I’m not saying I’m certain he would, but it’s a pretty wild take to say one of the best top position grapplers to ever walk the earth has no path to victory against a pure top position grappler.
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Nog was beating him until herb deans bullshit and mir was able to capitalize.
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Arona is one of the best grapple to ever fight MMA. Boring, sure but khamzat isnt smothering him.
Khamzat better on the feet all round but Aronas leg kicks were nasty.
This is a 50/50 for me
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That’s very selective memory, plenty of pride guys tore it up in UFC - probably more than the other way round
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Had to verify my memory was right before replying to your post.
Nog vs Mir 2: Minotauro beat the shit out of Mur in the stand up and aside from Herb not stopping the fight while Mir was out, Nog was the dictator of his own demise by choosing to go for a guillotine instead of finishing Mur.
I also remember his corner encourage him to go for a sub.
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I think Pride era Noguiera is the second best HW of all time.
He had some absolute wars in Japan, and he clearly was on the downside of his peak when he got to the UFC.
And yet he still managed to be the UFC HW champion once he got there.
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2001 Nog and 2011 Nog are not the same man.
The most dominant UFC heavy during Nog’s prime was Tim Sylvia. Nog subbed him and won the interim belt in one of his first UFC fights despite being way more physically diminished than Tim.
Then Rampage who everyone had been calling “done” in Pride since the Shogun fight, came over and KO’d UFC’s most dominant champ at the time in about 10 seconds.
Shogun tried to ditch the EPO and struggled at first but was the guy to end the Machida era, also well past his prime.
Hendo and Fedor were KOing guys until they were 80.
Werdum was much more successful in UFC than Pride.
Mark Hunt had motherfuckers wanting to rip up his contract until he got to the UFC where he could win consistently.
That Anderson Silva guy who fought in Pride first didn’t do too bad in UFC either lol.
Overeem did much better post Pride than in Pride.
Sure, Wand, Gomi and Crocop were disappointments but they had their reasons too and I think that whole narrative is kind of overblown.
Who were the top UFC guys during Pride’s heyday and how long did they stay dominant?
Sylvia and Arlovski at HW.
Chuck at LHW.
Franklin at MW
Hughes at WW
Did all of these guys stay dominant for years after that and prove UFC was the best all along?
Most of them got beat up by Pride guys before the Pride guys got beat up by the new breed.
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Aronas defensive wrestling stance stallfest strategy wouldn’t work against Khamzat. He would be ragdolled
There was an adjustment period where Pride guys got wrecked. Most of us figured it was because of USADA. Probably the best example is UFC 76 Griffin/Rua but there were a few Pride guys who had a rough time with it.
Sidenote, UFC’s own website has the wrong winner listed for UFC 76 Griffin/Shogun.
Also, thread reminds me of us all discussing this same subject back when it was happening!
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Herb screaming about back of the head shots is what caused it.
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Herb had money on Mir. He saved him.
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Best thing? Big Dan supposedly hates mir lol
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Rua’s knee was fucked going into that fight. He looked real bad against Coleman too. Then found his footing against Liddell. Going by memory the fight against Chuck, who had that look in his eye, was all Shogun.
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Wasn’t Chuck 10 years older? Rua was really good young but became washed fast too
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He obliterated Forrest in the rematch anyway
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That’s Chutebox training for you.
The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. I think he had 3 double knee surgeries and also that broken arm. The fact he was able to keep going well past that is insane. He was damn near unbeatable before that. He beat Rampage down worse than Wanderlei or Jones ever dreamed of.
Most mid level guys stay mid level forever, and a lot of top guys fall completely off a cliff.
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So now we’re acting like Mir isn’t objectively one of the greatest heavyweight fighters of all time or what?
Not all
Anderson - UFC MW Champ / GOAT candidate
Shogun - UFC LW Champ
Rampage - UFC HW Champ
Coupla others did ok too
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