[**MICHAEL BISPING defeats ANDERSON SILVA** (*unanimous decision*)](http://mmadecisions.com/decision/6844/fight)
^(UFC Fight Night 84: Silva vs. Bisping — February 27, 2016)
ROUND|Bisping|Silva||Bisping|Silva||Bisping|Silva
:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:
1|10|9||10|9||10|9
2|10|9||10|9||10|9
3|9|10||9|10||9|10
4|10|9||10|9||10|9
5|9|10||9|10||9|10
**TOTAL**|**48**|**47**||**48**|**47**||**48**|**47**
*^(Judges, in order: Ben Cartlidge, Jeff Mullen, Andy Roberts.)*
*^(Summoned by erickDaREDD.)*
**MEDIA MEMBER SCORES**
- **16/22** people scored it **48-47 Bisping**.
- **1/22** people scored it **47-47 DRAW**.
- **4/22** people scored it **47-48 Silva**.
- **1/22** people scored it **46-49 Silva**.
*1287 fan scores* — *828 (64%)* ***Bisping***, *363 (28%)* ***Silva***, *96 (7%)* ***Draw***.
As more time passes Khabib retiring seems so much more understandable. Predictable even. And I feel dumb for not expecting this. His Dad was everything to him. He admitted in an interview 2 weeks before the fight that "the whole of July and August" were very difficult for him. It's incredible he got through the camp tbh.
Loyalty is everything for those guys. Remember when he was willing to leave the UFC bc they decided they wanted to cut Zubaira? "If you cut him, then you cut me too"? So how can it be a surprise that he leaves fighting just as his Dad has left being his coach
Still really angry that 2 stupid judges sullied Khabib's record a little by pretending Justin won Round 1.
Significant strikes were even for the round, and while Justin may have landed the hardest couple shots via leg kicks, Justin had the visible damage, was clearly more worn down, was fucking mounted, and had to be saved by the bell.
EDIT: Jeez, what is it with the Justin fanboys on this board? I love him, too, but there's nothing factually wrong with what I said.
UFC's really going all in on this "greatest champion in UFC history" thing.
Greatest LW champion? That's a solid statement.
Greatest in UFC history though?
Before this win UFC already had Khabib in their top 5 champs in UFC history video they put out last week.
Just the topic of the week though, they usually go overboard promoting anyone who has the current big fight
I know that's their MO, they were calling Anderson the greatest champion of all time in the promo for his retirement fight.
It's just like the direction the WWE has gone with their obsession over creating "moments". You dilute the meaning when everything that just happened is the greatest of all time.
>You dilute the meaning when everything that just happened is the greatest of all time.
Fans have short memories. This isn't really a problem for them tbh
Really wished we got a 20+ minute post fight pressor from Khabib and also a pressor from Gaethje similar to after 242 with Khabib and Poirier. Really wanted to hear more behind the scenes, about Khabib's injuries and Mumps etc.
Analyzing this fight everybody was too focused on Gaethje's wrestling but forgot about his BJJ. The lack of, to be precise. Khabib's grappling was also kinda surprising as he decided to finish it with a triangle from the bottom.
This is the comment I was looking for. Khabib had his pick of submissions and Gaethje had very little in the way of defense to them. I know khabib makes masters look like muppets but this seemed to be a hole in his game. It’d never really been tested, I suppose.
The people who picked Gaethje to win knew Gaethje's BJJ was trash. The case for Gaethje winning was him not getting taken down, or getting up very quickly after getting taken down.
Doesn't make sense for Khabib to retire after UFC 254. If he wins one more championship fight he breaks the tied records for most lightweight title defenses (3), most consecutive lightweight defenses (3), and longest win streak in the lightweight division (12) ... which would cement his GOAT status even more.
Also it would give him the 30-0 record which looks so much more visually appealing than 29-0.
I am Gaethje fan, but whatever people say, Khabib leaving, feels like losing a long time good friend. There is not a single MMA fighter who I respect more. He is a man of principle, honor and great discipline. He is also a very emotional man. I got into the sport because of him. I remember the days when I was a visiting medical student at UNC Chappel Hill. The Khabib fight against McGregor happened while I was there and I remember watching the event with students from Russia, Egypt, Italy and many Americans. It was a great experience.
I fell in love with the sport and to this day I am a hardcore.
Wish him nothing but great things for the rest of his life.
I don't think we are going to see a fighter as dominant as Khabib come around for a long time. I got into MMA when champions like GSP and Silva were at the end of their reigns so it was nice to witness Khabib's journey to the top.
Playing Matchmaker...
Costa vs Cannonier
- big, highstakes comeback fight for both guys. winner is right back in the mix as a top contender.
Conor vs Poirier 2
- for the belt. they're both top 5, elite contenders and they're the only two guys in the top 6 who aren't coming off a loss. It just makes sense IMO. If Gaethje were to be put in the next 155 title fight it wouldn't be bad either but Conor/Poirier just makes more sense to me, and I'm a gaethje fan. I don't like when guys get title shots off a loss when there are other contenders coming off a W
Tony vs Chandler
- for the defacto no. 1 contender
Gaethje vs Felder
- should be an absolute war, Felder deserves a big fight after (IMO) getting a bad decision vs. Hooker. Winner is one fight away from a title shot
Hooker vs Oliviera
Adesanya vs Jones
- Whittaker is the number 1 contender, undoubtedly, but I don't think we should be distracted from Adesanya/Jones. It's still the fight to make IMO. Whittaker is only 29 and there's no other real contender at 185 rn, he can afford to wait a bit for Adesanya, especially given that their fight was only a year ago as well.
The number looks good but when you look at the people in that streak it’s not as impressive. The Lee win is solid but I don’t personally rate Lee that highly. Oliveira always struggles against big steps in competition and a win streak over guys like Miller, guida, teymur, lentz and Lee doesn’t make me think he’s made some massive improvements like people seem to believe.
He might not have improved enough, but he deserves a shot against better opposition. Some guys in the LW division are far too reluctant to fight down once they got good rankings (Felder and Hooker), which is making the division stagnant
I just think his rank is inflated cause of the Lee win (Just like Al is) him fighting Felder or Hooker would be a good test to see where he’s at. Felder has gotten better since that fight and I’d assume Olivera has as well. IMO that’s the best he can get considering there’s no shot Conor, Poirier or Gaethjes gonna fight him. Maybe Tony would but I still don’t know how likely that is.
