A green Cassius Clay would have gotten his ass kicked by Liston and others. He became one of the best boxers ever if not the best by having a good trainer and taking fights that he could win and improve his skills at the same time. He never bit off more than he could chew and grew tremendously as a fighter.
Diego has amazing skills and is a top 10, top 15 guy in his stacked weight. Why the hell is he fighting easy fights still? Diaz is an exception but also with Diego's style, he could have lost to Diaz but I never imagined he was in danger of getting destroyed or embarrassed (the kind of thing that can kill a carreer)
Now think of Vitor. The UFC treated him like an amazing freak show. Will Tank stop him? Will Tra stop him? Scott Forrozo?(sp) Silva? They had this beast and instead of maturing him, they threw him to the lions to see what would finally stop him.
The same happened with Saku. Amazing talent but handled roughly. On one hand I thank god for early Vitor fights and Saku vs. Igor, Silva 1 and 2, Jackson, Cro Cop.... But on the other hand Saku and Vitor could still be undefeated. They can beat guys like Silva, Couture, Minotoro, Alister Overeem, and Liddel. Vitor and Saku have lost to these guys but I think with better carreer planning, they wouldn't have.
Who knows, its all "coulda woulda shoulda" but look at some guys who were allowed to grow- Silva and Gomi are pretty good examples of building up and then beating the best regularly. Hey, Ali wasn't undefeated forever but he was damn good and I think his path is the main reason for that.
I'm clearly talking about the match ups he is taking and the career path- I didn't say that Diego is the best ever and is about to prove it. He is extremely talented and I saw some interesting parallels.
Who knows in MMA, he could have a BJ Penn type run or he could run into a losing streak. Either way, I am a fan of his because it's great to see a good wrestler that stays extremely busy and a great sub artest that has good wrestling and actually goes for subs. (Arona frustrates me) ;-)
"reason ali didnt fight liston in his 10th fight is because the money wasnt there yet."
Not true. This fight took time to happen for two reasons:
At the time Liston was one of the most feared fighters. He had destroyed everyone he fought to that point, and was also a bit of a "shady character".
Clay was a green fighter. After his victory at the olympics, he fought a bunch of stiffs, and to that point had not beaten a major reputable fighter. This is why it was one of the biggest upsets in boxing history at that time.
CBB- I never said Sanchez was thrown to the wolves, I said too many fighters are. The UFC is notorious for putting inexperienced guys against veterans.