Fighters who flipped your opinion on them.

[Street Bishop]

Whenever a fighter has a built in excuse (I was drinking, my foot was a balloon) I'm guaranteed to start bashing them

 

[gentel]

I thought O'Malley was just a can crusher marketing to casuals until the Yan and Aljo wins

I thought Damir Ismagulov and Guram Kutateladze were both future title contenders, they both looked so elite against each other and put on an all-time great fight, then both got reality checked

I thought Khamzat was going to run through Usman and be the most dominant WW champ ever, then he went life and death against Gilbert, missed weight against Nate Diaz of all people, went up a weight class, earned a 28-28 draw against Usman (judges gave it by robbery), and may in fact never be champ

 

[SuspectChin]

Gina Carano

Used to liked her (like seventeen years ago) but now find her unbearable for obvious reasons.

 

[666]

Gina Carano

Used to liked her (like seventeen years ago) but now find her unbearable for obvious reasons.

You have forgotten the face of your father.

 

[brucelim]

I used to really like Khabib, loved his ”just send me location”, I thought it was so bad ass. How he humbled Conor, just brilliant. Liked his fighting style, going for the finish, etc.

But when he retired and went full dagestani Wallid, talking shit about other fighters, demanding this and that for his team mates, I lost all the respect for him. I wish he would have stayed right away from the spotlights and just enjoyed his retirement. I guess it just showed his true colors, but it spoiled the athlete and his achievements for me.

I respect you for this post, because unlike other Khabib (i wouldn't use the word "haters" lol but maybe "dislikers" --which isn't even a word but f it), you actually have your own valid points, and you stand by your own opinions which is cool. And your dislike doesn't come from any religion/nationality standpoint. I really can respect that. I am usually a lurker and I see far too many blind hate for Khabib/Islam etc (and your post enlightened me about why someone would genuinely dislike Khabib).

I still think you are misunderstanding the Bib here, Sherbro, but, everyone is entitled to their opinions, and dang, yea, i wish he was less outspoken after retirement, so that fans of his fighting style (for example you, would have had a better impression about him as a whole, and his fighting legacy).

As a lurker, judging from your past posts about Islam, I would have reckoned your answer in this thread would be Islam instead of Khabib hahah. Fuck, does this mean that you always disliked Islam since time immemorial, thus there was no flipping of opinion involved? lol.

Cheers mate. I'm just a fan of these fighters, who can also appreciate/understand/see how some fight fans would hate them.

 

[corrupted]

Benson Henderson. I was obviously a Pettis fan lol

Hated the split decisions and blamed him. Seeing him lose to Pettis was dope but felt bad when he handled the RDA KO so well. When he took the Brandon Thatch fight on short notice I immediately flipped. Thatch was undefeated and the next big thing at Welterweight, a weight class up from Bensons.

He went in there and took Brandon's 0 and earned my respect. I've viewed him as a fighting dog to admire ever since.

This. I didn't hate on him, but he just didn't excite me a great deal. Coming from a TKD background he was a little to point fight-y to for me.

Felt like he beat Cowboy in their third fight tho.

That fight against Thatch was great. Took Thatch's soul. He was never as bad as he became after that fight

 

[Sasha]

I usually have a knee-jerk reaction with the overhyped fighters, especially when they haven't really deserved such attention in the octagon. But with time, when you see their fights, when you get to see who the actual guys behind the characters are, it happens that I have more sympathy for them. Thinking about people like Paddy ; for O'Malley it is a bit different, I think that many people were pleasantly surprised to see him rise to the occasion, and be competitive with the top of his weight class. I'm a lot more interested since. He probably targets much younger people than me with his online content though, but I wouldn't watch it anyway so that's not really a problem.



And Volkanovski was never my friend since he lost his belt. Nah, that's not true.

 

[Conan the K-9]

I respect you for this post, because unlike other Khabib (i wouldn't use the word "haters" lol but maybe "dislikers" --which isn't even a word but f it), you actually have your own valid points, and you stand by your own opinions which is cool. And your dislike doesn't come from any religion/nationality standpoint. I really can respect that. I am usually a lurker and I see far too many blind hate for Khabib/Islam etc (and your post enlightened me about why someone would genuinely dislike Khabib).

I still think you are misunderstanding the Bib here, Sherbro, but, everyone is entitled to their opinions, and dang, yea, i wish he was less outspoken after retirement, so that fans of his fighting style (for example you, would have had a better impression about him as a whole, and his fighting legacy).

As a lurker, judging from your past posts about Islam, I would have reckoned your answer in this thread would be Islam instead of Khabib hahah. Fuck, does this mean that you always disliked Islam since time immemorial, thus there was no flipping of opinion involved? lol.

Cheers mate. I'm just a fan of these fighters, who can also appreciate/understand/see how some fight fans would hate them.

Thanks mate!
The narrative that people would ”hate” (I think it’s a quite strong word too) them because of nationality or religion, is completely a made up false narrative by some of their bigotic fans. They love to be victimes and think that everything is about their favorite fighters, religion or politics.

Tbh, I feel equally gringe, when my favorite Brazilians talk about Jesus in their post fight speech. Please leave that to you community and use our mic time to promote your self to the full audience. Religion and politics should be kept separate from sports.

What goes Juicelam, he was first neutral, scentless and tasteless. I literally had no opinion on him, just found it ridiculous how the same Khabib fanbase jumped to his wagon, without any other merits. Then he started his privileged, I deserve this and that, I didn’t like how he jumped the line, had the history with meldonium and claimed heartsurgery, etc.
I don’t hate the dude, but can’t like him either. I feel like he has some challenges, so you can’t really judge everything, what he says. And ofcourse there is also Ali using his Twitter/X.

