"chucks fought more elite fighters than anyone active today, id post the list but my fingers get tired from all the typing"
I dunno look at some lightweights like Sakurai... he's fought:
Jens Pulver, Joachim Hansen, Takanori Gomi, Matt Hughes, Anderson Silva, Caol Uno, Jutaro Nakao, Crosley Gracie, Rodrigo Gracie, Tetsuji Kato, Daiju Takase, Luis Azeredo, Shinya Aoki, Milton Viera, Ryo Chonan, Dave Menne, Frank Trigg and so forth.
"chucks fought more elite fighters than anyone active today"
So he beat Wand, Shogun, Arona, Lilttle Nog, Rampage? LOL Chuck hasn't beaten any top5 LHW's and somehow he's the best fighter in the world? More like most overrated fighter in history.
"Great. Now out of that list, how many has he beaten and how many were via KO?"
You have to win by KO to be a great fighter? I will make sure to let Minotauro and BJ Penn know that!
"So he beat Wand, Shogun, Arona, Lilttle Nog, Rampage? LOL Chuck hasn't beaten any top5 LHW's and somehow he's the best fighter in the world? More like most overrated fighter in history."
anyone that posts chuck has never beaten a top 5 205'er should be banned for trolling or ignorance...
yves thats an extremely impressive list, this could be a thread all on its own
pele (2nd fight), horn, monson, randleman, mezger, bustamante, suloev, belfort, sobral (2x), couture, overeem, ortiz (2x)
(edit i had belfort twice)
ESPN don't know Fedor. What can you say?
"pele (2nd fight), horn, monson, randleman, mezger, bustamante, suloev, belfort, sobral (2x), couture, overeem, ortiz (2x)"
And the Busta decision was... well, as The Dana succinctly put it, "Chuck lost."
The back-to-back KO's of Randleman and Mezger within the span of about a month are what really established Chuck as a legit top guy.
In addition, he's decisively beaten Randy 2x, Tito 2x, and Babalu 2x, who were all indisputable top ten guys at the time he faced them (with Randy being top 2 in their second fight, and Tito probably still top 5 in their first fight).
He also won a close decision over Vitor when Vitor was still good, KO-ed Alistair before Alistair became a top ten guy, won a lackluster decision over Suloev, and avenged his early loss to Horn.
He has also only lost to Randy and Rampage after becoming an elite fighter (same as with the Monson example, the Horn loss was when Chuck was a nobody and I don't place much weight on that either, Chuck was still green).
But again, while Chuck is definitely ONE OF the greatest MMA-ers ever, he is hardly, "the best fighter in the world bar none."
The "bar none" part is what every reasonable long-time MMA fan should take issue with.
Fedor and Chuck have both beaten several guys who were top ten at the time. But the difference is that Fedor has done it at HW, and he has never lost.
"I would take Pele off the list since Chuck had a sizeable weight advantage (this was pre-weight class days), as well as Monson, who was a nobody in MMA at that point (as was Chuck). "
i wouldnt... pele was one of the greatest fighters of his day, chuck was an unknown gringo brought in to showcase pele and like you said weight mattered much less then
and your reasoning that chuck should get no props for beating monson is just retarded (sorry)
Monson was a no-name in MMA at that point. What exactly had he accomplished in MMA to that point? Other than being submitted by David Dodd. (Who? Yes, exactly.)
Pele was not quite "one of the greatest fighters of his day" although he was definitely one of the most exciting, and I actually meant that weight did matter quite a bit in that fight. Chuck definitely used it to his advantage.
Let me ask, do you give Fedor a lot of props for beating Lindland?
If not, then why not - when you are citing the old win over a much lighter Pele to Chuck's credit when Lindland was a much more accomplished and highly ranked fighter than Pele ever was.
At least be consistent in your reasoning. As for me, I DON'T count Lindland as one of Fedor's top wins by virtue of the weight advantage. The same reason why I don't count Pele as one of Chuck's.
I dig chuck...
"On the same topic of ignorance of fighting in America, I was recently at a party with my friend who is a professional MMA fighter and one of the kids came up and said, OH HEY MAN YOU GOTTA MEET OUR FRIEND HE FIGHTS LIKE YOU!!! Soon enough we found out this mysterious fighter had "trained" for "about a year" and hadn't even had an amatuer fight. He didnt even know who Wanderlei Silva was or Fedor or Sakuraba (as mentioned above). Thats like me telling Michael Phelps that Im a swimmer too because Ive been in a pool before. Holy shit."
I fucking absolutely hate this shit...Especially when I'm at a party or something...
They are always "the best in the class" etc...Oh god, just stop a bullet with your teeth already, please....
correct.
"he's decisively beaten Randy 2x, Tito 2x, and Babalu 2x, who were all indisputable top ten guys"
yes he's beat some good competition. But not the best competition. How can he be considered the best when there's a shitload of top guys he hasn't beat.