It’s shilling for the UFC to say he’s overrated and has had more than a few duds in his career? I was saying this way before he left the UFC, which wasn’t even that long ago. Yoel at many points is boring at best, and frustrating to watch. For a long time the anticipation of him getting the KO was always there, but it slowly deteriorated over the years.
I had to look up the Cavalcante fight. Romero looked kinda shitty. He got a warning in the first for doing nothing, even Bas pointed out his lack of striking diversity. He gassed himself out swinging wild against the cage in the second and then got hit hard and clean afterwards. There’s also no way that was an early stoppage, it took a long time for Romero to get up. One of the comments mentioned he ended up with a neck injury that put him out for a while.
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He was at no point unconscious. He started to chill once the ref stopped it. Early
He was not intelligently defending himself and did not protest the stoppage. He was done.
Yeah that wasn’t an early stoppage with the way he went down. Feijao was a beast back in those days. He had Hendo in all kinds of trouble before getting stopped himself.
Overrated, no. He’s a danger to anyone so he is shunned. If he had the belt people would go for him, now they just want to avoid him like the plague. He’s become the best gatekeeper ever ha ha. Only Izzy wanted a piece of him, for his legacy (and why is because Yoel is super highly rated!), so props to him, yet as soon as he felt that power, he became super cautious and we got a dud. Most Yoel bouts are exciting.
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I think “overrated” is a term that has very negative connotations but when I say that, I say it with kindness and respect. I am a fan of Yoel and I have massive respect for his skills, and for what he has accomplished. He will be immortalized for his classic one-liners, dance moves, and unforgettable, at times unbelievable athletic ability in the octagon.
I think highly of him as a fighter. He has a great resume, and he has finished some of the very top guys in spectacular fashion. However, he hasn’t won a fight since 2018. It seems as though fans are rating him based on his what he could have been, rather than what he was/is. Yes I do think he beat Whittaker the second time but he lost the decision. I don’t think he beat Izzy but that fight sucked.
In my eyes he could/should have been a world champion with 2-3 title defenses under his belt. Between missing weight and underperforming on a few occasions, he couldn’t get out of his own way. His fans making excuses for his losses didn’t help, and the idea that stoolgate played a massive role in the trajectory of his career is not lost on me. He’s obviously at the very least a second-tier elite level fighter into his early-mid 40s who still probably nobody wants to fight because of his power and unpredictability. He was/is a scary dude. It’s just that he’s treated as the uncrowned champ when he’s not. His fight IQ sucks and this has led to some duds, although admittedly later in his career.
So the word “overrated” may not be the right word to use, but he definitely never became as good as we all thought he would be.
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OK. I give you that. But he is still the same danger as ever. Not better, not worse. People make a deal of his 44 yo, but has he lost flexibility, explosiveness, power, skills? Nope. And while Davis did beat him convincingly, most of his losses have been split decision (even this one was though I don’t agree) and VERY close. Besides his KO loss long ago, he’s been competitive against top guys, all of them.
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Yoel will forever be undefeated in our hearts.
Muscles trump movement and his statuesque style allows us ample time to gaze at him.
If people refuse to stand in front of the 3 bombs per fight he throws then that’s their problem. And winning in our hearts is more important than on judges scorecards.
Forever undefeated.
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Best MW to never win the belt and I thought he beat Whittaker
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I agree with everything you said except I think he’s less dangerous because he doesn’t seem as motivated or hungry.