Gegard Mousasi may very well be the best MW in the world as of 2019, here's my top 5

[Gmork]

Moose is like the MMA hipster's darling. People would say he is the best when he was in Dream and Strikeforce and now that he's in Bellator it's starting again. He's a top 10 fighter and maybe even top 5, but he wasn't getting anywhere near the belt when he was in the UFC.

Except the fact that he was one fight away, at worst, from a title shot when he left?

 

[Mike]

Speculation, or indirect evidence, has probative value in regards to being used as evidence in courts, to disregard something so obvious just makes you look like a fool.

Hendricks had a 85% win ratio Pre USADA at WW, after USADA was imposed he went to 16% win ratio while not even being able to make 185lbs.

You can ignore it and pretend it doesnt exist, but facts are facts, and almost every division was shaken up.

And most divisions had agong weathered fighters as well. Some of them a re e usada, some aging and wear and tear. There's no way to know for sure.

 

[EatMyShorts]

I believe he beats Whittaker, Israel & Luke with his superior boxing skills.

Mousasi's grappling is also elite enough to hang with anyone in the division

IMO Yoel would be his toughest test, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mousasi gets it done

Here's my MW top 5 as of 2019

1) Yoel/Mousasi
2) Whittaker
3) Hermansson
4) Adesanya
5) Costa

lol - a dude who was gifted a decision to Alexander Shlemenko?



I have Costa - number 5 on your list - absolutely spanking the Moose also.

 

[pankrat]

He’s demonstrated to be better at this time in their careers. Again, Gerard has a losing record against the top of the division. And when you take RW and Yoel into account, there’s simply no way you can call Gerard the best MW in the world.

Im not arguing with you about Mousasi being n1. Thats Whittaker imo.
Mousasi has a losing record againt the top of the division? Has Israel any record against the top of the division at all? Oh, 1-0 against Gastelum, who got finished by Weidman, a guy who got KOed by Gegard.

Let Israel a bit of time, mate, dont buy the hype so easily. I like the guy and has great potential but is not as proven as Gegard at this point.
Israel had a very close fight with Vettori just a year ago ffs

 

[Franklin U.]

No, I said he hasn't proven he's the best mw. No need to be so insulting, and while claiming the moral high ground too.

" so insulting" .That was one sardonic sentence ....at best which encompassed many .
I'm not going to go back and read all your posts in thread but each retort you sound , at least, more reasonable .I'm consistent in defending by position on gegard mousasi threads. I use operative words like reasonable, opinion and " might ".
I also extend that being in any fight with one of the top couple middleweights, I wouldn't be shocked in any way - win or lose-. Any open betting line between 3-4 best middleweights today would back anyone having an opinion who they d put in their personal pecking order.

If someone were to open some middleweight topic saying " you know what- Brunson and Branch have been the victims of bad luck but they're still ranked in top 12 and I happen to think that they're, arguably, talent wise- the best 185ers in world " then I could see the obvious backlash and I could discount reasonable opinion ( even though its someone s opinion but not reasonable).

 

[Franklin U.]

I have Rob and Yoel above him. Israel not yet

This is a reasonable opinion and it just so happens the way the USA today[ thee most referenced used rankings that's not "UFC only"] has the 4 currently ranked.
However, and this is just an opinion - I still dont know what to make of Israel. I can see the other 3 beating each other on any given night ( many thought yoel won last fight with whit). I'd put my money on Gegard right now and if I'm wrong then I'm wrong ..... sadly ,we'll never get to see.

Gegard cant look past Lovato jr ( who's probably worlds most underrated 185er along with Jack) otherwise all my defending will become useless..... especially on sherdog where you're as good as your last fight . sad.

 

[CDF47]

Top two is a tough call, I agree. I'd like to see them fight for it.

 

[streetglider]

Quite possibly the most overrated fighter in mma at the moment. Clearly a top 10, maybe a top 5, absolutely nothing to suggest he’s #1. That’s almost a joke.

Let’s see: comes into the UFC. Gets soundly beat the first time he faces a top 5 opponent in Machida. Then beats a nearly unranked Munoz. Loses right after that to the second top 5 opponent he’s faced (Jacare). Takes two victories over fringe top 10 guys (Hendo and Costa). Gets finished by an at best top 10 guy in Hall. Puts together 5 straight wins. MAYBE one of which was a top 5 opponent in Weidman, but even he had lost two straight and it was a controversial win as well. So before leaving the UFC, he had a losing record against top 5 competition and had also been beat by Hall. In Bellator, he hasn’t beat a single ranked opponent.

It’s clear as day, he’s a solid top 10 guy who just isn’t good enough to beat the elite at MW. Thinking he is better than the proven elite (Whittaker, Yoel, Izzy,) is hilarious.

came back after losing to hall in a bout he was smoking him in and got caught, then calls it saying he got caught and wants to rematch him as hes the better fighter. gets the rematch and manhandles him like he said he would. dont forget about the beat down on thiago santos he did, the same santos thats now fighting jones

 

[Greco_Wiz]

came back after losing to hall in a bout he was smoking him in and got caught, then calls it saying he got caught and wants to rematch him as hes the better fighter. gets the rematch and manhandles him like he said he would. dont forget about the beat down on thiago santos he did, the same santos thats now fighting jones

Avenging a loss doesn’t mean you discount the first. You still lost. And no, the Thiago Santos he fought is not the name one that is fighting Jones. Fighters can both improve and get worse over time.

 

[CC27]

he's top 3 or 4 behind Whittaker and romero. Probably just ahead of Izzy but if he beats Whittaker he'll take top spot.

