Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac  It's not about the division growing, there just hasn't been a dominant LW yet. You can't say Penn is the GOAT because Edgar beat him twice. You can't then say Edgar because he has lost to Henderson twice. |
Fedor lost to Hendo, Bigfoot, & Werdum. Does that mean he isn't the greatest heavyweight?
It's not about who beat who, it's about accomplishments. At lightweight (or at least against guys who are/were lightweights) BJ Penn is 12-3-1, with 3 title defenses, & all 3 losses coming in title fights. In 2003 he beat Gomi, who was the #1 LW in the world for years after that. He was on top longer than any other LW Champion (in defenses) and dominated his opposition. Plus he avenged the loss to Pulver, & the first loss to Edgar was a fairly controversial decision.
[/QUOTE]I don't consider Jones in the running for GOAT yet either but I think the difference is that you can't find a guy who people think can beat him so it gets thrown out there prematurely. It's different with the LWs because you can't look at one of them and say, I don't see how anyone can beat this guy.[/QUOTE]
It's not premature to put someone into the GOAT discussion when he had the single greatest year any mixed martial artist has ever had & currently holds the record for title defenses in that division. Accomplishments are what determine the GOAT, not time. No LHW Champion has accomplished what Bones has.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac There may never be a GOAT at LW and there doesn't really need to be. It seems like everybody is jumping on this GOAT bandwagon lately and I'm not sure why. The only weight class you can look at and say we may be seeing the best ever is MW. |
There's a difference between "Greatest" & "Best". The "best" fighter ever would be someone who could beat anyone from any era. I agree it's pretty much impossible to determine that.
However it is possible to determine who the "Greatest" fighter of a division is, or rather, who accomplished the most.