Which fighters were/are just one attribute short of being the GOAT?

For instance, BJ Penn has everything a fighter needs, except for a gas tank. Pretty much all of his losses that I've seen have come because he's gassed out much earlier than his opponent, after he whipped them for the first round.

I guess a boxing equivalent would be that if Hearns had a chin on the same kind of level as Hagler or Leonard did, he would have been pretty much unstoppable.

What are some MMA guys who just need/needed that one thing, and they would beat anyone? But instead they had one flaw in their game and it let them down repeatedly?

:hat

 

But that's simply a training and experience thing. I'm talking about an innate ability.

BJ Penn just doesn't have the discipline to put the hard yards in to keep himself in top shape.

Hearns just couldn't take a punch the way his fellow greats could.

:hat

 

A while ago people were talking about the UFC Hall of Fame, and somebody said that the qualifier for whether or not someone gets in should be "Is he clearly better than Rich Franklin?"

If you are, then you're a HOFer.

If you're not, then you aren't.

I thought that was a fair call.

:hat

 

Nope. He's the bouncer. He lets the true HOFers in, and kicks the asses of all the pretenders. :good

:hat