Mousasi just doesnt have the wins over top MW, he didnt beat the best guys in UFC before he left. those losses set him back and then once he got on a run and fought Weidman which would have put him right there for either title fight or number 1 contender fight he left. So we didnt see him vs Romero, Luke or Whittaker.

Now in Bellator we wont see him in wiht best. Lovato is a good fight but its not someone in top 10.

Could he beat Whittaker and Romero etc, sure he's good enough but I'd favor both of them over him right now.

He's like Horiguchi in a way, great fighter, hardcore fans like them and hold them up as best but they didnt beat the best guys and left UFC and now arent fighting the elite anymore but fans still swear they'd beat everyone.

 

[imbossing]

Avenging a loss doesn’t mean you discount the first. You still lost. And no, the Thiago Santos he fought is not the name one that is fighting Jones. Fighters can both improve and get worse over time.

What's the difference of Santos now?

 

[streetglider]

Avenging a loss doesn’t mean you discount the first. You still lost. And no, the Thiago Santos he fought is not the name one that is fighting Jones. Fighters can both improve and get worse over time.

i agree, but if you watched that fight he was big brothering him ti he got caught. he owned it, said what he was going to do and then completely smoked hall. thiago is not much different, he was starching most guys at middleweight as well . im sure he feels better without the weight cut, skill set seems the same. he wings bombs , and is a pressure guy. you have to admit moose made it look easy

 

[MarleyLynx]

Lol, Hey I didn't say official rankings. I feel like Gastelum and Adesanya outbox whittaker and defend the takedowns. Mousasi is more balanced than adesanya and would box up gastelum and whittaker.

 

[kingjim]

Dude is completely unable to accurately access Mousasi ability. No one in there right mind would favor him over Romero or Whittaker.

Hes top 5 but he's constantly overrated. People consistently refer to him as the best striker at mw but he's been out struck multiple times.

In terms of talent I think he's 4th best.

1. Whittaker
2. Yoel
3. Adesanya
4. Mousasi
5. Hermansson

I like this list...
mine from 1-4 is exactly the same just would have Gas above Hermansson

 

[kingjim]

Im not arguing with you about Mousasi being n1. Thats Whittaker imo.
Mousasi has a losing record againt the top of the division? Has Israel any record against the top of the division at all? Oh, 1-0 against Gastelum, who got finished by Weidman, a guy who got KOed by Gegard.

Let Israel a bit of time, mate, dont buy the hype so easily. I like the guy and has great potential but is not as proven as Gegard at this point.
Israel had a very close fight with Vettori just a year ago ffs

whats your point Gegard arguably lost to Schlemenko and had to panic wrestle from what I saw

 

[Vegesus44]

You cunts got it all wrong, the Kiwi has this shit down.
Do it.

 

[My2Cents]

To be the best MW Moose only needs to beat 1 MW, and that is the UFC MW champion, who many believe stylistically he matches up very well against.

You also ignore a very important criteria which is that Moose went undefeated in the UFC Post USADA, not only that but was also putting on dominating performances.

People tend to forget that almost every division was shaken up post USADA, and Moose and Bisping seemed to benefit greatly from the enhanced testing

Very good point. Both machida and jacare were both juicing when they fought. Hell, I think machida never looked better physically better than in that fight

 

[listrahtes]

To be the best MW Moose only needs to beat 1 MW, and that is the UFC MW champion, who many believe stylistically he matches up very well against.

You also ignore a very important criteria which is that Moose went undefeated in the UFC Post USADA, not only that but was also putting on dominating performances.

People tend to forget that almost every division was shaken up post USADA, and Moose and Bisping seemed to benefit greatly from the enhanced testing

Good post but I would exclude Bisping. He did not benefit from USADA but having a fluke win against Rockhold and otherwise very very favourable match ups. Over the hill Silva, fighting as "champ" against a half dead not even top 15 Henderson was pathetic and still nearly got finished and lost the fight in the eyes of many. Bisping as champ was still not even top10 regarding his quality USADA or no USADA. Bispings talent level always was in the area of close decision wins over the likes of Dollaway,Hamill etc,

 

[pankrat]

Good post but I would exclude Bisping. He did not benefit from USADA but having a fluke win against Rockhold and otherwise very very favourable match ups. Over the hill Silva, fighting as "champ" against a half dead not even top 15 Henderson was pathetic and still nearly got finished and lost the fight in the eyes of many. Bisping as champ was still not even top10 regarding his quality USADA or no USADA. Bispings talent level always was in the area of close decision wins over the likes of Dollaway,Hamill etc,

"Talent level" - How do you measure that, mister?
"Fluke win".... He even awared Rockhold about dropping his lead hand too much before the fight, then actually capitalized exactly on it and KTFO of Luke in the fight. lol at fluke.

Bisping wasnt great in one area but solid everywhere. Apart from great endurance and toughness. Such skill set can lead to many close fight against different matchups but also being competitive against anyone.
He had close fights with Dollaway as he had with prime juiced Sonnen or Rashad Evans. So based on your simpleton "talent level" analysis. His "talent level" (lol) was in the area of Dollaway or prime juiced #1 contender Chael Sonnen and Evans?

 

[JRubin]

Good post but I would exclude Bisping. He did not benefit from USADA but having a fluke win against Rockhold and otherwise very very favourable match ups. Over the hill Silva, fighting as "champ" against a half dead not even top 15 Henderson was pathetic and still nearly got finished and lost the fight in the eyes of many. Bisping as champ was still not even top10 regarding his quality USADA or no USADA. Bispings talent level always was in the area of close decision wins over the likes of Dollaway,Hamill etc,

Well he was on a 6 fight win streak, where he beat the GOAT MW, and avenged 2 losses that happened pre USADA, regardless of what stupid revisionist history you want to go off of, to say he didnt benefit from USADA is factually incorrect.