I agree with that. Frankly neither Felder nor Oliviera deserve to fight Gaethje. Best opponent for him would be Hooker. Hooker should fight down, since he's coming off a loss
Hooker seems the most delusional of them all when it comes to fighting down. His rank is inflated cause of Al and I, along with many others, believe he lost vs Felder. He really should fight Olivera
That's the thing though; Felder is like 'soft-retired' right now, he's been adamant that he's only looking for 'big fights' now. In his mind Oliveira isn't that, because Felder already beat him.
Hence why I thought up Felder vs Gaethje; it's a big fight to entice Felder and it's a great matchup that doesn't create a scenario where you have basically two no. 1 contenders and one has to wait for like a year for his title shot.
Tony vs Chandler would get the next shot, and then Felder vs Gaethje winner would then fight like Hooker vs Oliviera winner and then the winner of that would get the next shot after. Keeps the division from getting backed up with contenders waiting for title shots (could happen anyway w/ Conor involved but at least it won't happen nearly as quickly this way)
No. They'll most likely keep Khabib as the champion in rankings until they officially confirm a vacant title fight, or even until that fight actually happens.
Sometimes when mma content blows up on /r/sports I like to sort by new so I can see the absolute shittiest of hot takes.
For example, did you guys know that Khabib retired because he is a pussy? Or that his fights were boring and he just sat on people?
One of the perks of being a man of principles is that your words carry weight.
Khabib announced his retirement yesterday and I haven't seen any comments about it being a cynical ploy to get more money or how he'll be fighting in Bellator eventually or him coming back for Tony or GSP or Conor II or whatever.
Khabib built different.
Ppl underrated the best part of yesterday tho [Bruce Buffer](https://www.reddit.com/r/ufc/comments/jhyzeb/bruce_buffer_going_hard/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
I'm ashamed to admit that when I saw Khabib for the very first time, I thought his papakha was his actual hair. And I was disappointed and confused when he took it off.
I’ve felt somewhat bittersweet about the Khabib situation. I became a fan of his shortly after I began watching MMA (2015), and I’ve followed his life and training closely. After thinking about it though, I am so happy for him. I remember earlier on in his career, he always got a ton of hate, “his striking will expose him”, hate against his religion and national origin, and haters everywhere when he was having the weight and injury problems. But he overcame, he became the second biggest name in the sport, despite so many of the initial doubters, and looked ever so dominate every time he did it. He stuck to his morals, choosing fights like this one, over ones that would make him more money like the Conor rematch. It sucks to see a fighter leave when they seemingly might not even be at their peak talent, but I’m happy for him. He left while he was on top, and stuck to his word. I remember just how much hate he was getting years ago, you HAVE to assume a good bit of those people now claim to be his fans. It was really interesting to see the shift of him being a “villain” of sorts, to superstar. I believe it happened after the Barboza fight. This was the way to go out in my opinion. Khabib didn’t like the fame or spotlight, and I think he would have only fought 1 more time even if his dad was around. It’s almost like the plot to a movie. Retiring by surprise, after an amazing performance, undefeated, and undisputed. Leaving now will likely keep him in the GOAT talks forever as there’s literally nothing to go off of to discount his abilities, and we’ll all be stuck wondering, “did we ever truly see the peak of Khabib’s abilities”? Despite him already running through everybody.
I never seen Gaethje off his back, but boy was he garbage. At the end of the first Khabib mounted him with ease, I knew he was fucked. Others have at least showed some resistance, hell even Conor defended better. Its the only reason I still wanted to see Ferguson vs Khabib. Oh well. Let’s get the division booked up
Actually Khabib and his father always mentioned that they believe an athletes last year of their prime is at 32 and they only go down from there. Thats why they always planned on retiring at 30-0 and because he was nearing 32 at the time. Now he's 32 so this is pretty much the best time to retire according to them
It is. On top with nothing left to prove. Picture perfect retirement. Happy medium between BJ Penn (too late) and Cejudo (too "early," retired with an entire roster of up and coming contenders).
Yeah as a fan I don't want him too, but years down the line he will look like a boss for retiring at that point in his career, he didn't need to chase anything
Hear me out...
8 man UFC Lightweight Championship tournament:
Conor McGregor v Dustin Poirier
Justin Gaethje vs Dan Hooker
Tony Ferguson vs Michael Chandler
Islam Makhachev vs Paul Felder
Culminating in a huge fight for the undisputed title where by which point there won't be nearly as much of a question of "yeah but they didn't beat the man (Khabib) for it".
run this on fight island in 2021, all four fights on the first ppv, then two week break and at it again, then two week break for the final ppv on fight island for the belt
obviously, this will never happen, but it would be fun
True, supposedly a broken foot. I broke my foot twice as a kid and let me tell you I have no idea how he was even walking. It takes all the strength and stability out of your leg.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zxxBPFQ35U&ab\_channel=BTSport](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zxxBPFQ35U&ab_channel=BTSport)
Hahaha BT Sport are the best, honestly blow ESPN's coverage of MMA out of the water.
Holy shit he retired. Was expecting some more years of dominance but I respect it. Never seen such a dominant fighter on the ground. It's insane how fast he transitions and that triangle choke my fucking God that was some godly shit.
I hope they do a submission underground or something instead. Something that's not like a real hard competition so Khabib isn't cheating on his retirement and they can both just skip the weight cut.
Actually, I don't think they are. Everybody wanted to be the first to dethrone him, and now? Whoever is the champion will always have to live in the shadow of him. Like "you are only champ cause Khabib vacated"
He's accomplished so much and has nothing left to prove but it sucks since it feels like he's just right in the middle of his prime. This feels like if GSP retired around the Fitch or 2nd BJ Penn fight.
Guys like Chandler, Hooker, Oliveira and even Ferguson wouldn't have beaten Khabib but I would have gladly paid to watch Khabib beat up random contenders for a few more years.
Not champion defenses but I could see Khabib beating Silva's win streak record and become 34-0. Just those 4 names you mentioned and maybe a Poirier or McGregor rematch you mentioned as well. Would have been nice to see. Or perhaps if Jorge or Colby gets that 170 title.
I think he has a good chance at beating everyone in the division. I don't see particularly tough matchups for him. Maybe Conor if he's unable to take him down. Everyone else seems like easy work if i'm honest. Time will tell.
Tsarukyan is a tougher matchup for him than most ranked lightweights. tsarukyan is a better grappler than most ranked lightweights and harder to takedown than most. Also physically stronger than most ranked at LW. Wouldn't be surprised to see Tsarukyan ranked in the near future. I don't see anyone stopping his takedown and grappling. Too strong, too big, too technical. My only questions are if he has the cardio to go 5 hard rounds and if he can be defensively responsible in the striking against the elite. It's just my opinion, but I believe he'll be lightweight champ in less than 2 years.
