I mean, Khabib has the same amount title defences as the other guys, only he’s the only 29-0 in history and the others have gotten beat up at all stages of their career.
It’s not even really a question if he’s the best LW,
most people polled think he’s the overall GOAT as do many prolific fighters and analysts.
Eh, you def have a point. Training isn’t fighting but the guys who aren’t killers in the gym and go out on the night of the fight and are world beaters are far and few and between.
If anything I see more guys who are killers in training who for whatever reason don’t show up the night of the fight.
You rarely see this with high level wrestlers though. All those matches teach them how to deal with the nerves and compete up to their ability the night of the fight.
Hmm. Mike Whitehead immediately comes to mind. 3x All American and absolute killer in the gym. He didn’t have a bad career by any means, but completely underachieved given both the gym stories and his wrestling creds.
That’s a good example. I didn’t even know he was an all American.
I didn’t say it never happened. I’m just saying when you have 1000 amateur wrestling matches you are probably more likely to compete up to your ability level.
There’s a name I haven’t heard in a LONG time. I remember his run in TUF 2, Matt Hughes had me convinced Mike Whitehead was going to win the whole thing.
Looking at his record… I’m convinced there’s a lot of untold stories there. He lost to Rashad on the show, and then fought at UFC 57 against Keith Jardine (also a loss). He never fought in the UFC again, but went on some crazy runs in the IFL with some name-brand wins (Krystof Soszynski, Mark Kerr, Ruben Villareal, Vernon White, Kevin Randleman, Eddie Sanchez).
The simple fact is, the people who deride Penn didn’t watch MMA in the 2000s. If you did, and watched his career live during that time, then you’d know what he achieved is undeniable.
He beat Matt Hughes, so to discount him against Khabib is pretty ridiculous
Also worth noting is BJ’s far too slow to die career. Those who came late to the game can look back but the end of his career is what they saw first, so it will likely have the greater impact.
For BJ (the fighter) fans, When do you think it went from, competition passed him up, vs. he was too old, beaten, and washed?
I always struggled with BJ as a fan. I thought he was incredible; I thought at his best, he was near unbeatable. But, I lost $ on him multiple times because he just didn’t seem to show up. I loved Frankie, but it always felt like if Penn was active and on his game, he should have still been the better fighter.
I think after his trilogy match with Hughes, he was done. At his prime, maybe Jon Fitch beats him, a solid Nick Diaz might beat him. Maybe a prime Rory vs. a prime BJ, Rory wins with a good gameplan, but it felt like a shell of BJ from Rory onward; he was done before he ever walked in to his last 6 fights.
Also, I don’t follow sport grappling/BJJ, did he ever compete there after his UFC career? I always wanted to see more of his vaunted JJ.
Those two fights took a lot out of him so everything in between is suspect. But there was a clear line after the Rory fight… that Frankie fight was just WEIRD with the stance/guard. So that was the turning point for me. He was definitely too old after that Rory fight.
3 rounds to Tibau, 1 to Connor, 1 to Gaethje? The Connor one was debatable and he was kinda taking the round off. Gaethje hit Khabib with more shots in r1 even though Khabib was pressuring that does not score higher than actual hits.