I agree, he lost the killer instinct after he was destroyed by Cro Cop. I'll still root for him when he fights but he's just a brutal ko waiting to happen.
I know this may sound extreme, but going by video evidence, I don't even think the Wanderlei who fought in the Pride MW GP of 2005 looked like the same guy who'd ****ed Rampage up twice in 03-04. He definitely looked shot by the time he fought Chuck in 2007.
Yeah, but he's not smiling in the 'before' and he is smiling in the 'after', so obviously his eyes will looked "smiling" in the after but not in the before. Those two pictures tell us nothing, especially considering the first one is airbrushed to ****.
Wandy's never been the same since he fought Mark Hunt. After that he suffered the kind of beat downs that men simply don't come back from. His beat down vs CC was by far one of the most terrifying displays of violence iv EVER seen in boxing or MMA. That was painful to watch (although i enjoyed the fight immensely ). Wandy's been shot for a long long time and is running on fumes. No drop to 85 or any other lower weight is going to rejuvenate his career. As much as i admire his will, desire and cojones he's finished.
I agree. But he looks happy, he's in a good shape, let him be. He's not retiring until he feels it's time. Just be happy with what you've got. I think it's gonna be an entertaining fight and I'm a big fan of both guys, and can't wait to hear Sandstorm start up.
I think Wanderlei deserves to be ranked as one of MMA's all-time elite, but I agree he has been a ghost for some time now. It speaks volumes about current UFC standards outwith the champions that a shot to hell Wandy still got the better of a top ranked mw like Bisping. Makes you think what prime versions of Wandy, Rampage, Hendo etc would do today.
Wandy will go down as one of the top 10 of All Times. His impact on MMA has been immense. But alas the fat lady isn't singing any more... She's screaming... And all those 3 would wreak absolute havoc. The fact they're still competitive now despite fighting when the sport had far less rules in far more brutal divisions, proves how wide the gap is in quality and depth compared with fighters of the late 90's early 00's.
I can't really make sense of MMA. Training and technique should have improved fighters over the last decade, but when I watch the likes of Wanderlei, Sakuraba, Shogun, Rampage, Fedor, Big Nog, Crocop and Hendo in Pride around 2003ish, I think they would ****ing mutilate the best fighters of today. Their power and skills don't seem to have been surpassed at all.
That's because all those men came from DISTINCT disciplines. In addition they were far hungrier as the sport was very niche. The money the likes of Kerr and Coleman were being paid in PRIDE pales into insignificance compared with the current purses the top UFC stars make. As iv said numerous times on this board the quality of MMA fighters is bound to diminish with time. Simply because the sport has spawned a NEW martial art. Whereas before you had fighters who reached the pinnacle of their individual disciplines. You now have a bunch of fighters who have never achieved this. And thus are average at everything rather than being great at one thing. This is to be expected as it's not possible to excel at all facets of Mixed Martial arts. The dilution of martial arts will in my eyes signal the demise of MMA.