Leon Edwards is top 5 greatest striker in UFC history

[RonDante]

@Mind Mine if I tell you how many times my favourite fighter has been highlight reeled, will you tell me how many in their prime, top strikers Leon beat? And I don’t mean using grappling, I mean in a striker vs striker match

 

[Mind Mine]

@Mind Mine if I tell you how many times my favourite fighter has been highlight reeled, will you tell me how many in their prime, top strikers Leon beat? And I don’t mean using grappling, I mean in a striker vs striker match

You first

 

[aerius]

Whomever your favorite fighter was has been beaten up with hands and feet worse than Leon unless his name is Frank. Deal with it

Who cares? The level of striking in the WW division is dog shit. Who are the best strikers he's fought, RDA and Nate Diaz?

 

[RonDante]

You first

So you will? We agree?

 

[Mind Mine]

@Mind Mine if I tell you how many times my favourite fighter has been highlight reeled, will you tell me how many in their prime, top strikers Leon beat? And I don’t mean using grappling, I mean in a striker vs striker match

Don’t let me find out Leon has defensive skills so far ahead of your favorite fighter you refuse to name him? It’s really simple. If your favorite fighter was ever a champ he has been beaten up far worse than Leon. He has ltaken far more damage due to strikes in the UFC. I am willing to bet your favorite fighter probably strikes less than Leon and has gotten beaten up more. Now you tell me where I lied

 

[TJ Dillashank]

Didn't he nearly get KOed like fifty times throughout his career including by Barbarina and bum Diaz?

His boxing defense is average at best

 

[RonDante]

Don’t let me find out Leon has defensive skills so far ahead of your favorite fighter you refuse to name him? It’s really simple. If your favorite fighter was ever a champ he has been beaten up far worse than Leon. He has ltaken far more damage due to strikes in the UFC. I am willing to bet your favorite fighter probably strikes less than Leon and has gotten beaten up more. Now you tell me where I lied

My favourite fighter has been highlight reeled once early in his career. Now tell me what top strikers in their prime Leon edwards has beaten

 

[GOATtalks]

Regardless of what you think about his effectiveness he has outstruck every opponent he faced with a 99% striking offense while taking 0 significant damage. That’s not opinion it’s fact. No other multiple defending champ can boast that to my memory

Nate Diaz enters the chat

 

[KoreanZawmbie]

he nearly got finished by Diaz. 2 more rounds and Diaz woulda had him, saved by the bell.

 

[VAfan]

death, taxes and people overreacting on sherdog.

 

[Ropeee]

Not even top 15 right now
Illia
Gaethje
Dustin
Pereira
Volk
Aspinall
Strickland
Oliveira
Gane
Pavlovich
Yan
Figgy
Islam
Izzy
Jan

All better strikers than "Leon"

 

[moreorless87]

A big issue for me is that WW has always been a relatively weak division striking wise.

 

[pankrat]

At WW, probably.
P4P, too soon to tell

 

[Melas Chasma]

OK OK don’t tell me who your favorite fighter is just tell me how many highlight reels there are of him getting his shit rocked. I PROMISE it’s more than Leon Edwards

Ok.

Ngannou and Rumble.

 

[Cartiac]

I was a Leon fan way before it was cool but hold your horses.

Anderson, Wonderboy, Adesanya, Pereira, Volkanovski, even O'Malley.
These are strikers off the top of my head who have outstruck good/great strikers and have multiple finishes on their records and generally do more damage to their opponents. Hell I might put Gane over Leon. Just because he doesn't get hit as much doesn't make him better than the above.

Now if we're talking about striking based fighters with the overall best MMA game then Leon has a better case. It's rare to see a skilled striker with such great defensive grappling and clinch game that he can shut down the likes of Usman and Colby. It's his well roundedness that makes Leon great imo. But pure striking? He's damn good but has a lot left to prove.

You said it way better than I was going to try. Leon's grappling is highly underrated but is a major factor in his success. He doesn't just have defensive wrestling but very good offensive wrestling as well.

If we do try to isolate striking, calling him top 5 in history is extremely generous and very hard to defend compared to the credentials of many other fighters as those you mention.

 

[Trabaho]

untill he losses 3 out of 4. Then the next guy is best wrestler striker bjj guy.

 

[SirKratos]

Honestly, I don't even know if he's current top5 striker let alone all time in the UFC.

Gane
Pereira
Wonderboy
Adesanya
O'Malley

This is my current top5 best strikers in that order, which one would you say with a straight face are worse strikers than Leon?

And btw there are still so many other guys you can make an argument for, like Volk, Strickland, Yair, Holloway, Gaethje,Ilia, Aspinall and so on.

 

[SirKratos]

But to be completely fair, the "current" list of top5 best strikers is not too far off from top5 in UFC history since the sport is constantly evolving.

 

[Vil7]

Thompson, Barboza, Silva, Cro Cop, Dos Santos, Belfort, Aldo, Pereira are all guys I'd rate higher than Edwards in terms of striking.

 

[Spath]

Honestly he's really good at avoiding damage. A lot of that is due to the fact that he does not open himself up offensively too often, so he can't get countered. He doesn't have the highest damage output as well. He has outstruck Luque, Cerrone, Diaz, and Usman. I'm sorry but I need to see more high level striking from him in order to put him in the top 5 all-time.

Well put. He doesn’t open up because he is more vulnerable if he would go on the offense. This is one part of his game that he uses in his advantage. He’s very patient.

His striking is technical and crisp. That shouldn’t be debated, because it really is. He’s just not really going for it. He can outpoint you from the outside, he has a very good clinch and just when you think he’s going to strike with you he goes for a takedown. His grappling is legit, so he’s very well rounded and usually finds himself in just the right positions.

If you watch his fight against RDA you really see just how well rounded the guy really is. RDA is a very good grappler, not the greatest wrestler and not the most dangerous submission artist, but the guy is gooood. Leon beat him in every single aspect of the game.

Edit. Yeah, not the greatest striker of all time. I wouldn’t put him in the top 5 of greatest yet.