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Originally Posted by Masscore  I would really like to see him jump into the shark tank that is LHW. Would love to see how he would do against the likes of Evans, Shogun, Bader and Jones. The only thing that really hurts his legacy in my eyes is the fact his record is littered with a bunch of so-so fighters. Cote, Lietes, Lutter, Irvin, Marquadt and Leben just to name a few. His best win is Hendo but after that it's either Franklin or Forrest. And while Franklin and Forrest are good fighters neither of them are going to go down as all time greats. So I would really like to see him jump up and join the deep waters of LHW. |
The only flaw in that logic is that out of all of the active LHW's, the only guy who will go down as a GOAT for sure is Hendo, and if Jones keeps it up he most likely will as well. Franklin was a more dominant champ than any of the LHW's(besides Jones), very well rounded guy, and Forrest played the belt hot potato at LHW as well as anyone.
Cote was a late replacement who had a decent win streak. Leites got a title shot after beating Marquardt in a #1 contender fight. Lutter got it from TUF. Marquardt was #2 for a loong time, up until Sonnen beat him he was clearing out the MW's with ease. Leben has been a top 10 many times, he has his ups and downs but his fight with Silva was basically a #1 contender fight to fight Silva.
No one only fights guys who are consistently the best, it's just not possible. But he did beat Belfort, Okami, Franklin, Forrest, Hendo, Marquardt, and Sonnen. All of those guys have had great careers.
I feel like everyone claiming MW is shallow haven't fully analyzed the division. It's one of those things where people just keep saying it so it starts to get believed. I think it's just as good as any other division. Evans, Shogun, Machida, Bader, Rampage, they all have serious holes in their games. They are no more skilled than the top MW's. Also, to be honest The bigger MW's are the same size as the smaller LHW's. Evans, Sonnen, Okami, Hendo, Belfort, Machida, Shogun, they are all around the same size.