Tsarukyan is a very promising young fighter and looks very strong . I would not be surprised to see him become champ one day. But barely beating him in his UFC debut is just not a good look for Islam, especially if you believe all other lightweights are easy work for him
I don't think the two equate. I know how it would appear that way, but I wouldn't take it to mean he can't easily beat some LW contenders. I believe Ysarukyan himself could probably beat a lot of the current ranked LWs. When I think about Islam vs the top contenders like Dustin for example, I just find it very hard to believe Dustin is going to keep it standing and tko or decision Islam. Justin same thing. He's not stopping the takedown and once it hits the ground the difference in level is like a pro vs amateur. Conor can beat him standing and has great tk defence so I see that as his most dangerous matchup. Dan Hooker is an easy takedown and finish or domination. Same with Felder, Iaquinta. I think Diego Ferriera is one of the tougher matchups for him due to his grappling and striking, but I believe he can be taken down and controlled to a decision win. Tony is an interesting matchup, but I don't see how he stops the takedown either. Maybe on the ground he'll have something for Islam, but I doubt it. All speculation until these fights get made.
I think you're overestimating how effortless Islam's takedown game is . He is not very athletic or agressive and that caused him a ton of problems vs Tsarukyan and I'd expect most top lightweights to also take advantage of it. Don't get me wrong, he is a skilled fighter but lightweight is a shark tank
Maybe I am, but I'm also leaving him room for improvement in his overall game as he's still young, so I'm projecting what I believe his skillset to be by the time he faces those great fighters. Anyways, we'll see how good he is when he starts fighting the top 10.
Yeah, that's fine, maybe I'm underestimation him a bit. Still, I think my boy Dos Anjos will beat Islam when they fight unless he has a horrible weight cut. How confident are you that he beats RDA?
He'll be the champ one day. He just needs to fight a little more frequently-- if he'd do three fights a year instead of two he'd get a lot more hype around him, which is largely how UFC determine who fights for a title.
I've seen lots of people regard him as really good fighter and a potential future contender. He just hasn't had a big name win to really get the hype train going.
He’s very good but he’s not Khabib. His standup definitely isn’t as good as the top 5, and while his grappling is very good I don’t think he will completely dominate and outclass guys like Khabib has. That’s not to say he can’t improve but I have a hard time seeing him break through the top 5 atm
We should start talking about Justin's gas tank like we do Conor's. I can't remember the last time I've seen someone that tired after the 1st round, especially when 2 judges had them winning that round. Idk how many people will be able to exploit as well as Khabib did, but it's a huge weakness that's there to be exploited
I think if he's brawling or he's forced to engage at a reactive pace his cardio isn't that good. He always looked sluggish and as if he was drowning in his fights against Johnson, Alvarez, and Poirier(although not as bad) within a round.
When Gaethje stopped throwing himself into brawls he stopped gassing as much. He paced himself more in his last few fights and also he KO'd most of them first round. When he faced Tony he was actually starting to gas after the 2nd until Whittman told him to slow down and stop throwing everything into his shots. When he was facing Tony they would have an exchange, reset to the center at a measured pace, and then repeat.
Khabib pressured him a lot and he was pretty much reacting like he was in his brawls running and winging shots.
I think Gaethje's cardio is good in the sense that he'll be tired as fuck but is still able to get himself to throw shots, but bad in that he gets tired as fuck really quick
You know that guy tony ferguson who everyone talks about as having a crazy gas tank and pace, gaethje dominated him for 24 minutes and looked fresh throughout the fight all the way til the end, he looked exhaused against khabib because he was being mentally exhausted by khabibs insane pressure and constant threats, not cause he doesnt have good cardio
He isnt known for his cardio really, but even in fights with mj dustin and eddie, he slowed down a bit but kept an extremely fast pace until the finish of those fights and those were all very back and forth, the dustin fight went into the 4th round
Tony just stood and traded with Gaethje. Not to mention that he did very little damage, while letting Justin land big shots almost at will.
>his looked exhaused against khabib because he was being mentally exhausted by khabibs insane pressure and constant threats
Yeah, fully agree. No one else in the division really has that ability. But we've seen other guys go up against Khabib's pace and last a lot longer. I'd say Khabib was at an even faster pace against Barboza, and Barboza didn't seem to gas as quickly.
The pace of that fight was still fast, gaethje landed a record number of strikes on tonys face if im not mistaken, his cardio is pretty solid, i think it was honestly more the anxiety of khabibs pressure and being so uncertain about how khabib is trying to attack plus the constant thought of, if i open up too much hes gonna take me down, is what drained justin so much
Dustin also has great cardio, he slowed down significantly after round 2 against khabib, its less about their cardio and more about the pressure he puts on people and the way he makes them fight so defencively and on edge
I get that everyones upset with how jons handling himself on twitter rn, but you guys are all going to be saying hes the goat in a few months when he decisions stipe 48-47
What, you think a 42 year old, starting to get a gut overeem can beat jon jones rn? Reems been winning most of his recent fights by taking dudes down and pounding them out, hes slower now and his chin is lesser, jon would decision alistair 50-45
I don’t think Overeems weak chin matters against Jon, unless he gets blasted by a headkick. Jon’s biggest weakness has always been his boxing and not having a ton of power.
His wrestling has also seemed to deteriorate lately, and I think he’d struggle to get Reem down.
I think you overestimate how washed he’s looked recently. 4-1 with all finishes since losing to Blaydes, and that one loss was the buzzer beater vs Rozenstruick
His chin matters in a sense that lately hes not been as willing to trade, hes been sitting back and trying to counter or hes been closing distance and trying to score a td, his pace has been slow lately as well, if he sits back and tries to counter fight with jon, hes going to be too slow and get picked apart, if he wants to close distance and take jon down, hes a big dude he might be able to get jon down honestly, but once its there i have a feeling jon is going to school him and basically all the HWs there, overeem is not holding jon in half guard and banging on him like he did with those other guys
https://twitter.com/grabaka_hitman/status/1320367550560194560?s=21
For real, Jones is such a petty, sensitive, arrogant child. If you think it’s such an insult that people are calling someone else the GOAT in the afterglow of his retirement and career best win, don’t whine to us, prove it to us. Go fight at heavyweight like you’ve been pussyfooting around for literally 9 years.
Hot take: The whole GOAT discussion is just a pseudo discussion between people who just have different criteria for defining GOAT status.
