Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira or Daniel Cormier - Who do you rank higher in the GOAT rankings?

[Dorkman]

Cormier

 

[SG123]

People who’ve only seen Cormier fight voting for Cormier

 

[HHJ]

If Big Nog lost to Fedor 2x, wouldn't he lost to Black Fedor at least once?

Fedor used good strategy to beat nog as well as his ability.


If DC tried to fight him a diff way, who knows?

 

[Preston broadus]

Big nog had a better run.

 

[ncboy]

DC would rag doll him. Fedor and his padded resume aren't that good of a win. Tom will be the best ever.

 

[Nobru]

since the question is about GOAT rankings, it has to be Nog, because he fought twice as much compared to DC. Both were great and all, but Nog longevity is the tiebreaker.

if the question was which one was more skilled tho, Id say we have a tie. Prime x Prime, I truly have no idea who would take it.

 

[blaseblase]

DC easily. DC only lost to the greatest fighter of all time and arguably the greatest UFC HW of all time.

Lol, no. There is no argument.

 

[maximus__]

Both had incredible careers. One fought the greatest MMA HW fighter in Fedor.

The other fought who most consider the second greatest MMA HW fighter in Stipe.

Cormier also competed in LHW and did very well in that weight class.

Who do you rank higher in your all-time list?

Nogueira was one of the top 3 to do it in Pride at HW and then came over and captured the UFC belt at the end of his career.

DC had some wins over his common opponents, but not the strength of schedule of Nog.

All time it's DC for being number 2 in UFC LHW and HW.

HW it's Nog because he did it across multiple eras and could still be dominate in today's HW division with his skillset.
He had good boxing, a good ground game and a god level chin.

Head to head I think Nog beats DC interestingly. DC would have to dirty box him against the cage or risk being outbpoxed at range or reversed on the ground.
Both were enjoyable to watch minus the DC eyepoke era and quitting vs Stipe in fight 3.

 

[Throwin Bombs]

I go with Nog no doubt. Cormier is pretty overrated, utilizing an incredibly boring wall and stall style once he found success.

The people saying he would toss Nog around must be swayed by a couple highlights from DC's career. Nog was at one point the best HW in the world and continued to be elite for much longer than DC. Nog crossed over a number of eras even continuing to fight after becoming an Arthritic mummy.

Scalp list
Couture
Barnett
Werdum
Hendo
Sylvia
Herring
Kharitonov
Schilt
CroCop
Ricco
Coleman

 

[Taric]

Cormier was a top 3 fighter from 2015-2020 (6 years)
Nogueira was a top 3 fighter from 2001-2008 (8 years)

It's close, but if you look at it objectively it's Nog.

 

[don't ask]

Nog. I'm pretty comfortable calling Nog the #2 heavyweight of all time, after Fedor.

 

[HavokHarmon]

It would look a lot worse considering he'd have taken his first loss not from Jon Jones but from any one or more of Cain, JDS, Werdum, Overeem, Stipe, etc. He was at the point of having to face big and athletic HWs, not the previous ones he'd been used to of big but unathletic and/or fat. He was going to take a loss(es) the way he was looking. Those guys would punish him for the awkward flying kicks he was attempting against the Mirs and Nelsons of the world, not just looking perplexed at this fat uncoordinated fuck.

Moving down to LHW's the only reason he ever went anywhere. And that was also only because the UFC oddly decided to strip Jon over their fake Athletic Policy when he crashed his car. And then further oddly gave DC the title shot, despite coming off a title loss and despite Ryan Bader being the #2 contender.

And if he'd never moved down he'd obviously never get the chance to move back up and become double champ. Maybe he wins the HW belt at some point sure, but would never have the double champ status if he never became LHW champ first.

DC owes his entire career to moving down, and being a right place right time kinda guy.

The timing is where it gets interesting though. DC dropped down to LHW in 2014 and fought Jones in 2015 for the title. Cain dropped the hw belt to Werdum in 2015 and would only fight two more times his whole career, never challenging for the title again.

At the time a big part of the reason for DCs drop was that Cain was champ and it was presumed he would at least be relevant in the title picture for years to come. But that isn’t how it panned out. In hindsight it would have been very possible for DC to make a title run at hw without fighting Cain.

JDS might have been a strong challenger but this would have been him post-Cain and he was never the same after their last two fights.

Overeem also wasn’t the monster he entered the UFC as by this point having gotten off the horse meat.

So of those three fights I don’t see him facing Cain and I don’t see JDS and Overeem as serious threats just due to the time fights with them would have occured.

That just leaves Werdum and Stipe, both super interesting fights if they had happened in the 2015-2018 period. But also very winnable fights for Daniel. Up to that point at least some of DCs best outings were at hw. He won a stacked Strikeforce tournament, granted Overeem dropped out and he never faced Werdum in it, but watching those fights back he looked pretty damn good slinging Barnett around the way he did.

I don’t know though. It’s always tough to run these. To me it’s not crazy to think that he could have stayed at hw and gone on a tear (or continued his tear really). It’s also not crazy to think he could have absorbed a couple losses to some of the top guys he never fought due to dropping down. Maybe his legacy would be the hw champ with the most title defenses in UFC history. It’s not like this was mw or ww where the defense records are super high. He’d be looked upon a lot differently if that had been the case. Or maybe he would have joined guys like JDS and Mir as solid champs in a lineup of champs. Then his legacy may be worse. Who knows. Just fun to think about.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

interesting seeing a lot of people saying big nog here. makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. he def was a beast when he was a slim HW, unparalleled ground game and ability to take damage. the win over cro cop, i'll never forget it. ate the LHK too. belly down armbar. crazy shit. wish we could have seen that version in the UFC, but he did have some good moments in the UFC too. will never forget him peeing his shorts in between the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the heath herring fight.

 

[AstralPanda]

Both had incredible careers. One fought the greatest MMA HW fighter in Fedor.

The other fought who most consider the second greatest MMA HW fighter in Stipe.

Cormier also competed in LHW and did very well in that weight class.

Who do you rank higher in your all-time list?

even as an old pride fan, Big nogs accomplishment is nowhere near DC. It's a ridiculous comparison.

The only reason this pole is as close as it is, is rose colored glasses. Nothing more.

 

[samuelsoncast]

 

[italiamusica]

I feel like both deserve a lot of credit and praise

 

[moreorless87]

Fedor used good strategy to beat nog as well as his ability.


If DC tried to fight him a diff way, who knows?

I think that does expose a pretty big issue, Cormier across his entire career never had to deal with anyone even close to as dangerous off their back as Nog, indeed loads of modern fighters haven't, especially in the higher weight classes.

Standing he also would never be able to fight the way Fedor did in the 3rd match and a 25 min boxing match with Nog closer in would not be easy, indeed it probably wouldnt only be boxing as Nog had some good MT knees as well but I think just cardio wise thats a big test for DC.

 

[Lee Danger]

Nog.
Cormier is one of the very few recent HW who could have done good in Pride.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

Nog quite easily for me.

 

[r-harper-1]

I'll admit I thought Nog was already done going into the Randy fight. He proved me wrong.

He feel like he kind of was done …..Randy was just old , small and a good style match for Nog …..Great fight