What does it do for Aldo's ATG standing if he beats Pettis after just beating Edgar?

In 5-10 yrs Fedor could be knocked out of the top 5 ATG list if guys like Jones, Aldo, Silva, GSP, etc. keep beating elite opponents.

 

Nudge, not leap. It's all about the big picture Popkins, and I'm not gonna waste my time ranking him after another W.... Gonna save it when he gets some more and is towards the end if his career. He has an ass load of fight left in him.

 

MMA, as it's currently organized, is 20 years old (only 12 if you're counting from the adoption of the Unified Rules which clearly demarcated categories like Featherweight), so all of this talk about the GOAT and ATGs is ridiculous. A guy can come out of nowhere, have a good run for a couple of years and then be considered an ATG. Aldo was already the best Featherweight of all time (whatever that means) before the Edgar fight. If he beat Pettis, that would just add to his resume at the weight.

I have to say that I don't give Aldo extra credit for the fact that Edgar and Pettis are career 155ers because Aldo is a massive FW (and natural LW) who looked almost as big compared to Edgar as Henderson and Maynard (who are generally considered to be very large LWs) did.

 

He won't, not in my book. I'll tell you that now. A few people on that list are going to lose to one another and just because he's from another era doesn't mean he gets washed away by a few Greats in this one.

Cormier, JJ, Brown Pride... Time will tell, but someone is getting knocked out, someone won't be the same after they all square off. At this point I think Brown Pride will top JDS as he has more potential, but Bigfoot will be a top fighter for some time.

 

Anthony Pettis is going to be a massive (possibly drained and weak) FW too. Several FW Contenders were LWs. I see what your driving at, but these men are motivated by UFC Gold. That, and the superman punch off the cage is what got AP to challenge Jose Aldo. Nobody put a gun to Pettis' head, what is Aldo supposed to do besides never back down!?

 

As Thom said he is already considered the FW GOAT and he has some years left in him so lets wait until he comes closer to retirement before start ranking him seriously in the ATG standings.
He is good no doubt about it but let him keep doing what he is doing

 

Well, that's bull****. Nobody from here on out is going to get the benefit of fighting freakshows (Zuluzinho, Hong Man Choi) and guys who are past it (Coleman, Randleman, Goodridge) or fighting in fringe organizations while still being considered the top dog in the sport. Who knows what Fedor's record would look like if he were forced to fight legit competition every time out.

Cain lost because he had to fight a guy who is a beast coming off of a serious injury and a long layoff after he suffered another injury in training. If Cain were in the position that Fedor was for much of his career, his management would have been able to arrange tune up fights with the Phil De Frieses and Rob Broughtons of the world before going anywhere near Junior.

 

Well to be fair Fedor did have a good run of good competition before he met the Zuluzinhos and the HMCs of the sport

 

I'm not saying that I wouldn't give him credit beating a very tough opponent. I just wouldn't give him extra like the TS was alluding to for being a purportedly smaller fighter against guys who've been campaigning at a higher weight class. Edgar gets a lot of consideration because of his size. He's actually a natural Bantamweight who was (and probably still should be) Lightweight champion. Aldo is natural Lightweight fighting at 145.

And as far as the Pettis fight is concerned, there haven't been any contracts signed yet, so I'm not going to get too excited. Aldo got put on the spot at the post-fight press conference and agreed. Reports are that his camp doesn't want the fight. Andre Pederneiras said that Aldo should be fighting Lamas next.

 

True. I'm not denying that he legitimately established himself as the top HW in the sport. However, it's considerably easier to keep the kind of streak that he had alive when you're not facing the best competition every time out.

In boxing, fighters like Mayweather and Pacquiao get **** for their choices in opponents. I don't see why we can't have a rational conversation about the level of Fedor's opposition throughout his career now that he's retired. I wouldn't have even bothered to make a post questioning his record three or four years ago because of all the zealotry and fanaticism surrounding him.

 

Who did Fedor had to beat in 2006 and 2007 except Couture, Mir, Sylvia and Arlovsky....he beat 2 of them and was about to fight Couture when DW **** blocked him...


But let's not talk about this...not like fact would change anything into this conversation....

 

I can dig it, and also don't feel so strongly about two probable Ws. Like I said, lots of fight left in Aldo.

 

I dont have a problem if a top fighter like Fedor gets an easy fight once in a while.
After beating 5-10 top contender fighters and goes and gets a fight against Zulu just to keep busy or so that he doesnt need to be on his a game to take a "relaxing" fight.

 

Silva took a couple easy fights when there where clearly better challanges. Jon Jones is fighting 2 middle weights in a row. Lesner got an easy run to a title shot. I think its unfair to downplay Fedor's career because there where easy fights inbetween his great wins. At the end of the day he fought all the best opposition that where available to him. Lets not forget the 2 fights we wanted to see where against Coture and Barnett which both didn't get made because of issues beyond Fedors control.