170 is the one division where the UFC champ might not be the best fighter

Ummm...do people even realize that Rory and Askren are fighting in different orgs? There is no comparison to LW or MW where there is just contention about which UFC fighter is the best.
 
I think Vitaly Minakov could be the best HW in the world.

Not sure who I would pick between him and Stipe.
 
You guys do know that Rory got his ass kicked by Lawler and Wonderboy, right?
To be fair, most people think Wonderboy beat Woodley too, at least according to the ruleset (even if it was a boring fight other than the times Wonderboy was getting his shit pushed in).

As for Rory, well any time you're fighting a guy with a broken nose, you're not fighting the same guy. Can't take any points away from Lawler cuz he's the one who broke it, but imagine if a Rory that couldn't breathe at all stayed that competitive, was already up arguably 3 rounds by round 5, and rocked him with that headkick that had Robbie looking to survive just the round before, what a full Rory could do to him. Now, "what if's" don't matter when they don't happen, I'm just saying you could do 100 fights and not get your nose broken and I think it's far more likely that Robbie just happened to hit it, rather than he focused on hitting it early to drain Rory for later rounds
 
No mention his fights with Stephen Thompson both being draws at best?
 
Ben Askren has no claim, he hasnt been fighting anyone.

ROry is interesting but though he beat Tyron few years ago he did just lose back to back fights in UFC over guys Tyron just beat.

That puts Tyron at the top. Had Rory maybe not lost to Wonderboy on his way out and he just lost to Lawler he'd probably have a strong case but the Wonderboy loss set him back and fact Tyron beat Wonderboy.
 
It's overall wins, not just X guy beat Y once years ago.

Woodley has better wins and has improved the most since their fight.

Also since their fight Rory has gone 2-2 with wins over Daley and Tarec and losses to Lawler and Wonderboy.

Tyron has gone 5-0-1 with wins over Kelvin, Stun Gun, Lawler, Wonderboy and Maia
 
To be fair, most people think Wonderboy beat Woodley too, at least according to the ruleset (even if it was a boring fight other than the times Wonderboy was getting his shit pushed in).

As for Rory, well any time you're fighting a guy with a broken nose, you're not fighting the same guy. Can't take any points away from Lawler cuz he's the one who broke it, but imagine if a Rory that couldn't breathe at all stayed that competitive, was already up arguably 3 rounds by round 5, and rocked him with that headkick that had Robbie looking to survive just the round before, what a full Rory could do to him. Now, "what if's" don't matter when they don't happen, I'm just saying you could do 100 fights and not get your nose broken and I think it's far more likely that Robbie just happened to hit it, rather than he focused on hitting it early to drain Rory for later rounds

1.Lawler beat Rory twice

2. Anyone that had Rory ahead in that 2nd fight was drunk
 
Not his fault, but Woodley has some questions around his status as the best 170 pounder in the world that I don't think any of the other UFC champions have. Both Ben Askren, undefeated and a higher level wrestler, and Rory McDonald, a former top talent who beat Woodley, could make their claims as being better than anyone else with some plausibility. And of course there is the shadow of GSP looming over the division as well.
I think Conor is the weakest champ. Guys like Joe Duffy, Paul Felder, James Vick and even some tough Bellator 155ers have a good chance of beating him.

I am not at all convinced that Conor McGregor is a Top 20 LW in the world. The guy was finished by a fighter who had to cut a vacation short. All jokes aside, that is a serious lack of quality.
 
How exactly has he improved?

He still backs himself up against the cage and explodes into a TD or counter right the same he tried with Rory.

Good TDD and non committal strikes and solid boxing is what it takes to beat him. Which is why he struggled so much with WB. He let him back himself up then peppered him with non committal strikes that he couldn't just easily counter.

Rory would beat him again with the same gameplan bc he is the same fighter he was back then. Very little improvement just good match making is all that makes him look improved.
This post is biased as hell, you say it's just "good match making" yet you bring up how Rory beats Tyron who's a good stylistic matchup for Rory.

