Nah. There’s more to being a better fighter than having a better record. Look at the fights not the records
Title defense record sir. Deal with it. Everyone was talking about how Werdum was on his way to HW GOATdom until Stipe cracked him. Now all of a sudden, he’s “old”. You can’t have it both ways. HWs rely on power and they carry that well into their 30’s. Sure, JDS had years taken off his life by Cain, but he was still very good. Stipe was way more technical than Carwin and Brock, and every bit as capable a wrestler. He smashes both those guys. The best Reem was when he was Ubereem, and even that guy would drop fights he was supposed to win. Tough fight, but again, Stipe is more well rounded than Reem ever was with a better chin and better cardio.
And I’m actually with you when it comes to Pride. They had the best HWs during their heydey. And I never said Stipe was better than the top Pride HWs; I said he’s the best UFC HW ever. That said, I think he could have kept it standing vs Nog and battered him on the feet. Prime Crocop would be a tough fight for sure. I don’t think I’d pick Stipe there. Fedor beats everyone, ever.
Ah yes the loss to struve. Well, Anderson and GSP both have early losses. How’d that play out.
The only time Stipe was inactive was when he waited for his DC rematch, which he should have gotten instantly. Unfortunately, DC got a cherry picked title defense against Lewis, so Stipe had to wait. Not sure how the guy with the title defense record doesn’t get an instant rematch. But that’s UFC for you. And here recently, he more or less quietly retired barring a super fight with Jones after Franc squashed him in the rematch. Stipe’s run was not an inactive one. He often fought 3x a year.
He beat DC twice, and DC had to eyepoke the fuck out of him to win.
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This
Plus it’s a completely different scenario.
Fedor was in his prime destroying everyone and Cro Cop was coming up through the ranks of PRIDE, knocking everybody out. When those two guys fought, it was legitimately the number ONE vs. the number TWO heavyweight in the world.
With Jones and Stipe, that’s not the case. Stipe has been aging badly in his last few fights, and isn’t as accomplished as Fedor or Cro Cop. Jones is obviously the GOAT at 205 and moved up but lacks accomplishments at heavyweight. He’s also past his prime. On top of that, as OP mentioned, both guys have been inactive.
That period in PRIDE was also arguably the best era for heavyweight in MMA period, so the excitement for the sport and division was at a different level, period. As dominant as Fedor was, everyone knew Cro Cop was a legit threat and the second best guy.
If Stipe beats Jones then it’s because Jones isn’t a real heavyweight and wasn’t ready for the big guys. If Jones beats Stipe then it’s because Stipe is old. When Fedor beat CC, it’s because Fedor was the best heavyweight on the planet.
UFC tried to make Ngannou vs Gane the next Fedor vs Crocop. Rogan talked about the evolution of the sport ad nauseum. It proceeded to look like amateur hour.
UFC heavyweight has never come close to what Pride had.
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Which is hilarious if you think about it, considering Francis is like the antithesis of evolution. He represents combat in its purest form. If anything Gane is a more evolved heavyweight but as we saw, his ground game is lacking, so not quite as evolved as we thought. UFC heavyweight has never been up to par but the closest it came was during the era of Cain, JDS, DC, etc… during those days it looked like heavyweight was only getting better, then it fucking jumped off a cliff.
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Would love to see what Jones would do to Stipe who fought DC, Stipe would cancel Jones wrestling and it would look even worse than the first Gustafsson fight
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The biggest reason Stipe could win that no one talks about is… What he proved he was willing to do to beat DC, fight eye pokes with eye pokes.
The UFC allows eye pokes only it’s usually only Jones that weaponizes them.
DC used them to beat Stipe. Stipe was ready in the rematch, eye poking DC first, eye poking his way to victory. Then DC cried about it.
For some reason no one ever mentions Jones eye pokes, eye poke feints and finger splaying while retreating defense.
Stipe is game. He is big and he will three stooges his way to victory dammit!
Half the board recognizes Jones’ eyepoking while the other half ignores it.
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True, but I should have been more specific I meant Rogan/UFC/Media
If Jones ever loses a fight and then loses some starpower they will be all over his negatives.
Fuking lol 
Imagine Jones fight camp, trying with Jackson all sort of eye poke techniques lol
“poke-left hook, poke pivot to the right”
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