But it’s definetily his/their toxic fanbase, that lives in a world of false narratives. They make any reasonable discussion impossible. Great to hear you are not one of them!

 

[corrupted]

I liked Conor .. what seems like decades ago. I've gone from Liking - Not liking - can't stand - feel kinda bad for to hoping he just stays behind that bar serving beer and punting his pub

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

I have watched Jorge Masvidal since the Kimbo Slice backyard brawl days. I was a fan for years.

After watching an interview about how he described himself as the sucker punch king and then sucker punching Colby after getting beat fair and square I think he's a dirty mofo.

On the flip side I used to hate Jon Jones. Every fight I wanted him to lose early in his career. I root for him now though. Maybe because I respect how he throws caution to the wind and I can relate with his fuck ups.

Any fighters you used to love or hate that changed your mind in the other direction?

I think Brendan Schaub for making the terrible career choice of retiring and becoming a comic. Schaub had wins over CroCop, Gonzaga and Mitrione. He was 31 years old and had a 2 fight losing streak. One of those losses was a split decision to Arlovski. I think Schaub had at least 5 good years left, maybe more. He's not funny and should've kept fighting. I'm pissed at him and blame Rogan as well for giving such bad career advice.

 

[corrupted]

Thanks mate!
The narrative that people would ”hate” (I think it’s a quite strong word too) them because of nationality or religion, is completely a made up false narrative by some of their bigotic fans. They love to be victimes and think that everything is about their favorite fighters, religion or politics.

Tbh, I feel equally gringe, when my favorite Brazilians talk about Jesus in their post fight speech. Please leave that to you community and use our mic time to promote your self to the full audience. Religion and politics should be kept separate from sports.

What goes Juicelam, he was first neutral, scentless and tasteless. I literally had no opinion on him, just found it ridiculous how the same Khabib fanbase jumped to his wagon, without any other merits. Then he started his privileged, I deserve this and that, I didn’t like how he jumped the line, had the history with meldonium and claimed hearsurgery, etc.
I don’t hate the dude, but can’t like him either. I feel like he has some challenges, so you can’t really judge everything, what he says. And ofcourse there is also Ali using his Twitter/X.

But it’s definetily his/their toxic fanbase, that lives in a world of false narratives. They make any reasonable discussion impossible. Great to hear you are not one of them!

Without going in too deep .. "Juicelam" needs some work for FTR.. But for me, I don't hate the guy at all, I have the same indifference to him, and it's slightly pushed the needle towards "not really liking" as they (his fans and those promoting him) force feed a narrative of him somehow being worthy of the stuff Khabib was due. He's NOT as good as Khabib and will NEVER have the same dominance .. He may surpass his record and become a two division champion. But he won't have that "thing" Khabib had. And they more they try to thumb it in, the more irritating it is (for me)

And I really don't get how the meldonium thing is brushed under the rug so quickly by most. He absolutely pissed hot in the exact same way as Sharparova did and the doctors note was as genuine as the one Cyborg pulled out for the "fertility treatment" she was undergoing.

 

[corrupted]

I think Brendan Schaub for making the terrible career choice of retiring and becoming a comic. Schaub had wins over CroCop, Gonzaga and Mitrione. He was 31 years old and had a 2 fight losing streak. One of those losses was a split decision to Arlovski. I think Schaub had at least 5 good years left, maybe more. He's not funny and should've kept fighting. I'm pissed at him and blame Rogan as well for giving such bad career advice.

I think he's about as good of a comic as he was fighter and likely won't get hurt on stage

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

Man, you would've fucking HATED Mike Tyson

He did go to jail for rape and this........

 

[HatKick]

Used to hate O'Malley but he proved me wrong with his recent performances and turned out to not be such an ass despite the way he dresses. Hope he knocks out Merab.

Couldn't stand Strickland's big attention-seeking mouth when he was first coming up but now I think he's basically a good guy with a good heart who says and does a lot of dumb shit because he's psychologically damaged. I've had a couple of friends like that.

 

[JustforBROCK]

Matt Hughes. He was just an terrible, no good, very bad person.

 

[orca]

Kind of liked Sean Strickland when he kicked Izzy's ass, but then over time found him to be quite irritating. Don't really hate the guy though, wish him well

me too i dont hate him
sometimes he says the truth
but sometimes i disagree with him

 

[cshireman4]

Jon Jones. Absolute killer turned Jackson/Wink point fighting decision machine.

I couldn't stand Leon Edwards for most of his career, but I've came around over the last couple years. Same with Usman.

 

[Kevster]

Khamzat, used to think he was a bit of a tit.

Now I think he’s a complete bell end.

 

[Blastbeat]

i thought Ngannou was a cocky fuck prior to the first fight with Stipe. the UFC and Dana gassing him up with the Ford Escort comparisons didnt help. plus he seemed to think Stipe would be just like all the other HWs he fought.
Then he got 50-44'd and utterly dominated by Stipe over 5 rounds.
after that, he humbled his ass up real quick. i really like Ngannou now as a fighter and he seems like a nice dude too.

 

[acannxr]

I have watched Jorge Masvidal since the Kimbo Slice backyard brawl days. I was a fan for years.

After watching an interview about how he described himself as the sucker punch king and then sucker punching Colby after getting beat fair and square I think he's a dirty mofo.

On the flip side I used to hate Jon Jones. Every fight I wanted him to lose early in his career. I root for him now though. Maybe because I respect how he throws caution to the wind and I can relate with his fuck ups.

Any fighters you used to love or hate that changed your mind in the other direction?

I used to like Woodley before he became champion; his opinion on the riots in Ferguson and doing things like giving Gastelum his purse back won me over, then he made everything about race, constantly played the victim, and became outright delusional.