I think he means in modern times, the obsession with the perfect record become a religion itself among the fanbase looking for an immortal wargod in combat sports. Such dynamic changes the state where career fighters have to take part and do stuff like avoid xyz, padd up to look great, always be protected and offered perfect opportunities in training and competing; Meanwhile great champs of the past in today's fan climate would be viewed ruthlessly as nobodies by fans and promoters because the record must be a perfect 0 loss or at worse less than 3.
To that, I'm starting to see it creep its way into MMA, a sport where it was more of the quality of your opponent rather than your stat