If Khabib never existed, would we have witnessed the Diamond era?

JosephTessaro said:
What if we are witnessing it now? What if Dustin gets the belt, beats Conor again, then runs through the LW top 5?
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It's not going to happen. Dustin will have maybe 1 or 2 defenses if he gets that far. The young prospects will be top 5 by the time he captures the belt.
 
Dustin doesn't have the all-around skills to dominate long term like a GSP. He is a top LW, but there are others.

BTW- let's not get ahead of ourselves- Oliviera may well have better all around skills. Whether or not he can take advantage of that given the way him and Dustin matchup is another story, but it is far from a given that Dusin would win.
 
If Jon Jones never existed then Cormier would be the GOAT...
 
13Seconds said:
Dustin has been very dominant at LW, and he seems to be getting better and better. Im starting to think Khabib messed up his greatness by dominating him and then retire....

I think Dustin would have defeated any LW to get the belt and he wouldn't retire early. We could have witnessed a GSP type run. It's just that Khabib wrecked him
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he got ko'd by conor before khabib fought him
 
Lee_ said:
Dustin doesn't have the all-around skills to dominate long term like a GSP. He is a top LW, but there are others.

BTW- let's not get ahead of ourselves- Oliviera may well have better all around skills. Whether or not he can take advantage of that given the way him and Dustin matchup is another story, but it is far from a given that Dusin would win.
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I think him looking great against has caused a lot of people to forget about his short comings as a fighter. His shortcomings won't stop him from becoming a champion, but his shortcomings don't say 'unbeatable'
 
We would have the goat Micheal johnson era
 
If shitting on do bronx by refusing to give him a shot after most wins, most submissions, most bonuses, most finishes in ufc history, didn't happen, we would've never had a khabib era. Khabib pretty much lost to tibau ffs, never fought a guy that wants to grapple with him. This thread is trash
 
Candy Routure said:
I love Dustin, but my answer is no. I don’t even believe Khabib had an “era”.. He walked away with a few defenses, but an era is multiple defenses over several years, in my opinion. Khabib may be the most dominant LW ever, but in championship talk, he falls way behind some.

To make it clear, I am a Khabib fan. I am a Poirier fan.
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Khabib had an era. Him and Tony were uncrowned champions long before he got the belt. Most dominant champion in UFC history
 
balkanbomber85 said:
No, Dustin is always the bridesmaid and never the bride, he just istn champ material.

Don’t misunderstand me, he is a great fighter but just this whole LW top5 is not good, its actually one of the weakest division in the ufc which was just pushed marketing vise a lot because of Conor and later on Kabeb but in general its just a few kickboxers with close to zero ground game. Jesus, charles olivera is the champ, chandler, a b-league reject, slipped in the top5 like nothing, and so on and so on.
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You say Dustin isn't champ material yet you say the top 5 is garbage, including the current champ. So if the current champ is garbage & the top 5 is garbage, wouldn't that mean Dustin could've become champ?
 
He's not dominant at all. He wins fights but it's always a drag 'em out war (unless it's against a washed Conor McGregor).

I said in another thread, he is a great fighter but he's not outstanding anywhere. He has won so many fights simply by being tougher and being able to take more damage. He outlasts people.

Gaethje 2.0 is a huge problem for him. Chandler likely KO's him. Prime Tony dusts him. Prime Conor dusts him. Prime RDA dusts him. I even think Olives beats him but his durability and pressure could see him through to finally win the belt (hope he does).

Sherdog is the worst for recency bias.
 
If he became champ he would be like RDA. The problem is when you're champ every contender can train for your weaknesses leading up to a title fight, whereas the champion has to adapt to every new challenger in the 6 month frame they are given, especially given how skilled some fighters can be in one area in LW.

Gaethje and Chandler have a chance at knocking him out. Islam may get him down with the Dagestani handcuff. He would've lost the fight against Hooker if it was a 3 round fight and he takes damage every fight.

LW is a freaking shark tank in the absence of Khabib.
 
Peli said:
I think him looking great against has caused a lot of people to forget about his short comings as a fighter. His shortcomings won't stop him from becoming a champion, but his shortcomings don't say 'unbeatable'
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His improvements are undeniable though. Yes he got ktfo by Johnson and Conor in the first round, Hooker even messed him up in the first round, giving Poirier the 'slow starter' moniker.

What was fascinating in his last fight is that he dominated the first round vs a first round fighter. Dude is evolving.
 
XociDe said:
He's not dominant at all. He wins fights but it's always a drag 'em out war (unless it's against a washed Conor McGregor).

I said in another thread, he is a great fighter but he's not outstanding anywhere. He has won so many fights simply by being tougher and being able to take more damage. He outlasts people.

Gaethje 2.0 is a huge problem for him. Chandler likely KO's him. Prime Tony dusts him. Prime Conor dusts him. Prime RDA dusts him. I even think Olives beats him but his durability and pressure could see him through to finally win the belt (hope he does).

Sherdog is the worst for recency bias.
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Poirier wrecks Chandler. C'mon now.

You act like Poirier is Kris Moutinho, a fighter with toughness without skill. Dude won most of his fights via being the more skilled fighter. The toughness comes into play when it has to.
 
Poirier isn't a head above the other guys the way Khabib or GSP or MM, etc were.

So sure, he coulda had his time with the belt but the parity would lead to some losses. That said, I think the bigger point here is that everyone talks about Khabib robbing Conor of a rematch, but guys like Poirier and Gaethje won't get another shot that they probably deserve. Do Bronx sitting over in the corner like wtf guys, I literally have the belt and nobody is talking about me. Eat that shit like fuel. He deserves a Khabib fight too. The fans do as well. I hope his mom lets him fight again, but even if she does I can already here the excuses, "post-retirement khabib just wasn't the same." No fighter would get credit for solving the puzzle even if they did.
 
13Seconds said:
His improvements are undeniable though. Yes he got ktfo by Johnson and Conor in the first round, Hooker even messed him up in the first round, giving Poirier the 'slow starter' moniker.

What was fascinating in his last fight is that he dominated the first round vs a first round fighter. Dude is evolving.
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I agree, he has improved. But You really can't take anything out of that Conor fight. We don't know Conor's level. It's definitely not close to the conor that saw Khabib or the one that saw Alvarez, or even the one that saw Dustin in the rematch. I would say Conor regressed and that Poirier's reflection of his true level is a mix of what we saw in his Hooker and Conor fights and all the other fights where he becomes a head hunter and can get dropped because of it.

I don't see Poirier GnPing anyone else other than what he did to Mcgregor. Do you? Do you see him keeping other Elite LWs down they way he did Mcgregor? I don't. I also see fighters presenting better challenges than Conor offensively. I can't take too much from the Conor performance(s)
 
If khabib didn't exist, Tony would have fought iaquinta for the belt and been champ when he was in still in good shape. Tony was still a force a back then and could have very well have defended until he aged out. Especially since poirer and gaethje weren't as good as they are now back then
 
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