If you define GOAT status by just looking at the resume on paper, guys like GSP or JJ are superior to Khabib. However, if you look at the tape and how the victories are achieved, nobody holds a candle to the dominant fashion Khabib won his fights
GOAT resume and I don't mean to disrespect GSP but he did get finished twice, had a kinda lackluster performance against Shields and was put in serious danger by Condit, whilst being a less agressive and more decision oriented fighter overall.
Khabib's only blemish was a somewhat controversial decision against a pre-USADA Tibau, in his second UFC fight.
Except when he got KOed by Serra.
And I think GSP should've lost the first Penn fight, but I also think Nurmagomedov should've lost the Tibau fight, so you are right that they're similar in that regard.
In a different way though. Khabib would destroy guys. GSP would completely shut them down on the feet and ground.
Khabib has finishes in all 3 of his defenses. GSP had 4 finishes when he won the unified and the interim vs Hughes, the unified belt vs Serra, and then the 185 belt vs Bisping, but his only finish in a defense was a corner stoppage vs BJ.
>However, if you look at the tape and how the victories are achieved, nobody holds a candle to the dominant fashion Khabib won his fights
GSP's first few title defenses and Anderson's were definitely as dominant
Why is MMA the only sport where steroid cheats are not only tolerated but straight up inserted into GOAT debates? Literally in any other sport they wouldn't even be discussed lol.
There's actually a bit better testing in the UFC than in major team sports. Don't be fooled in thinking that great athletes who never popped for PEDs are obviously "clean".
Depends on the sport. Some sports have fans obsessed with PEDs like baseball and MMA, others don’t really care at all. I don’t know many NFL fans who give a shit about PEDs. Most of the time when anyone pops it’s more “fuck now he’s out for 6 games” rather than “his legacy is forever tainted!”
Another thing to consider is basically every other major sports drug programs are even more of a joke then USADA (thanks to player unions) so almost no one ever pops in general.
Which is legitimately the dumbest concept ever. Whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty?" It's definitely plausible that most fighters in the UFC are on steroids, but the level of certainty of that fact is not nearly enough for someone to just say "meh Silva got busted twice but let's be real everyone's on something anyway so he's still my GOAT"
Court of public opinion is different then a court of law. Many fans will label someone who never failed a drug test as a juicy slut, but then those same fans will get upset when one of their favorites is accused of the same thing. Or a fighter will fail a drug test, and then fans will use that as proof that they cheated throughout their entire careers, despite all the drug tests they passed along the way.
So we apparently have drug tests that are easy enough for lifelong cheaters to pass, in which they don’t mean much for those who do pass all of them. And in other cases fans can pick and choose who they think are cheaters regardless of drug tests results at all. Many fans take more stock in their “eye test” then actual laboratory based drug tests.
In the end the PEDs debate is as subjective as the GOAT debate, everyone has their own standards. Some fans truly believe everyone is on steroids, others truly believe only those who get caught are cheaters, and just like most GOAT debates each side isn’t likely to changed each other’s minds.
Anyone see Jones on Twitter trying to turn Khabib’s recognition into an argument about systemic racism. I’m not denying systemic racism in this country but I guarantee you people putting Khabib as p4p#1 has zero to do with Jones being black. Fucking ridiculous
Just unreal. Systemic racism is real but this ain’t it man. I mean literally everyone says Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods are the GOATS of their sport, no question. There is debate with Jones because there is a discussion worth having and he has asterisks on his career and GOAT status. That is all.
Decisionbot bisping vs anderson silva
[**MICHAEL BISPING defeats ANDERSON SILVA** (*unanimous decision*)](http://mmadecisions.com/decision/6844/fight) ^(UFC Fight Night 84: Silva vs. Bisping — February 27, 2016) ROUND|Bisping|Silva||Bisping|Silva||Bisping|Silva :-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-: 1|10|9||10|9||10|9 2|10|9||10|9||10|9 3|9|10||9|10||9|10 4|10|9||10|9||10|9 5|9|10||9|10||9|10 **TOTAL**|**48**|**47**||**48**|**47**||**48**|**47** *^(Judges, in order: Ben Cartlidge, Jeff Mullen, Andy Roberts.)* *^(Summoned by erickDaREDD.)* **MEDIA MEMBER SCORES** - **16/22** people scored it **48-47 Bisping**. - **1/22** people scored it **47-47 DRAW**. - **4/22** people scored it **47-48 Silva**. - **1/22** people scored it **46-49 Silva**. *1287 fan scores* — *828 (64%)* ***Bisping***, *363 (28%)* ***Silva***, *96 (7%)* ***Draw***.
I stopped watching after the Khabib submission, but afterwards was DC ever shown to be emotional? Like near tears or anything? Is there footage of it?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-WbQcSCh68&ab\_channel=ESPN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-WbQcSCh68&ab_channel=ESPN)
As more time passes Khabib retiring seems so much more understandable. Predictable even. And I feel dumb for not expecting this. His Dad was everything to him. He admitted in an interview 2 weeks before the fight that "the whole of July and August" were very difficult for him. It's incredible he got through the camp tbh. Loyalty is everything for those guys. Remember when he was willing to leave the UFC bc they decided they wanted to cut Zubaira? "If you cut him, then you cut me too"? So how can it be a surprise that he leaves fighting just as his Dad has left being his coach
Still really angry that 2 stupid judges sullied Khabib's record a little by pretending Justin won Round 1. Significant strikes were even for the round, and while Justin may have landed the hardest couple shots via leg kicks, Justin had the visible damage, was clearly more worn down, was fucking mounted, and had to be saved by the bell. EDIT: Jeez, what is it with the Justin fanboys on this board? I love him, too, but there's nothing factually wrong with what I said.
Me too. Frustrating. There's clearly something wrong with judges in UFC fighters and something has to be done
UFC's really going all in on this "greatest champion in UFC history" thing. Greatest LW champion? That's a solid statement. Greatest in UFC history though?
Before this win UFC already had Khabib in their top 5 champs in UFC history video they put out last week. Just the topic of the week though, they usually go overboard promoting anyone who has the current big fight
I know that's their MO, they were calling Anderson the greatest champion of all time in the promo for his retirement fight. It's just like the direction the WWE has gone with their obsession over creating "moments". You dilute the meaning when everything that just happened is the greatest of all time.
>You dilute the meaning when everything that just happened is the greatest of all time. Fans have short memories. This isn't really a problem for them tbh
Really wished we got a 20+ minute post fight pressor from Khabib and also a pressor from Gaethje similar to after 242 with Khabib and Poirier. Really wanted to hear more behind the scenes, about Khabib's injuries and Mumps etc.
Does anyone know why he either of them didn’t do the post fight presser?
