Who is G.O.AT of MMA?

Oh, God...!

 

The opposition Cormier faced is underwhelming. All old has-beens or never-beens or guys that went on to spank his ass once they had a bit more experience. The dude couldn't even put away 2000 year old Anderson Silva who's best days were best viewed from a mountain top with a telescope. Old Tubby would have struggled with guys like Coleman, take it to the bank.

 

Looked to me like he carried Anderson out of respect for an old legend stepping in as a late replacement.

DCs wins:

Bigfoot: 31 years old, Stopped him in the first round literally a few months after he beat the **** out of Fedor. Also beat Arlovski a year after Fedor did it, and thats cited as a top 5 win for Fedor. Also beat Reem who many accused Fedor of ducking.

Barnett: 35. One of the most obvious missed opportunity opponents for Fedor considering he was a top Pride guy who then spent years outside of the UFC after Pride folded. Had wins over multiple of Fedors opponents ie Nog, Semmy, Hunt and Rogers in addition to having wins over Randy and Fedors brother. Just before he fought DC he was on a long win streak which included beating Brett Rogers and then Kharitanov (another top Pride/none UFC guy that Fedor never fought), and after DC beat him he went to the UFC and beat Mir and Arlovski.

Mir: 34. Stopped Nog (Fedors best win) twice, knocked out Cro Cop (Fedors 2nd best win), beat Brock, beat Petey Williams (the guy who KO'd Coleman) in under a minute in his 4th pro fight. beat Big Tim (supposed to be a top 5 win for Fedor), stopped Bigfoot (the Fedor slayer) in the first round, beat two guys who have wins over Cro Cop in Kongo and Big Country.

Hendo - admittedly old at 44, but also a guy that KO'd Fedor in the first round at 41.

Rumble: 31. Considered one of the biggest punchers ever in MMA. DC beat him twice. First time he was on a long win streak that included beating Gus, lil Nog, Phil Davis and Arlovski. Second time he was on a 3 fight win streak that included stopping Glover and Bader in under 2 mins combined.

Gus : 28, wins over Glover, Jan and Shogun

Stipe: 36. Was being hailed as the GOAT UFC HW and with some even putting him over Fedor. Was on a win streak that included beating Ngannou, Reem, Fedor slayer Werdum, JDS and two of Fedors better opponents in Arlovski and Hunt. Also beat Cro Cop slayers Gonzaga and Big Country. Stopped Maldonado (a guy Fedor got badly hurt by and needed a gift decision over) in under a minute.

Lewis - 33. Another massive puncher. Win over Blaydes, Ngannou, Volkov, Ivanov, Tybura and Cro Cop slayers Gonzaga and Big Country.


I'm not seeing who these old has beens/never weres are? or the guys that spanked him after getting more experience? he was 39 when he KO'd Stipe in the first round then continued to have a competitive trilogy with Stipe as he got into his 40s. But you're saying this is an underwhelming resume compared to Coleman, who was in his 40s when he fought Fedor with nothing even close to DCs resume. The only guy Fedor beat who has more good wins than DC is Nog, but Nog also racked up a bunch of losses at a fairly young age and head to head would definitely not be favoured over DC.

 

No argument.

 

No, I want you to believe unconditionally in what you are claiming.

 

What am I claiming? that Jones fought better opposition than Fedor? that 40+ year old Mark Coleman wouldnt be a handful for DC? these are controversial opinions to you?

 

Maybe you need to look at your list more closely.

That's not what I said. Try again.

You're hanging your hat off wins over guys that were well past their best. I didn't mention Fedor's wins over Rizzo, Mir, Sonnen and Rampage who are all big names, because frankly those were not the best versions of them. By your logic I should. Fedor himself started becoming down from his prime at around the Arlovski win.

 

Not sure why you think this is so hard to believe? Silva stepped in right at the last moment and is a well liked old legend. DC took him down at will, kept almost the entire fight on the ground and was pretty clearly coasting along. Izzy probably carried Silva too.

Yeah i'm looking and still not seeing it, I guess Hendo ? I even contextualised the age of the fighters at the time and where they were at in their careers leading up to DC beating them. Every single one of them (Hendo aside) was a very good win at that point in time. As far as HWs he beat those versions of Stipe, Mir, Barnett and Bigfoot would all be considered top 3 wins on Fedors resume, Lewis would be top 5.

You think 39 year old Mir, 41 year old Chael and 40 year old Rampage are remotely comparable to any of the opponents I listed DC beating? those were borderline circus fights at that point, where were those guys ranked compared to the guys DC fought?

You're probably right, but bringing it back to the original point. He was 23 when he had his first pro fight and 33 when he started losing BADLY. Jones was already fighting in the UFC at 21 and at 36 is stopping top 5 ranked HWs in the first round.

 

You seem to be very impressed with the depth of the HWs in the UFC. I am less so. That is what this boils down to

 

Again, thats 16 years into Jones's career when hes several years older than Fedor was when he started getting faceplanted in the first round by 41 year old MWs, and Jones had already put together a long list of great wins at 205. Like even if you take away that HW fight him and GSP already had the best overall wins of the GOAT contenders.

And Gane, limited as he may be, would have a good chance at beating the Cro Cop Fedor beat imo. CC probably had better grappling but its likely to be a pure stand up fight and Gane can absolutely hold his own there. We havent seen Gane getting absolutely flatlined by journeymen the way CC did shortly before and shortly after the Fedor fight.

 

See this is what I'm talking about. The UFC HW scene is as thin AF. You seem to regard Gane as some top striker when in fact he got well beaten by Ngannou who in my opinion is a spastic as far as skills go. Cro Cop had an extremely long and prestigious kickboxing record behind him before he even started MMA. He has wins over guys like LeBanner, Aerts, Bernardo, Greco, Feitosa, Sefo, Bonjasky, Hunt and Bob Sapp when he was still scary. He arguably beat Hug in Switzerland. That's a heaped body count of absolute striking legends. Filipovic would mop up Gane before breakfast.

 

I didnt say the UFC HW scene (especially now) wasnt thin. I said that Gane would have a good chance against Cro Cop head to head. Why wouldnt he? he has a huge height and reach advantage, is more technical and has a better chin. Also Gane landed 63 shots on the feet to Ngannous 40, at a 69% to 41% connect rate. In other words, he pretty soundly outstruck him and turned the biggest puncher in MMA history into a wrestler.

Meanwhile....

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Filipovic has fought and beaten taller, heavier and more renowned guys than Gane. This guy wouldn't crack his top 5 wins.

Ngannou is a dreadful striker. I'd expect a top pro to turn him inside out. That clown Fury will demonstrate the levels to this game when he takes on Ngannou in his sideshow fight.

 

GSP, Fedor and Jon Jones have the best claims IMO.