“Prime BJ” as in the one with that 155 run? That BJ would give the LW’s today a hell of a lot of trouble if not knock a few of them dead.
BJ took fights he shouldn’t have and also was relatively lazy compared to his absurd talent and I think that stains the minds of people from remembering his skill set and what he could do when he was in the game and ready to go.
Yeah. I know this isn’t going to be a popular view, but calling yourself the GOAT should be treated the same as steroids IMO–automatic disqualification from the GOAT conversation.
He can’t be the LW GOAT because everyone already agrees that BJ is the LW GOAT. And he can’t be the P4P GOAT without at least being the LW GOAT. Also… he can’t be the P4P GOAT because there are actually fighters who went up in weight multiple times, tested themselves, captured the imagination and hearts of the fans, and won championships. Khabib vs BJ is debatable for the LW GOAT title, but it’s hilarious to even mention Khabib as a P4P GOAT
Cause khabib was talking smack saying he’s greater than BJ. As a LW, he’s got a better resume than BJ. But overall, BJ beating Hughes is greater than any of Khabib’s wins.
Usman and Colby are terrible Match ups for khabib. The best wrestler khabib fought on paper is Justin who has shitty BJJ and barely uses his wrestling
If BJ stayed at 155 his whole career, he would have way more defenses and far less losses.
Styles makes fights and BJ fought more match ups than Khabib. Khabib never fought a decent wrestler. Gathje was the best wrestler he fought. If Khabib went to 170 and got wrecked, it would show how much his size played a role in his dominance. Even Conor was untouchable at 145.
Izzy lost his undefeated record when he moved up as well.
Anderson didn’t want to risk fighting for the LHW belt either.
Kenny Florian too buddy. Plus they have better grappling than the guys Khabib beat. I take Diego whose never been subbed in his career in a grappling match over everyone Khabib’s has fought
Its like the ken shamrock/franklin gif where it stops early so it paints the narrative of whatever the person wants… bj got knocked down there, while drunk as fuck, but wasn’t ko’d. He then destroyed the dude from back mount.
Stevenson, Diego, and Frankie all match up very, very well against Khabib. As do Fitch, Sherk, Florian, and Gomi.
This. Limiting it strictly to LW performances is just silly when you have someone doing something like BJ did. The funny thing is, even if we do limit it to LW performances, BJ’s depth of competition is much greater than Khabib’s.
Half of those 29-0 opponents are people no one’s ever heard of, and half of the remaining half are guys who would be lucky to be ranked in the top 20 in their division. Win/loss records don’t tell the whole story.
Khabib does have some scrubs on his record and BJ is right in that Khabib wouldn’t move up for fear of being on his back. That said, Khabib could come back tomorrow and clean out the division again. His toughest comp would be Dariush, Gamrot and Arman imo because of their scrambling ability and cardio. Everyone else he wrist rides to a stoppage against the cage. (This is taking into account he never fights Islam).