Do people here actually think Stipe was better than prime Fedor?

[ClosetVitorFan]

Stipe is a classic overachiever. Never was really great at any one thing. But he has an above average fight IQ that helped carry him into being a champion. Fedor had it all, dynamite in his fist, great chin, lightning fast speed, can knock you out as quick as he choke you out. Also has a very high fight IQ. Prime Fedor is what helped me stay interested in the sport. Ken Shamrock got me into it. But Fedor kept me interested. Heavyweight used to be my favorite division. Pride was amazing

 

[StreetJudas]

Idiots actually think Francis is better than Fedor

 

[mmaday4day]

Past his prime in his early 30s as a heavyweight?… Against a 40 year old middleweight? The big book of excuses can’t save him from this one. Fedor got cut from zuffa for not having what it takes, at an age that’s considered when a fighter should be in their prime.

It doesn't matter how old he was in 2011; you don't need to be 40+ to be out of your "physical prime" or "fighting prime. Lack of motivation, lack of training, gym wars, personal reasons, whatever the reason was... he started to look slow and kind of pudgy in 2009. Also, the best part of his game was actually his grappling... he kind of stopped grappling in his fights in 08/09 and that was the downfall of his overall mma game. He started to look old, slow and without the grappling attack he was pretty predictable.

 

[snugglecakes]

It doesn't matter how old he was in 2011; you don't need to be 40+ to be out of your "physical prime" or "fighting prime. Lack of motivation, lack of training, gym wars, personal reasons, whatever the reason was... he started to look slow and kind of pudgy in 2009. Also, the best part of his game was actually his grappling... he kind of stopped grappling in his fights in 08/09 and that was the downfall of his overall mma game. He started to look old, slow and without the grappling attack he was pretty predictable.

Yeah cause much older Hendo had zero wear and tear over his career but fedor did(sarcastic)

Hendo could barely grapple anymore by that point either due to wear and tear. Hendo was a 1 n a half dimensional head hunter striker by that point.

Hendo was more diminished from his prime than fedor was. Predictable fedor was out of his prime counter argument has been negated.

 

[HHJ]

That’s because you’re a knob gobbler with no hobbies.

Now now no reason to get upset. There's no stupid theories,just stupid people. But you don't have to be stupid forever,brother.

 

[stacrafty]

I actually like Stipe a lot. He's one of my favorite heavyweights along with Big Nog and Werdum. But I never understood the GOAT hype about him. Sure he defended the UFC title more than anyone else but the UFC HW division has been abysmal for nearly a decade now. When it comes to evaluating these guys you have to go beyond the numbers and use common sense and the classic eye test. And when you do that its obvious that Stipe would not have beaten prime Fedor, let alone a handful of other fighters. Fedor was better than Stipe everywhere, including wrestling, subs, Boxing and kicking. Fedor was faster and showed higher ring IQ too. I won't take anyone seriously who thinks Stipe at his best could come close to Fedor in his prime.

And for the record Prime versions of Cain, Werdum, Big Nog, Mirko, and DC were all better than Stipe and I would habe favored them head to head.

Please. Fedor was a standout in an inconsistent era with arguably only two other elite talent, big nog and cro cop. And both these guys where one dimensional in their own ways.

The streak is great but stipe is ahead of Fedor.

You got to take quality of opossition into account.

 

[MDoza]

 

[Trabaho]

Prime Fedor was impossible to defeat,no disrespect to any other hws

He was 33 or 34when he lost 3 in a row.

 

[Captain Herb]

GOAT faceplant

 

[Adamant]

I actually like Stipe a lot. He's one of my favorite heavyweights along with Big Nog and Werdum. But I never understood the GOAT hype about him. Sure he defended the UFC title more than anyone else but the UFC HW division has been abysmal for nearly a decade now. When it comes to evaluating these guys you have to go beyond the numbers and use common sense and the classic eye test. And when you do that its obvious that Stipe would not have beaten prime Fedor, let alone a handful of other fighters. Fedor was better than Stipe everywhere, including wrestling, subs, Boxing and kicking. Fedor was faster and showed higher ring IQ too. I won't take anyone seriously who thinks Stipe at his best could come close to Fedor in his prime.

