Prime Sakuraba
Prime Hughes
Prime Mino (though even post-prime Mino is still one of the better heavyweights out there)
Who else?
mark kerr and igor v
No way on Igor V.
lest you forget that igor devasted a prime kerr and tko'd/tapped out a monster in nick nutter while on his back pinned against the fence.
buvaiser - lest you forget that igor devasted a prime kerr and tko'd/tapped out a monster in nick nutter while on his back pinned against the fence.
I didn't forget.
prime Crocop would be a beast for anyone today too.
inf0 - Prime Igor would absolutely kill most of the current HWs.. I don't know what you're smoking... but maybe you should look up some of his old fights.
exactly he would smash a lot of guys but i think he looked better at 205 todays hw are too big for him
Are you all talking about Prime Cro Cop or Performance Enhanced Cro Cop? Or are the two inseparable?
inf0 -bongwater7654 -inf0 - Prime Igor would absolutely kill most of the current HWs.. I don't know what you're smoking... but maybe you should look up some of his old fights.
exactly he would smash a lot of guys but i think he looked better at 205 todays hw are too big for him
Maybe.. maybe not.. people are forgetting (or just not realizing) just how good Igor was in his prime. Size differences really didn't matter at all with him, he was so fast and powerful.
Anything Igor can do, Fedor can do better.
"Fedor is the best striker in the heavyweight division."--Mark Hunt
Regardless, even if you think Prime Igor outstrikes Fedor (and maybe he would, I was just being provocative), Fedor and Lesnar both batter Igor on the ground.
inf0 - Prime Igor would absolutely kill most of the current HWs.. I don't know what you're smoking... but maybe you should look up some of his old fights.
lol. No, he wouldn't. The sport has evolved far beyond where Igor ever was.
Igor only and I mean ONLY started to lose once Pride making him fight every 2 months started to catch up w/him.Why do you think he had to retire?
Igor was good enough to compete with and possibly beat ANY fighter I have seen to this day.
Frank Shamrock possibly.
He lost a good part of his prime imo, and we may never know how good he could have been.
DannyOcean - Frank Shamrock possibly.
He lost a good part of his prime imo, and we may never know how good he could have been.
da Vinci 81 -inf0 - Prime Igor would absolutely kill most of the current HWs.. I don't know what you're smoking... but maybe you should look up some of his old fights.
lol. No, he wouldn't. The sport has evolved far beyond where Igor ever was.
I think you give a lot of HWs too much credit here... the TS asked who could COMPETE, not who would win every fight.
It's not much of a stretch to think that a Prime Igor could compete with most of the win 1, lose 1 guys currently in the UFCs HW div.
That said, Igor would probably be fighting at 185 today anyhow. Hard to say how'd that go really.
Until Igor fought Sperry(w/an open fucking cut on his head before it even started)he was competitive against every fighter he ever faced.
Igor today would...
lose to Fedor
lose to Lesnar
lose to Barnett
beat Mir
lose to Nog
beat Rogers
beat Arlovski
beat Couture
beat Carwin
beat Dos Santos
voorhees - Until Igor fought Sperry(w/an open fucking cut on his head before it even started)he was competitive against every fighter he ever faced.
Igor today would...
lose to Fedor
lose to Lesnar
lose to Barnett
beat Mir
lose to Nog
beat Rogers
beat Arlovski
beat Couture
beat Carwin
beat Dos Santos
This seems pretty fair. I think Carwin and Velasquez would beat him.
inf0 -
If you don't think those fights would be competitive(which is what you asked), you must have just looked at his record or something. Igor might not win against Fedor or Lesnar but those fights would be competitive.
I'd figure someone bright enough to point out that Igor was like the prequel to Fedor would realize what a statement like that means. In his prime Vovchanchyn would have been competive against any of todays best.
I suppose you're right that they'd be competitive. I really meant to ask who could realistically win against today's best. I don't think Igor might actually beat the best of today, like I do with Saku, Hughes, and Mino (vs Lesnar).
edit.
Hollywood Blonde -
This seems pretty fair. I think Carwin and Velasquez would beat him.
They might.
The way I saw it was that if Igor could beat Kerr 2x(basically)and Nutter 2x((both better wrestlers than Cain and Carwin)He could handle Cain and Carwin.
Dont forget that in most of Igors fights there were not any standups.
In todays game imagine what Igor could do if people couldnt just hold him down and stall,and he had the chance to unleash his hands over and over again.
You could make the argument that Igor would do BETTER today than back then.