's walking on hallowed ground, that's for sure!

 

This aint boxing son. Hendo's opposition has been consistently stella, and the fact that he has 8 losses isnt a bad thing

If he'd defeated either Anderson or Page, and maybe even Jake, his case would be stronger though. Otherwise he's lost to ATG's, only Misaki is a ''bad loss'' imo

 

I don't know I felt Hendo was damn lucky not to pick up some more losses, Ninja, Kondo, Bustamante 2, Franklin were all close fights that could've gone either way imo. 6 Split decisions is nothing to sneeze at.

That being said, he's without a doubt a top 5 ATG and has nowhere but to go up from here.

 

Good point, I havent watched the Ninja fight in god knows how long, but seem to remember thinking Ninja won

 

Jon Jones is likely to remain unbeaten over the next 12 months too good at the moment-

So far

2011

Feb WSub2 (Guillotine Choke) R. Bader 12-0

Mar Wkor3 (Punches and Knees) S. Rua 19-4 UFC Light-Heavyweight

Sep WSub4 (RNC) Q.R.Jackson 32-8 UFC Light-Heavyweight


My predication

Dec WUD5 L. Machida 17-2 UFC Light-Heavyweight

2012

Feb WSub3 (RNC) D. Henderson 29-8 UFC Light-Heavyweight

Jul Wkor1 (Knees) R. Evans 16-1-1 UFC Light-Heavyweight

Sept Wsub5 (armlock) S. Rua II 22-6 UFC Light-Heavyweight

Nov Wkor3 (punches) M. Lawal 10-1 UFC Light-Heavyweight