Nick was Strikeforce welterweight champ with three defences and WEC welterweight champ.
Well tournament titles. But not titles as we know them today. Tournaments are just not marketable. It is all about the money at the end of the day.
GOAT arguments are somewhat nebulus. Maybe My Favorite AT MFAT is better.
Here’s what l find strange. Sportsmen who dominated their era and stay beyond the usual competitive age are severely downgraded. If Bolt tried next Olympics (maybe this one) and finished near back, is he suddenly not GOAT, after 3 Olympic doubles? Or swimmer Weissmuller, undefeated for a dozen years since 12 year old girls are as fast.
Some of those early fighters like Hendo and Fedor did kick a lot of ass, just got too old (and game evolved after they were too old to learn new tricks).
2 Likes
Haha I agree, using UFC 1 type format you would have to kill Nate or Diaz because they could would keep coming back at you.
I agree, and it will happen to the new guys. Soon they’ll start aging, start losing to younger guys, and all of a sudden they were never that good.
I was going to make fun of those titles but they are more than what I have so I’ll shut up.
Khabib recently said he is not the GOAT but one of the GOATs.
1 Like
I think Khabib’s approach to the GOAT conversation makes the most sense to me. Given all the variables involved, it’s more of a tier, or an exclusive club, than it is a hierarchy of greatness.
Khabib has a diplomatic approach to the GOAT conversation for sure, but there’s never been anybody close to as dominant as him. For anyone who watched the fight tonight, Islam is continuing his legacy quite nicely. The UFC standings continue to baffle me. Conor’s in 7th place, despite having one win at 155 since 2016, and Islam, who’s now on an 8-fight win streak and is being ducked by every top 10 fighter in the division, is in 9th place. There’s not a fighter in the division who could defeat him right now, IMO.
2 Likes
Having made that statement you’ve done the exact opposite of what you said you weren’t going to do.
Was there some untalented jabronies in strikeforce. Yes there was. But there was also heaps of talented fighters in there as well.
Islam does not have nearly the fight IQ that Khabib does. He gets praise for being athletic and talented. He might even be superior in that regards to Khabib. But he does not string together his fighting in the seamless fashion that Khabib did.
He called out RDA and Chandler. Which are great callouts. How he does against them will really tell if he can get the belt and hold onto it. I think he should fight a top 5 and if he wins gets a title shot.
Also how fucking big did Khabib look in Islams corner. Has to be close to 200 lbs.
Speaking of caucus based fighters. Shame Zabit Magomedsharipov isn’t getting any love and has been removed from the rankings due to inactivity. He was top three last I recall.
As for the rest of that Fight Night card.
Meisha Tate. Awesome to see her fight. I have always been a huge fan of her. I know she came in there to be the first person to put Marion “away” but that was not an impressive win to me. Nice that she got her feet wet but unless she makes major improvements she will never get close to that belt. Nunes would eviscerate the Miesha that fought Marion.
Also womens MMA has been a big thing for what now almost ten years. Surely that is long enough for enough talent to be built up that the number 12 ranked bantamweight fighter isn’t a fighter who is on a four fight skid.
Anyways. That Polish Gamrot guy made quick work of The Heathen. Was super disappointed because I wanted to see Jeremy Stephens drop those crazy bombs of his. Gamrot could be a serious contender soon.
Overall was a good card.
1 Like
Concur - though hoping it comes up with more exposure to higher-level fighters.
Yeah, this is both disappointing for two reasons. 1) I think the only legitimate competition in women’s MMA is going on at strawweight. 2) I think it robs Amanda of some of her props when her nearest competition is so much further down the food chain.
I’ve found Jeremy annoying for a while - I think it’s time for him to find a new day job. Had never heard of Gamrot before this fight but excited to see what he does next.
Well fellas.
We have an exciting main event this weekend.
The return of the snake in the grass. TJ Dillashaw. Versus Cory Sandhagen.
I am calling Sandhagen 2nd round KO.
What I want though is a dominant performance by TJ so that he can fight Yahn after Yahn beats Aljo’s ass for stealing his belt.
But heres why I don’t see that happening:
-TJ is 35 years to Coreys 29.
-TJ is 5’6 with 67 inch reach to Coreys 5’11 and 70 inch reach.
-TJ has been out for two years.