You do realize Rory has lost to three guys that Tyron beat? Two of them finished rory, Tyron can beat more top competition than Rory he's the better champion.
 
Nothing but favorable match making ahe arguably lost both.
To be fair, most people think Wonderboy beat Woodley too, at least according to the ruleset (even if it was a boring fight other than the times Wonderboy was getting his shit pushed in
Delusional, only morons think Thompson won those fights Woodley caused all the significant damage, there's no question Woodley won the FIGHT both time this isn't karate point fighting, Woodley cracked Thompsons shit twice and had him hurt, Thompson was never able to put Woodley in any sort of danger in the 10 rounds of fighting they had
 
You could say the same for several divisions. And honestly, I'm not sold that Woodley ISN'T the best 170-er alive right now. I doubt Askren takes him down, and he's evolved tremendously since the MacDonald fight. At this point, I think even GSP would have trouble hanging with Woodley, though I doubt that fight ever happens. Dude's got scary power, fantastic wrestling and takedown defense, and steadily improving standup. He's a tough match up for anybody. And I don't care much for him.
 
Yeah and Rory beat the fuck out of Woodley so I don’t know where you think this is going.

Woodley's 3-0 against the opponents that Rory is 0-4 against (Condit, Wonderboy, & Lawler).

He's clearly better than Rory despite losing to him before his peak.
 
1.Lawler beat Rory twice

2. Anyone that had Rory ahead in that 2nd fight was drunk
Rory got ruined by Condit early, he became a safe fighter who held back and coasted, especially pulling back the third round, like the massive criticism he got for not finishing Penn or Ellenberger. He needed the first loss to Robbie before he turned his fighting style back up.

Also, really?

38-38 -Mindenhall
38-38 -Breen. 39-37 MacDonald -Nelson, Sherwood
39-37 MacDonald -MMAJunkie
39-37 MacDonald -Burke
39-37 MacDonald -F4W
39-38 MacDonald -Braiterman
Popkin describes it as a "Come-from-behind victory"
Myers describes Lawler's win in the fifth round as a "rally" and Lawler trying to "go out on his shield"

I haven't seen a single article or writer suggesting Lawler was ahead at the start of round 5.

this isn't ... point fighting
..Yes it is. Fights are scored with points.

Delusional, only morons think Thompson won those fights Woodley caused all the significant damage
Strange, I think only morons score fights by damage. Wonderboy won 6 of the 10 rounds they fought. In the first fight, going 3-2 didn't matter cuz Woodley got a 10-8, tying it up. In the second fight, Wonderboy won 3 rounds to 2 again, and as for Woodley getting any 10-8's in that fight? The NSAC director commented “The one judge that had it 10-8 — we went over it in the debriefing — and that 10-8 was unacceptable”

So if you wanna go ahead and tell me what 3 rounds Woodley won in either fight, that'd be nice. Otherwise, take the moronic "durr damage" argument and shove it up Pride's ass, cuz that's not how MMA is scored. If you wanna get into it on whether or not fights should be scored that way, fine. I think it's ridiculous and scoring has always been overdue for a massive overhaul. You wanna argue that Woodley would beat Wonderboy without time limits? I'd agree, Woodley came WAY closer to beating Wonderboy than Wonderboy ever hoped of finishing Woodley, and if they fought to a finish, I'd bet on Woodley every time. Wanna argue that Woodley is the better overall fighter? Absolutely, he looked more well-rounded and dangerous throughout both fights, just more tentative. Problem is better fighters lose fights all the time. Just like Woodley shoulda lost to Wonderboy.
 
Not his fault, but Woodley has some questions around his status as the best 170 pounder in the world that I don't think any of the other UFC champions have. Both Ben Askren, undefeated and a higher level wrestler, and Rory McDonald, a former top talent who beat Woodley, could make their claims as being better than anyone else with some plausibility. And of course there is the shadow of GSP looming over the division as well.
What kind of weird logic is this??

Junior Dos Santos and fucking Struve beat Stipe.
So they can make claims to be more qualified than him?
 
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