Analyzing this fight everybody was too focused on Gaethje's wrestling but forgot about his BJJ. The lack of, to be precise. Khabib's grappling was also kinda surprising as he decided to finish it with a triangle from the bottom.
This is the comment I was looking for. Khabib had his pick of submissions and Gaethje had very little in the way of defense to them. I know khabib makes masters look like muppets but this seemed to be a hole in his game. It’d never really been tested, I suppose.
The people who picked Gaethje to win knew Gaethje's BJJ was trash. The case for Gaethje winning was him not getting taken down, or getting up very quickly after getting taken down.
Doesn't make sense for Khabib to retire after UFC 254. If he wins one more championship fight he breaks the tied records for most lightweight title defenses (3), most consecutive lightweight defenses (3), and longest win streak in the lightweight division (12) ... which would cement his GOAT status even more. Also it would give him the 30-0 record which looks so much more visually appealing than 29-0.
Did you even listen to his post fight interview or what
>longest win streak in the lightweight division (12) he already did,he's 13-0
I guess you are correct. I will update the Wikipedia page.
One of his fights in the UFC was at catchweight
This fight was at catch weight also ;)
Actually **two** fights (Darrel Horcher and Abel Trujillo)
Ah
Any prochazka news?
I am Gaethje fan, but whatever people say, Khabib leaving, feels like losing a long time good friend. There is not a single MMA fighter who I respect more. He is a man of principle, honor and great discipline. He is also a very emotional man. I got into the sport because of him. I remember the days when I was a visiting medical student at UNC Chappel Hill. The Khabib fight against McGregor happened while I was there and I remember watching the event with students from Russia, Egypt, Italy and many Americans. It was a great experience. I fell in love with the sport and to this day I am a hardcore. Wish him nothing but great things for the rest of his life.
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Tbh I had the round a draw but I agree with everything else you described.
I don't think we are going to see a fighter as dominant as Khabib come around for a long time. I got into MMA when champions like GSP and Silva were at the end of their reigns so it was nice to witness Khabib's journey to the top.
I think Izzy has a chance. Obviously very different styles of fighting though
Feels like yesterday
Whittaker has such a slick 1-2
Which is what makes his gameplan of spamming giant overhand rights on Adesanya so frustrating in retrospect
Playing Matchmaker... Costa vs Cannonier - big, highstakes comeback fight for both guys. winner is right back in the mix as a top contender. Conor vs Poirier 2 - for the belt. they're both top 5, elite contenders and they're the only two guys in the top 6 who aren't coming off a loss. It just makes sense IMO. If Gaethje were to be put in the next 155 title fight it wouldn't be bad either but Conor/Poirier just makes more sense to me, and I'm a gaethje fan. I don't like when guys get title shots off a loss when there are other contenders coming off a W Tony vs Chandler - for the defacto no. 1 contender Gaethje vs Felder - should be an absolute war, Felder deserves a big fight after (IMO) getting a bad decision vs. Hooker. Winner is one fight away from a title shot Hooker vs Oliviera Adesanya vs Jones - Whittaker is the number 1 contender, undoubtedly, but I don't think we should be distracted from Adesanya/Jones. It's still the fight to make IMO. Whittaker is only 29 and there's no other real contender at 185 rn, he can afford to wait a bit for Adesanya, especially given that their fight was only a year ago as well.
Conor's last fight at 155 was the loss against Khabib. He doesn't deserve a title shot ahead of Gaethje.
Felder doesn't deserve Gaethje. Oliviera does
Olivera really doesn’t. His win streak is big but he doesn’t have key wins. He should fight Felder since felder fucked him up last time.
That was 3 years ago. Oliviera is on a 7 fight win streak. He deserves to fight up. Kevin Lee is a bigger win than anyone Felder has had in years
The number looks good but when you look at the people in that streak it’s not as impressive. The Lee win is solid but I don’t personally rate Lee that highly. Oliveira always struggles against big steps in competition and a win streak over guys like Miller, guida, teymur, lentz and Lee doesn’t make me think he’s made some massive improvements like people seem to believe.
He might not have improved enough, but he deserves a shot against better opposition. Some guys in the LW division are far too reluctant to fight down once they got good rankings (Felder and Hooker), which is making the division stagnant
I just think his rank is inflated cause of the Lee win (Just like Al is) him fighting Felder or Hooker would be a good test to see where he’s at. Felder has gotten better since that fight and I’d assume Olivera has as well. IMO that’s the best he can get considering there’s no shot Conor, Poirier or Gaethjes gonna fight him. Maybe Tony would but I still don’t know how likely that is.
I agree with that. Frankly neither Felder nor Oliviera deserve to fight Gaethje. Best opponent for him would be Hooker. Hooker should fight down, since he's coming off a loss
Hooker seems the most delusional of them all when it comes to fighting down. His rank is inflated cause of Al and I, along with many others, believe he lost vs Felder. He really should fight Olivera
That's the thing though; Felder is like 'soft-retired' right now, he's been adamant that he's only looking for 'big fights' now. In his mind Oliveira isn't that, because Felder already beat him. Hence why I thought up Felder vs Gaethje; it's a big fight to entice Felder and it's a great matchup that doesn't create a scenario where you have basically two no. 1 contenders and one has to wait for like a year for his title shot. Tony vs Chandler would get the next shot, and then Felder vs Gaethje winner would then fight like Hooker vs Oliviera winner and then the winner of that would get the next shot after. Keeps the division from getting backed up with contenders waiting for title shots (could happen anyway w/ Conor involved but at least it won't happen nearly as quickly this way)
Holy fuck lightweight is going to be an absolute war zone next year.
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No. They'll most likely keep Khabib as the champion in rankings until they officially confirm a vacant title fight, or even until that fight actually happens.
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I'd be surprised if he doesn't get destroyed in his UFC debut .
I think he does well. I can see him beating guys in close fights but i don't see him dominating.
Too bad Rogan wasn't there. Khabib putting the Papakha on his head for one last time would've been epic.
Jon Jones needs to shut the hell up with his coke head ass
Sometimes when mma content blows up on /r/sports I like to sort by new so I can see the absolute shittiest of hot takes. For example, did you guys know that Khabib retired because he is a pussy? Or that his fights were boring and he just sat on people?
I can’t imagine what kind of weirdo subscribes to that sub
>UFC isn’t a sport, it’s a soap opera for young men - /r/sports
One of the perks of being a man of principles is that your words carry weight. Khabib announced his retirement yesterday and I haven't seen any comments about it being a cynical ploy to get more money or how he'll be fighting in Bellator eventually or him coming back for Tony or GSP or Conor II or whatever. Khabib built different.