I have no idea how Corey is able to make 135. He also smashed Frankie Edgar on his last run at the title and I have a soft spot for the older guys on the roster. Soo fuck him.
As for the rest of the card. Bunch of people I am not familiar with. Except for Micky Gall and Eubanks on the prelim.
Anyways keen to hear any other interested peoples opinion on what is likely to go down.
1 Like
I’ll go with this as well. However, I’m actually hoping for this as I find Dillashaw annoying AF. I have mixed feelings about Yan. His dominance is unquestionable and I wouldn’t mind seeing him atop the division for a while. That said, that was some dirty shit he pulled last time - with or without clearance from his corner. Hard for me to fully get behind someone like that.
1 Like
Yeah fair enough. He was so talented though. I hope he still has it. We will soon find out.
I do not share that sentiment in the slightest.
Aljo was clearly stalling.
For it to be dirty you have to consider intent. Was Yan aware that the knee was illegal. I do not believe he was. Either way I think he will maul Aljo in their next rendezvous.
1 Like
Maybe - so he deserves to get a point removed or whatever, not brain damage.
I don’t think he was either, but ignorance isn’t really a good excuse in this instance. This wasn’t some marginal technicality. I don’t think kneeing someone in the face with both hands on the ground has been legal in any UFC competition for some time now (not an expert on the rules, so could be wrong).
Concur - and I’ll be fine with it when it happens.
1 Like
Ehh. I didn’t think what Yan did was “dirty” really, and Aljo’s behavior since - squaring up with Cejudo like it’s their next fight, parading around with the belt, and just acting in general that night like he couldn’t fight anymore - all super bitch moves.
I wanna see TJ lose. I’m not denying his talent, and I don’t care at all about the roids because they’re all on gear, he’s just SUCH a sore loser. It didn’t help that his crying about losing to Cejudo was because he didn’t get to take advantage of the effects of EPO, but it’s just impossible for me to root for someone who literally cries or just makes excuses and blames the refs every time they lose. Not saying he will lose, though - he’s still an incredible fighter. Excited for the fight for sure.
1 Like
Fine - “dirty” is a bad word to describe it as there was a genuine question mark on his face. I find his ignorance of the basic rules inexcusable, especially as an experienced fighter with a high trajectory in the division.
And agree re: Aljo too - he should keep his tail tucked until he defeats someone legitimately. But whatever, he’s not going to spend much time at the top anyway so it’ll be a self-correcting problem.
1 Like
Agreed. And I’m not arguing with the rules either - that’s a legitimate DQ.
My two cents before the prelims get going …
Allegedly this is a real “hardcore’s” card, but I’ll admit that there’s not a ton that’s lighting me on fire. I’d love to see Dillashaw competitive at 135 again, but the MMA game is evolving so fast that yesterday’s innovators are tomorrow’s also-rans.
Very interested to see the match. Bantamweights are about my size, (Sandhagen not withstanding haha!) so I’m always up for seeing how they look (physically as well as technically).
Here are the bantamweight rankings for reference. A division in transition to be sure!
Agreed.
Kinda hard to label the dude a dirty fighter for one instance of confusion. I bet he never knees a downed opponent again.
100%
I don’t think thats what he was saying. I think that was his argument to all those who are questioning what his performance will be on his return without EPO. He is claiming he never used PEDS before. Maybe he is not being truthful.
But he said he took the EPO because he was starving himself to get to 125 crashed his hermatocrit. His red blood cell count. EPO specifically functions to stimulate red blood cell production. He said the EPO did not help. USADA went back and tested all his samples and they all came clean. So as far as evidence goes we only have that one hot sample.
So in summation I do not think he was crying about losing to Cajudo because his roids were not working. Also that stoppage sucked.
Ehh. In a title fight. With adrenaline. Its easy to make mistakes. Jon Jones did. And he has been around way longer and speaks English.
They are so good now. But TJ was ahead of the curve when he was suspended. We shall see.
These bantamweights have grown IMO. They used to be a bunch of manlets. Like Chad Mendes. There still are a bunch of manlets but a lot of these guys are like 5’8-5’9 and 5’11 in Sandhagens case.
Mendes wasn’t that much smaller than the current crop. In the top 15 right now most bantamweights are 5’ 6" and 5’7" at most. Sandhagen and O’Malley are the only ones in the top 15 over 5’9".