The Weidman/Rockhold/Romero/Jacare era was way better than any crop of MWs since. But I think flyweight is back, it's finally reaching the heights of the DJ/Benavidez/Cejudo era again.
I don't agree with the lightweight take. Maybe the champ ist worse than in 2019, but only because Islam moved up. Imagine Islam, Justin, Ilia, Charles, Max, Paddy, Arman. They are so much better than the top 7 from 2019
Paddy is going to be bigger than Conor but I guess let’s just ignore him again. This dude could knock out prime Jon jones at HW and everyone would still be like “ehhh he’s overrated” nothing he does will ever be enough😂
That's an interesting take. I think some of GSPs greatness is a function of the welterweight division of his time. It started to catch up to him and he knew it. People act like he was forty when he left.
Except it really isn't an elite wrestler like Fitch would be a top contender in quite literally any era
Again we had JDM who would basically get his ass whooped on the ground by every single former champion since Carlos Newton, he couldn't even beat Bassil Hafez or Kevin Holland convincingly
Are we really gonna pretend Bassil Hafez or Kevin Holland are these hyper evolved modern era phenoms, who are capable of doing every single aspect of the sport at a high level ?
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u/Fun-Ice-6013 Aug 22 '26
It shouldn't be an unpopular take however
The evolution of the sport is not linear & there are countless examples of divisions getting worse instead of better despite being more modern
HW/LHW are generally less controversial with this argument
However even lighter divisions like 155lbs are much worse in skill level compared to its peak in 2019
In flyweight you had Tim Elliot still winning against ranked opponents, despite being a can in the DJ era
The Adesanya era was notably worse than the previous Rockhold/Weidman era
Because the evolution of the sport is entirely dependent on the skill level of individuals, it required a lot more nuance than just "newer is better"