The Second Golden Age Is Over

[jeskola]

IMO Colby vs Usman 1 is what truly kicked it off but Jorge vs. Askren might’ve been the real initiator.

wtf are you talking about?



oh now I get it, you are a clueless noob.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

I think we just finished the end of an era, boys. The past 4 years have been filled with countless historic fights. IMO Colby vs Usman 1 is what truly kicked it off but Jorge vs. Askren might’ve been the real initiator.

My favorite moments:
Colby vs. Usman 1
Francis killing Stipe
Poatan stopping Adesanya

What are yours?

1st Golden Age: 2005-2011
2nd Golden Age: 2019-2023

RIP

Lmfao...

This might need to be pinned as the greatest white belt post ever lmfao ..

 

[Relentless chase]

I think we just finished the end of an era, boys. The past 4 years have been filled with countless historic fights. IMO Colby vs Usman 1 is what truly kicked it off but Jorge vs. Askren might’ve been the real initiator.

My favorite moments:
Colby vs. Usman 1
Francis killing Stipe
Poatan stopping Adesanya

What are yours?

1st Golden Age: 2005-2011
2nd Golden Age: 2019-2023

RIP

2005-2013 is the best era of MMA in History. Nothing beats that.. Look at who all was champions during that time, plus you had the PRIDE Fighters come to the UFC, you had Strikeforce during that time period, you had WEC… it was simply the best time in History to be an MMA Fan. That was the Golden Age.

GSP was WW Champion, Silva was MW Champion, Jones just beat Shogun, but before Jones’s time, it was Shogun, Machida, Rashad, Rampage… Then you had BJ at LW, then Frankie.. Aldo at Featherweight.. Cruz at BW…

It was simply the best era, ever. 2015 was a Historic Year, but I don’t think there’s ever been another Historic “era” after the real Golden Age in MMA.

 

[richardjohnson]

I kind of consider 2018-23 an era.

2018/19 marked the end of Conor's prime and the end of Jones' prime (he would still win fights but much less convincingly and he became much less active). It was also the end of Woodley's and DJ's championship reigns and the end of the Cruz/TJ/Garbrandt saga that had dominated BW. Instead new stars and dominant champions emerged like Khabib, Poirier, Adesanya, Masvidal, Usman, Colby, Volkanovski, Oliveira, Yan, Sterling, Nunes, Valentina and Weili while Stipe, DC and Ngannou dominated the HW picture.

2022/23 marked the end of that era as all the above lost their belts, retired, left, or suffered their worst losses. Probably not a golden era but not a bad time.

A new era is dawning. So far Islam, O'Malley, Leon, Pereira and Bryce Mitchell are the major players.

I’m a big fan of Thug Nasty but how is he going to be a major player in this new era?

 

[HatKick]

I’m a big fan of Thug Nasty but how is he going to be a major player in this new era?

lol just kidding

 

[CasualBot]

The MMA Epochs:

The Shamrock / Gracie / Severn / Kimo / Tank era ... 90s.

TUF / Pride / Fedor / Nick Diaz / Silva era ... 2000-2008

The Kimbo / Prelim era... 2008 - 2010 (Kimbo popularity lit a fire under prelims in 2009, a peak year)

The Brock / Rhonda / Jones / Conor / Nate Diaz era ... 2010-2019

The WME / JAKE PAUL / Covid era ... 2020 - present

 

[Neck&Neck]

The Jimmy Crute Era

 

[BOTTICELLI]

What about the Machida Era

 

[HHJ]

That's rather specific. Guess historic fights didn't happen between 2011 and 2019 lmao

Lol why is it over??? Just cos??

 

[Taric]

Eras of MMA:

Pre-2000: NHB era (MMA is mostly illegal everywhere and not particularly popular)
2000-2005: PRIDE era (Japanese MMA was more popular than American MMA in this time period)
2006-2015: Zuffa era (UFC absorbs all their competitors, PRIDE/EliteXC/Strikeforce, becoming the top dog)
2016-now: WME era (UFC and MMA have long been synonymous with each other)

You can pick and choose what your favourite era is but I think most would say their favourite is when Jones/Anderson/GSP/Aldo were all simultaneously champions under one roof, which is the Zuffa era, calling that era the "golden era"

 

[Rationality]

These threads make me sad remembering the excitement of the JBJ/AS/GSP etc era. I can't explain it.

 

[Iroh]

I think we just finished the end of an era, boys. The past 4 years have been filled with countless historic fights. IMO Colby vs Usman 1 is what truly kicked it off but Jorge vs. Askren might’ve been the real initiator.

My favorite moments:
Colby vs. Usman 1
Francis killing Stipe
Poatan stopping Adesanya

What are yours?

1st Golden Age: 2005-2011
2nd Golden Age: 2019-2023

RIP

Why do you think it has ended?

 

[daniel san]

Last golden age ended several years ago, probably around the time when GSP last fought, give or take a year or two. Bringing up random acts of violence like Poatan winning the LHW belt or Mas knocking out Askren means you don't quite understand what is meant by the golden age. There will always be great fights and knockouts, but the overall quality of the product along with good match making and well promoted fighters has definitely declined since ~2017-2019 and we have not seen a golden age since then. I'd say it mostly has to do with the output of events not matching with the amount of talent available - too many cards and too many of them consisting of cheap cans vs cans fights. As long as the ESPN deal continues, this will be the case.

 

[krelianx]

I lost interest a while ago, and it keeps waning. From the current champs, I'm only excited about Islam, O'Malley, and Volk.

I think the Eastern European talent will dominate in the future: Shavkat, Ankalaev, Evloev, Khamzat, Umar. I believe they represent a new standard of talent across divisions.

But right now I find most divisions to be in a fairly boring state. The sport has become pretty worn out and monotonous, and there is a lack of interesting rivalries and champions overall.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Second golden age was 2015/16 with Conor, Ronda, UFC 200, Brocks return etc.

Guess there was kind of a golden age 2019-2021. I wouldnt put the last two years in there with that though, things have been pretty quiet.

 

[gentel]

I think the era is really over when Volk loses the title and/or retires

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Pfft, Shara literally just got here.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

The MMA Epochs:

The Shamrock / Gracie / Severn / Kimo / Tank era ... 90s.

TUF / Pride / Fedor / Nick Diaz / Silva era ... 2000-2008

The Kimbo / Prelim era... 2008 - 2010 (Kimbo popularity lit a fire under prelims in 2009, a peak year)

The Brock / Rhonda / Jones / Conor / Nate Diaz era ... 2010-2019

The WME / JAKE PAUL / Covid era ... 2020 - present

The Brock era was pretty much concurrent with the Kimbo stuff. Fedor and TUF overlapped with it to some degree as well. Conor and Ronda felt like a totally different generation.

 

[BigOlJeet]

Recent memory

*Strickland dominating Izzy

*Poatan grabbing LHW strap

*Leon kicking Usmans head clean off

*Poirier sending Conor into the shadow realm

*Gaethje head kicking Poirier into the shadow realm

Some great violence in recent history.

 

[Juzie]

MMA keeps getting better (almost) every year.

The worst times were probably the Conor, Ronda era tbh.... lots of ducking/tailor picking fights (only really Alex is getting that treatment these days and I say that as a big Alex fan lol). + Sherdog IQ level of the average poster was probably below elementary school during that time.