Gomi is the greatest lightweight of all time

GIBLERTBAPTISTA said:
Eh.. Could have, would have, should have.

Fact is Sherk went 4-2 in his LW career (3-3, let's be real). While Gomi had 2 of the most impressive win streaks in LW history, his streak in Shooto and his streak in PRIDE. It's not like Gomi was known for struggling with wrestlers either, Ishida and Crusher were 2 of the best wrestlers in the division at the time and Gomi finished them both. Sherk telegraphed his takedowns A LOT, Hermes franca landed the same knee on him coming in like 40 times in their fight. Gomi would have TKO'd Sherk.
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I don't think so. Just watching the fights, Gomi was definitely susceptible to wrestlers, he lost to a fucking unknown Marcus Aurelio lmao. The level of competition Gomi faced is inflated in quality because the UFC discontinued 155 for a time. Gomi would have gotten smoked even in the bigger regional circuits in the US imo, evidenced by how completely helpless and amateur he looked vs. BJ in ROTR iirc. You can say 'Oh that was Prime BJ though!' all you want, the fact of the matter is gomi only had adequate wrestling and pretty much awful BJJ, dude would have been fucked all over the place had he fought outside of Pride at that time.
 
Local Plata said:
I don't think so. Just watching the fights, Gomi was definitely susceptible to wrestlers, he lost to a fucking unknown Marcus Aurelio lmao. The level of competition Gomi faced is inflated in quality because the UFC discontinued 155 for a time. Gomi would have gotten smoked even in the bigger regional circuits in the US imo, evidenced by how completely helpless and amateur he looked vs. BJ in ROTR iirc. You can say 'Oh that was Prime BJ though!' all you want, the fact of the matter is gomi only had adequate wrestling and pretty much awful BJJ, dude would have been fucked all over the place had he fought outside of Pride at that time.
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BJJ was Gomi's biggest weakness for sure, but his overall grappling was far from awful and his defensive wrestling was excellent. The first Aurelio fight was more of a brainfart than anything else, just look at the rematch.

Claiming that the U.S regionals had better LW competition at the time is ridiculous. A lot of the top LWs from the UFC ended up coming over to Japan (and losing). You bring up Penn's victory over Gomi, but what about Gomi outclassing Pulver? (Who had just beaten BJ penn in the UFC). Then you have the uncrowned UFC LW champion Yves Edwards, who lost to Hansen and Kawajiri in Japan. Hermes Franca was fighting for the title when UFC re established the LW division, right after Franca lost to Kotetsu Boku in HEROS.
 
Local Plata said:
I don't think so. Just watching the fights, Gomi was definitely susceptible to wrestlers, he lost to a fucking unknown Marcus Aurelio lmao. The level of competition Gomi faced is inflated in quality because the UFC discontinued 155 for a time. Gomi would have gotten smoked even in the bigger regional circuits in the US imo, evidenced by how completely helpless and amateur he looked vs. BJ in ROTR iirc. You can say 'Oh that was Prime BJ though!' all you want, the fact of the matter is gomi only had adequate wrestling and pretty much awful BJJ, dude would have been fucked all over the place had he fought outside of Pride at that time.
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This guy is screaming " I AM A NOOB I DUNNO SHIT"
 
I can see the case for it yes. If you go prime for prime.
 
McGregor beats prime Gomi like a red headed step child any day of the week.
 
Kabib or el cucuy rapes this guy ur talking bout.
 
The UFC put BJ Penn is some really pointless fights. they should have had him rematch the fireball kid :D
 
Law of One said:
Best of anything will never get settled. But most fun to watch lightweight? Most awesome? Gomi wins by a landslide.
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Not anymore. Gomi is up there absolutely, but we now have Tony and Gaethje too. They both bring the violence like Gomi did. I think for most exciting it's those 3 and then everyone else though.
 
Bj Penn is the lightweight goat. He was conor McGregor and Henry Cejudo for the lw division in his era.
 
Bj was better, in every area of the game.

But Gomi had a long tough run, and deserves accolades for it.
 
Summoning said:
When I came to this forum back in 2015. This was a fact. The LW GOAT was BJ or GOMI.

Now in 2019 plebs discredit BJ for his losses and totally forgot about Gomi.

gomiko.gif
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To be fair, a lot as happened in 4 years. I'd also wager that even in 2015, this wasn't a "fact". BJ Penn has 3 losses to Frankie Edgar. Three. Gomi is just about the hardest hitting LW we've seen, but the dude had major flaws in his submission defense. Khabib is probably the best LW we've seen so far. As for "greatness", it's so arbitrarily assigned and that makes it a difficult thing to argue. We can fairly assess that Khabib would beat prime Penn and definitely prime Gomi, or at least be a marginal favorite against both.
 
mkess101 said:
Not anymore. Gomi is up there absolutely, but we now have Tony and Gaethje too. They both bring the violence like Gomi did. I think for most exciting it's those 3 and then everyone else though.
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Although I would pick prime Gomi to sleep both of them, guys who depend on their chins against arguably the hardest hitting LW ever.
 
I always admired Gomi for how super relaxed he was going into a fight. He moved in the ring like he was mowing his lawn with dynamite in his hands. Reminded me of a predator sneaking onto his prey.

A natural talent for punching I only see BJ Penn on par with. Both were very similar in that regard. Gomi crushed fantastic stand up fighters without breaking a sweat. Imo regarding stand up he would be the best nowadays as he was back then.

Big difference is that he wasnt cutting HUGE amounts like nowadays. Khabib would have fought at welterweight (which is actual MW nowadays).

Thinking back Ishida had a kind of similar style to Khabib. Brutal chainwrestling ability. Fantastic wrestler. The japanese really had some great talent back then.
 
Gomi could drink Penn under the table. That's all that really matters, anyway.
 
Gomi def is da goat. He somehow always found a way to knock his opponent silly.
 
listrahtes said:
I always admired Gomi for how super relaxed he was going into a fight. He moved in the ring like he was mowing his lawn with dynamite in his hands. Reminded me of a predator sneaking onto his prey.

A natural talent for punching I only see BJ Penn on par with. Both were very similar in that regard. Gomi crushed fantastic stand up fighters without breaking a sweat. Imo regarding stand up he would be the best nowadays as he was back then.

Big difference is that he wasnt cutting HUGE amounts like nowadays. Khabib would have fought at welterweight (which is actual MW nowadays).

Thinking back Ishida had a kind of similar style to Khabib. Brutal chainwrestling ability. Fantastic wrestler. The japanese really had some great talent back then.
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Gomi would probably fight at 145lbs today but I do think he could potentially stand up to larger LW's as well with his chin/power, Luiz Azeredo for example was the size of a modern LW.

I do think BJ was always a bad matchup for Gomi, amazing chin and great top game sub grappling but that doesn't automatically mean he's a better fighter overall. LW for me doesn't have a Fedor/GSP like fighter who is clearly the best we've seen, several guys are in the mix for GOAT debates and style matchups probably factor into that significantly.

One thing people forget as well is that Gomi debuted in 1998 and was ranked as high as #1 at LW in his shooto run(albeit in a disorganised division), his Pride run was actually the second wind of his career so decline starting by 07/08 really isn't that supprising.
 
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