And for the record Prime versions of Cain, Werdum, Big Nog, Mirko, and DC were all better than Stipe and I would habe favored them head to head.

Absolutely not. Prime Fedor is the GOAT.

 

[HHJ]

He was 33 or 34when he lost 3 in a row.

And?

 

[SpamuraiSensei]

Fedor was something like 10 years undefeated and 34-0 or whatever.

Stipe got knocked out on the feet by Stephan Struve 10 fights into his career.

People bring up the level of competition as an argument, but Fedor fought the best guys in his division in the best organization during his era.

People rag on his lost to Hendo without acknowledging what a badass Hendo was. Casual viewers that weren't watching MMA when Hendo was fighting Big Nog.

 

[stacrafty]

Fedor was something like 10 years undefeated and 34-0 or whatever.

Stipe got knocked out on the feet by Stephan Struve 10 fights into his career.

People bring up the level of competition as an argument, but Fedor fought the best guys in his division in the best organization during his era.

People rag on his lost to Hendo without acknowledging what a badass Hendo was. Casual viewers that weren't watching MMA when Hendo was fighting Big Nog.

Lmao you can't just say Fedor was fighting the best guys in the division and expect that to fly lol its 2022, any fool can Wikipedia up who those guys actually where, their records. And compare to who Stipe fought.

Nice try though.

 

[VenomCarnage]

Stipe was really unlucky (or lucky), as he fought all these legendary names, but most of them were totally over the hill.

Losses to Cormier and Ngannou in the fashion of how they happened also hurts him against a legend like Fedor, because those 2 rivalries are somewhat tainted with thoughts of “who is really better out of the 2”?

He also became extremely inactive as of late, which just doesn’t help.

Yes, Fedor begun to fall, but in his prime that man was the greatest Heavyweight of all-time. What’s weird about it, is that I think his small size definitely helped. Dude could have been a Middleweight lol.

 

[SpamuraiSensei]

Lmao you can't just say Fedor was fighting the best guys in the division and expect that to fly lol its 2022, any fool can Wikipedia up who those guys actually where, their records. And compare to who Stipe fought.

Nice try though.

So who in the UFC heavyweight division was better than Big Nog, Crocop, etc when Fedor was fighting them during the early 2000s?
Lets see your list of names.

Maybe you can find it on Wikipedia.

 

[mmaday4day]

Yeah cause much older Hendo had zero wear and tear over his career but fedor did(sarcastic)

Hendo could barely grapple anymore by that point either due to wear and tear. Hendo was a 1 n a half dimensional head hunter striker by that point.

Hendo was more diminished from his prime than fedor was. Predictable fedor was out of his prime counter argument has been negated.

You make no sense. Again, Fedor was NOT in his prime in 2011, neither was Hendo. Both guys looked old and washed in that fight, Hendo won. End of story.

 

[moreorless87]

Stipe is a classic overachiever. Never was really great at any one thing. But he has an above average fight IQ that helped carry him into being a champion. Fedor had it all, dynamite in his fist, great chin, lightning fast speed, can knock you out as quick as he choke you out. Also has a very high fight IQ. Prime Fedor is what helped me stay interested in the sport. Ken Shamrock got me into it. But Fedor kept me interested. Heavyweight used to be my favorite division. Pride was amazing

I do think it helped he was fighting in an era were most of his opponents had an obvious weakness to target, not so many wins were he's having to face down an opponent at what they do best.

In the earlier era I think Stipe's standing defence especially would have been tested much more.

 

[Viper2]

Prime Fedor beats any MMA fighter that has ever lived. Everyone knows that. The people who deny it are simply trolling.

 

[RedMountain]

Prime Fedor win via whatever he want.

 

[scorpipede]

Stipe proved himself in the UFC, when Fedor stopped facing Wrestlers with negative records or 2 fights he got his ass kicked

I see it this way too buy I still enjoyed what Fedor was able to do. He fought everybody available to him, had some great performances and had a fun skill set. I think prime Randy would have made him look real bad and prime v prime Stipe knocks him out flat.