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As people look at the HW division now many say it weak but they also say it is always weak. Is that true?
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I made this point in another thread but thought it might be interesting to analyse it separately.
The challenge of being at the top of the HW division has always been that even guys who may not be Champ material can be a serious threat to win big fights on any given day.
When Cain and JDS were warring for the HW title I put together this list of the relevant HW's whose ranks one would have to climb through to get to the top ranks of HW.
- UberReem (much better version)
- Arlovski (much better version)
- Big Nog (still dangerous)
- Big Foot (dangerous)
- Ben Rothwell (dangerous)
- Werdum (at start of his peak)
- Mark Hunt (on one of his best runs)
- Roy Nelson (dangerous)
- Struve (dangerous as Stipe found out)
- Travis Browne (on his best run and dangerous)
- Gonzaga (on his best run)
- Cheick Kongo (dangerous)
Looking at the above I see a real strong HW division with so many guys who will have a place i the top 1 or 2 tiers of all time HW's. And with two dominant top contenders handing the belt back and forth. I don't see how anyone would call that HW division weak.
Now 7 years after the above many of the same fighters remain in and around the top 10 but are well past their fighting prime, injury laden and quite frankly no one would have blinked if many of them retired years earlier.
Alistair Overeem,
Mark Hunt,
Cheick Kongo,
Andre Arlovski
Werdum (more relevant than above)
Amongst a bunch of HW's today who need to show us a lot more to have a place in any Top 'X' HW's of all time list.
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So I do not think it is fair to say the HW division has always been weak because of what you see today. You?
-------------
I made this point in another thread but thought it might be interesting to analyse it separately.
The challenge of being at the top of the HW division has always been that even guys who may not be Champ material can be a serious threat to win big fights on any given day.
When Cain and JDS were warring for the HW title I put together this list of the relevant HW's whose ranks one would have to climb through to get to the top ranks of HW.
- UberReem (much better version)
- Arlovski (much better version)
- Big Nog (still dangerous)
- Big Foot (dangerous)
- Ben Rothwell (dangerous)
- Werdum (at start of his peak)
- Mark Hunt (on one of his best runs)
- Roy Nelson (dangerous)
- Struve (dangerous as Stipe found out)
- Travis Browne (on his best run and dangerous)
- Gonzaga (on his best run)
- Cheick Kongo (dangerous)
Looking at the above I see a real strong HW division with so many guys who will have a place i the top 1 or 2 tiers of all time HW's. And with two dominant top contenders handing the belt back and forth. I don't see how anyone would call that HW division weak.
Now 7 years after the above many of the same fighters remain in and around the top 10 but are well past their fighting prime, injury laden and quite frankly no one would have blinked if many of them retired years earlier.
Alistair Overeem,
Mark Hunt,
Cheick Kongo,
Andre Arlovski
Werdum (more relevant than above)
Amongst a bunch of HW's today who need to show us a lot more to have a place in any Top 'X' HW's of all time list.
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So I do not think it is fair to say the HW division has always been weak because of what you see today. You?