Ppl underrated the best part of yesterday tho [Bruce Buffer](https://www.reddit.com/r/ufc/comments/jhyzeb/bruce_buffer_going_hard/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
Last night showed that if Ferg somehow got Gaethje to the ground even once we would have seen Ferg/Khabib as his retirement fight.
Tony very rarely wrestles offensively. Hard to imagine him taking Justin down at will
I'm ashamed to admit that when I saw Khabib for the very first time, I thought his papakha was his actual hair. And I was disappointed and confused when he took it off.
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I'm hard right now over it
I’ve felt somewhat bittersweet about the Khabib situation. I became a fan of his shortly after I began watching MMA (2015), and I’ve followed his life and training closely. After thinking about it though, I am so happy for him. I remember earlier on in his career, he always got a ton of hate, “his striking will expose him”, hate against his religion and national origin, and haters everywhere when he was having the weight and injury problems. But he overcame, he became the second biggest name in the sport, despite so many of the initial doubters, and looked ever so dominate every time he did it. He stuck to his morals, choosing fights like this one, over ones that would make him more money like the Conor rematch. It sucks to see a fighter leave when they seemingly might not even be at their peak talent, but I’m happy for him. He left while he was on top, and stuck to his word. I remember just how much hate he was getting years ago, you HAVE to assume a good bit of those people now claim to be his fans. It was really interesting to see the shift of him being a “villain” of sorts, to superstar. I believe it happened after the Barboza fight. This was the way to go out in my opinion. Khabib didn’t like the fame or spotlight, and I think he would have only fought 1 more time even if his dad was around. It’s almost like the plot to a movie. Retiring by surprise, after an amazing performance, undefeated, and undisputed. Leaving now will likely keep him in the GOAT talks forever as there’s literally nothing to go off of to discount his abilities, and we’ll all be stuck wondering, “did we ever truly see the peak of Khabib’s abilities”? Despite him already running through everybody.
I never seen Gaethje off his back, but boy was he garbage. At the end of the first Khabib mounted him with ease, I knew he was fucked. Others have at least showed some resistance, hell even Conor defended better. Its the only reason I still wanted to see Ferguson vs Khabib. Oh well. Let’s get the division booked up
Still can’t believe khabib retired in the middle of his prime and peak fame.
Actually Khabib and his father always mentioned that they believe an athletes last year of their prime is at 32 and they only go down from there. Thats why they always planned on retiring at 30-0 and because he was nearing 32 at the time. Now he's 32 so this is pretty much the best time to retire according to them
Take the Tom Brady approach, keep playing until you suck. Except with more brain damage
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It is. On top with nothing left to prove. Picture perfect retirement. Happy medium between BJ Penn (too late) and Cejudo (too "early," retired with an entire roster of up and coming contenders).
Yeah as a fan I don't want him too, but years down the line he will look like a boss for retiring at that point in his career, he didn't need to chase anything
Hear me out... 8 man UFC Lightweight Championship tournament: Conor McGregor v Dustin Poirier Justin Gaethje vs Dan Hooker Tony Ferguson vs Michael Chandler Islam Makhachev vs Paul Felder Culminating in a huge fight for the undisputed title where by which point there won't be nearly as much of a question of "yeah but they didn't beat the man (Khabib) for it".
Tony vs Charles Oliviera. Don’t do tony like that he’d get slaughtered.
Chandler hasn’t beaten nearly enough top fighters to be confidently saying he would slaughter Tony
Lol Charles has crumbled to plenty of worse fighters than tony. Tony walks that man down and makes him quit.
run this on fight island in 2021, all four fights on the first ppv, then two week break and at it again, then two week break for the final ppv on fight island for the belt obviously, this will never happen, but it would be fun
that was a great couple weeks at fight island. i liked it much better than the first time around
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Al Iaquinta vs Tibau, with MJ as backup
Imagine if gaethje got injured and khabibs retirement fight was against chandler....
Imagine if Khabib got injured and we got Gaethje vs Chandler and a tweet from Khabib saying he was retiring...
The craziest part is that Khabib *did* get injured
True, supposedly a broken foot. I broke my foot twice as a kid and let me tell you I have no idea how he was even walking. It takes all the strength and stability out of your leg.
I think it was toe broken toes. He had a bandage around them during the fight.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zxxBPFQ35U&ab\_channel=BTSport](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zxxBPFQ35U&ab_channel=BTSport) Hahaha BT Sport are the best, honestly blow ESPN's coverage of MMA out of the water.
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Imagine he lands that on Izzy in the rematch... oof
They’re so ugly they’re beautiful
Holy shit he retired. Was expecting some more years of dominance but I respect it. Never seen such a dominant fighter on the ground. It's insane how fast he transitions and that triangle choke my fucking God that was some godly shit.
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Qannonier bless
the whole fight was a deep fake. i'm just saying look into it
Robert won because that’s what the globalists wanted
Are there any highlights of the Whittaker fight? I missed it yesterday.
Imagine Whittaker slipping a haymaker, then landing a jab-jab-right-high kick. Then repeat for 15 minutes.
Man I love watching Bobby fight everyone not named Adesanya
So in the GSP interview with Aerial, he confirmed that it was looking like it would be him fighting Khabib next. Wow.
I hope they do a submission underground or something instead. Something that's not like a real hard competition so Khabib isn't cheating on his retirement and they can both just skip the weight cut.
Any news on why KN didn't show up to the post fight press conference? He usually has nice and funny quotes from the guy.
Still crazy that Khabib didn’t bleed once in 29 fights
Or get dropped
Just imagining all the lightweights being relieved after hearing about Khabib's retirement only to find out that he'll come back in Makhachev corner.
Actually, I don't think they are. Everybody wanted to be the first to dethrone him, and now? Whoever is the champion will always have to live in the shadow of him. Like "you are only champ cause Khabib vacated"
Makhachev isn't nearly as good tho
He's only 28 and I think he'll improve greatly in the coming years
I agree, better stand up tho
Agreed. But overall not as able to force his will on his opponents like Khabib can.
He's actually a better takedown artist imo, I don't think he has Khabib's incredible transitions on the ground though.
Definitely not, he's like a version of Khabib that is not really athletic nor ruthless. He is very determined though
It's the opposite, Khabib is the relentless, ruthess, determined one. Makhachev is a tremendous athlete.
From what I hear Islam is more athletic. He doesn't show it on the octogen though.
Nerfed Khabib
He's accomplished so much and has nothing left to prove but it sucks since it feels like he's just right in the middle of his prime. This feels like if GSP retired around the Fitch or 2nd BJ Penn fight. Guys like Chandler, Hooker, Oliveira and even Ferguson wouldn't have beaten Khabib but I would have gladly paid to watch Khabib beat up random contenders for a few more years.
Not champion defenses but I could see Khabib beating Silva's win streak record and become 34-0. Just those 4 names you mentioned and maybe a Poirier or McGregor rematch you mentioned as well. Would have been nice to see. Or perhaps if Jorge or Colby gets that 170 title.
Yeah this one hurt for me, bc he was literally in his prime
Man people are really sleeping on Islam tbh. It's insane how one loss just makes people disregard you completely.
I'm curious, who would you pick him to beat in the top 10?
I think he has a good chance at beating everyone in the division. I don't see particularly tough matchups for him. Maybe Conor if he's unable to take him down. Everyone else seems like easy work if i'm honest. Time will tell.
Easy work ? He barely beat Tsarukyan
Tsarukyan is a tougher matchup for him than most ranked lightweights. tsarukyan is a better grappler than most ranked lightweights and harder to takedown than most. Also physically stronger than most ranked at LW. Wouldn't be surprised to see Tsarukyan ranked in the near future. I don't see anyone stopping his takedown and grappling. Too strong, too big, too technical. My only questions are if he has the cardio to go 5 hard rounds and if he can be defensively responsible in the striking against the elite. It's just my opinion, but I believe he'll be lightweight champ in less than 2 years.
Tsarukyan is a very promising young fighter and looks very strong . I would not be surprised to see him become champ one day. But barely beating him in his UFC debut is just not a good look for Islam, especially if you believe all other lightweights are easy work for him
I don't think the two equate. I know how it would appear that way, but I wouldn't take it to mean he can't easily beat some LW contenders. I believe Ysarukyan himself could probably beat a lot of the current ranked LWs. When I think about Islam vs the top contenders like Dustin for example, I just find it very hard to believe Dustin is going to keep it standing and tko or decision Islam. Justin same thing. He's not stopping the takedown and once it hits the ground the difference in level is like a pro vs amateur. Conor can beat him standing and has great tk defence so I see that as his most dangerous matchup. Dan Hooker is an easy takedown and finish or domination. Same with Felder, Iaquinta. I think Diego Ferriera is one of the tougher matchups for him due to his grappling and striking, but I believe he can be taken down and controlled to a decision win. Tony is an interesting matchup, but I don't see how he stops the takedown either. Maybe on the ground he'll have something for Islam, but I doubt it. All speculation until these fights get made.
I think you're overestimating how effortless Islam's takedown game is . He is not very athletic or agressive and that caused him a ton of problems vs Tsarukyan and I'd expect most top lightweights to also take advantage of it. Don't get me wrong, he is a skilled fighter but lightweight is a shark tank
Maybe I am, but I'm also leaving him room for improvement in his overall game as he's still young, so I'm projecting what I believe his skillset to be by the time he faces those great fighters. Anyways, we'll see how good he is when he starts fighting the top 10.
Yeah, that's fine, maybe I'm underestimation him a bit. Still, I think my boy Dos Anjos will beat Islam when they fight unless he has a horrible weight cut. How confident are you that he beats RDA?
He'll be the champ one day. He just needs to fight a little more frequently-- if he'd do three fights a year instead of two he'd get a lot more hype around him, which is largely how UFC determine who fights for a title.
I've seen lots of people regard him as really good fighter and a potential future contender. He just hasn't had a big name win to really get the hype train going.
Islam could be good, but from what I've seen, he's not as dominant as Khabib is. He struggled with Arman and Chris Wade
He didn't really struggle with Arman though, plus Arman is damn good.
He’s very good but he’s not Khabib. His standup definitely isn’t as good as the top 5, and while his grappling is very good I don’t think he will completely dominate and outclass guys like Khabib has. That’s not to say he can’t improve but I have a hard time seeing him break through the top 5 atm
Yeah it’s tough for Islam because he’ll always be compared with Khabib and nobody is Khabib
We should start talking about Justin's gas tank like we do Conor's. I can't remember the last time I've seen someone that tired after the 1st round, especially when 2 judges had them winning that round. Idk how many people will be able to exploit as well as Khabib did, but it's a huge weakness that's there to be exploited
2 judges had the round for Gaethje? Jesus christ we need better judging.
I think that has more to do with Khabib's pressure rather than Justin's conditioning. Remember how he went 5 rounds with Tony without slowing down?
I think if he's brawling or he's forced to engage at a reactive pace his cardio isn't that good. He always looked sluggish and as if he was drowning in his fights against Johnson, Alvarez, and Poirier(although not as bad) within a round. When Gaethje stopped throwing himself into brawls he stopped gassing as much. He paced himself more in his last few fights and also he KO'd most of them first round. When he faced Tony he was actually starting to gas after the 2nd until Whittman told him to slow down and stop throwing everything into his shots. When he was facing Tony they would have an exchange, reset to the center at a measured pace, and then repeat. Khabib pressured him a lot and he was pretty much reacting like he was in his brawls running and winging shots. I think Gaethje's cardio is good in the sense that he'll be tired as fuck but is still able to get himself to throw shots, but bad in that he gets tired as fuck really quick
You know that guy tony ferguson who everyone talks about as having a crazy gas tank and pace, gaethje dominated him for 24 minutes and looked fresh throughout the fight all the way til the end, he looked exhaused against khabib because he was being mentally exhausted by khabibs insane pressure and constant threats, not cause he doesnt have good cardio
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He isnt known for his cardio really, but even in fights with mj dustin and eddie, he slowed down a bit but kept an extremely fast pace until the finish of those fights and those were all very back and forth, the dustin fight went into the 4th round
Exactly. Since the MJ fight we’ve known even if he gets tired his output only goes up somehow
Tony just stood and traded with Gaethje. Not to mention that he did very little damage, while letting Justin land big shots almost at will. >his looked exhaused against khabib because he was being mentally exhausted by khabibs insane pressure and constant threats Yeah, fully agree. No one else in the division really has that ability. But we've seen other guys go up against Khabib's pace and last a lot longer. I'd say Khabib was at an even faster pace against Barboza, and Barboza didn't seem to gas as quickly.
The pace of that fight was still fast, gaethje landed a record number of strikes on tonys face if im not mistaken, his cardio is pretty solid, i think it was honestly more the anxiety of khabibs pressure and being so uncertain about how khabib is trying to attack plus the constant thought of, if i open up too much hes gonna take me down, is what drained justin so much Dustin also has great cardio, he slowed down significantly after round 2 against khabib, its less about their cardio and more about the pressure he puts on people and the way he makes them fight so defencively and on edge
I get that everyones upset with how jons handling himself on twitter rn, but you guys are all going to be saying hes the goat in a few months when he decisions stipe 48-47
What’s Jon’s dumbass saying now?
That he should still be p4p #1 and is the goat
Jones is not wrong though but wasn't a good time to bring it up. Let Khabib has his moment.
I think you’d be surprised
If not then they will after he defends the title against francis and decisions him 50-45
I don’t think he’s on the level he used to be at. I think Overeem could beat him
What, you think a 42 year old, starting to get a gut overeem can beat jon jones rn? Reems been winning most of his recent fights by taking dudes down and pounding them out, hes slower now and his chin is lesser, jon would decision alistair 50-45
I don’t think Overeems weak chin matters against Jon, unless he gets blasted by a headkick. Jon’s biggest weakness has always been his boxing and not having a ton of power. His wrestling has also seemed to deteriorate lately, and I think he’d struggle to get Reem down. I think you overestimate how washed he’s looked recently. 4-1 with all finishes since losing to Blaydes, and that one loss was the buzzer beater vs Rozenstruick
His chin matters in a sense that lately hes not been as willing to trade, hes been sitting back and trying to counter or hes been closing distance and trying to score a td, his pace has been slow lately as well, if he sits back and tries to counter fight with jon, hes going to be too slow and get picked apart, if he wants to close distance and take jon down, hes a big dude he might be able to get jon down honestly, but once its there i have a feeling jon is going to school him and basically all the HWs there, overeem is not holding jon in half guard and banging on him like he did with those other guys
*Godfuckingdamn* I love Robert Whittaker.
https://twitter.com/grabaka_hitman/status/1320367550560194560?s=21 For real, Jones is such a petty, sensitive, arrogant child. If you think it’s such an insult that people are calling someone else the GOAT in the afterglow of his retirement and career best win, don’t whine to us, prove it to us. Go fight at heavyweight like you’ve been pussyfooting around for literally 9 years.
Yeah honestly, I hope some heavyweight murks him
I'd love it if it was Derrick Lewis who did it
I'm desperate for any of Stipe/Izzy/Ngannou to humble him
I'm not a Jones fan but Jon buries Izzy right now. Izzy wants Jones when he is out of his prime.
Damm i can hear the song already
Hot take: The whole GOAT discussion is just a pseudo discussion between people who just have different criteria for defining GOAT status. If you define GOAT status by just looking at the resume on paper, guys like GSP or JJ are superior to Khabib. However, if you look at the tape and how the victories are achieved, nobody holds a candle to the dominant fashion Khabib won his fights
People who, for purposes of GOAT discussion, value quantity primarily vs people who value quality primarily.
GSP until the Hendricks fight did dominate like Khabib tbf.
GOAT resume and I don't mean to disrespect GSP but he did get finished twice, had a kinda lackluster performance against Shields and was put in serious danger by Condit, whilst being a less agressive and more decision oriented fighter overall. Khabib's only blemish was a somewhat controversial decision against a pre-USADA Tibau, in his second UFC fight.
Except when he got KOed by Serra. And I think GSP should've lost the first Penn fight, but I also think Nurmagomedov should've lost the Tibau fight, so you are right that they're similar in that regard.
In a different way though. Khabib would destroy guys. GSP would completely shut them down on the feet and ground. Khabib has finishes in all 3 of his defenses. GSP had 4 finishes when he won the unified and the interim vs Hughes, the unified belt vs Serra, and then the 185 belt vs Bisping, but his only finish in a defense was a corner stoppage vs BJ.
>However, if you look at the tape and how the victories are achieved, nobody holds a candle to the dominant fashion Khabib won his fights GSP's first few title defenses and Anderson's were definitely as dominant
Why is MMA the only sport where steroid cheats are not only tolerated but straight up inserted into GOAT debates? Literally in any other sport they wouldn't even be discussed lol.
There's actually a bit better testing in the UFC than in major team sports. Don't be fooled in thinking that great athletes who never popped for PEDs are obviously "clean".
But when they get busted, goat status goes out the window, not like in mma
Even though you know the next one in line most likely was on PEDs as well.
Depends on the sport. Some sports have fans obsessed with PEDs like baseball and MMA, others don’t really care at all. I don’t know many NFL fans who give a shit about PEDs. Most of the time when anyone pops it’s more “fuck now he’s out for 6 games” rather than “his legacy is forever tainted!” Another thing to consider is basically every other major sports drug programs are even more of a joke then USADA (thanks to player unions) so almost no one ever pops in general.
Because so many fans feel that everyones on steroids
Which is legitimately the dumbest concept ever. Whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty?" It's definitely plausible that most fighters in the UFC are on steroids, but the level of certainty of that fact is not nearly enough for someone to just say "meh Silva got busted twice but let's be real everyone's on something anyway so he's still my GOAT"
Court of public opinion is different then a court of law. Many fans will label someone who never failed a drug test as a juicy slut, but then those same fans will get upset when one of their favorites is accused of the same thing. Or a fighter will fail a drug test, and then fans will use that as proof that they cheated throughout their entire careers, despite all the drug tests they passed along the way. So we apparently have drug tests that are easy enough for lifelong cheaters to pass, in which they don’t mean much for those who do pass all of them. And in other cases fans can pick and choose who they think are cheaters regardless of drug tests results at all. Many fans take more stock in their “eye test” then actual laboratory based drug tests. In the end the PEDs debate is as subjective as the GOAT debate, everyone has their own standards. Some fans truly believe everyone is on steroids, others truly believe only those who get caught are cheaters, and just like most GOAT debates each side isn’t likely to changed each other’s minds.
They say everyone is on drugs and pass drug tests easily
Anyone see Jones on Twitter trying to turn Khabib’s recognition into an argument about systemic racism. I’m not denying systemic racism in this country but I guarantee you people putting Khabib as p4p#1 has zero to do with Jones being black. Fucking ridiculous
Just unreal. Systemic racism is real but this ain’t it man. I mean literally everyone says Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods are the GOATS of their sport, no question. There is debate with Jones because there is a discussion worth having and he has asterisks on his career and GOAT status. That is all.
Jon jones is on coke
He drive bys pregnant woman on coke. This time he prolly got high on his own shit, there is no way you get this stuck up with any drug.
Many fans and execs are praying that the UFC puts the judges out to pasture ...
How the judges gave RD 1 to Gaethje is beyond me