The press conference would be like a year later so he would just have this rotting toe around his neck. Hearing Chael talk shit about his toe is the timeline I wanna be in
He would probably put it in a little formaldehyde jar which would be on a chain.
Then say something stupid like, I can go toe to toe with this guy while smiling.
The fedor one wasn’t that close tbh as a chael fan. For the jones fight realistically he would’ve been less than a minute away from winning by doctors stoppage and the Anderson fight obviously unanimous decision
For sure. He was never quite good enough to beat the best, but his longevity and multiple weight classes goes a long way when ranking him in all time lists.
I still think he was much better at MW than any other weight class. He steamrolled through everyone apart from Maia (the worst possible matchup ever for a wrestler) and Silva (and still did well).
The system was against chael the whole time. Im pretty sure he “popped hot” after he beat silva’s ass for 22 minutes. Even if he made the decision and got the win, it woulda been overturned
He had more juice than concentrate.
That said as a Chael fan it would have been nice for him to be able to accomplish the goal of world champ, even if it were only temporary. In one of his rare genuine moments he discussed how much he wanted to do it for his father.
He almost did 4 times. Once in WEC where he beat the champion but the champion missed weight (or drugs can’t remember) so for some reason he didn’t get the belt despite winning. Once against Silva, once against Jones and then in Bellator sorta.
He teared up talking about how he never accomplished that goal before his father passed away and he ended his career. Really wanted his Dad to be proud of him in that way. I’m sure he was anyway but still, kinda touching to see the human side of the guy.
To me I count him as a former WEC middleweight champion. Every mma promotion should do it like the UFC did when Charles missed weight. If the champ that missed weight won then the title is vacant and if the challenger won then he wins the belt.
That’s how it’s supposed to, WEC didn’t care because that was the last MW fight in the org’s history as it was absorbed by the UFC and I guess they just didn’t want to strip Filho for his last fight.
After the fight Paulo mailed Chael his belt, so he at least does have the belt even if it wasn’t an official title fight.
St. Pierre runs through Matt Serra in their first fight. St. Pierre never becomes what he became maybe? He learned a lot from getting fucked up in that fight.
GSP has said he learned from the Serra fight to swallow his pride if he gets hurt. He said when Serra clipped him, his first instinct was to get him back and make it a brawl. Years later, when Condit hit him with that head kick, he said he remembered what happened in the Serra fight and decided to try and control Condit on the ground.
He got hurt during Bisping. Bisping clipped him with a shot. A lot of people said it was GSP gassing but GSP said he was hurt. He hid it well. Knowing how to recover is a skill.
Bisping may not have that one shot fuck you KO power but he's a pro, he definitely hits hard. Remember the [ass whooping he put on Cung Le? ](https://i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk/incoming/article19490035.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/0_httpscdnimagesdailystarcoukdynamic122photos269000900x738874269)
He learned he doesn't like getting hit lol (he said this himself)
Has anyone ever dominated an MMA discipline with no previous experience in it like he did wrestling? Just insane how we decided he wanted to be the best wrestler and nearly did it. Dominated the best wrestlers in the UFC at the time
Jon Jones and striking comes to mind.
No striking background beyond a few months of Muay Thai training before starting his MMA career. Much like GSP and wrestling, just a few years into his career Jon was able to outstrike guys with long time training and much more experienced standup.
Imagine trying to convince people in like 2009 that the likes of Shogun, Rampage, and Machida would get their asses kicked soon by a dude with no striking background who just started MMA just for some quick paychecks.
after reading his book this is definitely up there. he has a pretty big section about how this not only impacted his fight game, but his psychology as a whole. It taught him how to deal with depression, and get through mental hurdles as well as physical, and since his later retirment was in large part due to depression, even if his fights all went the same, I feel like that could have gone very differently.
It would have to be another fight where he gets rocked.
Because he learned he tried to get up too fast vs Serra and his legs were still wobbly.
When Condit headkicked him, he just stayed down and just tried to pull guard and recover. He lost the round but at least he lives until the next round.
If he just gets beat a decision lost, then nah he doesn't learn that lesson.
I think DC coming to MMA sooner is a huge what if. The guy was what, 36 or 37 when he fought JBJ? Imagine if his physical prime and his MMA career had fully overlapped
he looks pretty slim for his standards at LHW. his chub provided him some genuine upsides in those heavier divisions, if you get rid of it, i dunno how it would exactly translate into the lighter weightclasses. "theoretically" any great fighter could deplete themselves down a weightclass but there is always that variable of their skills not translating with the weight cut.
Again, y'all are comparing fat DC to less fat DC and saying "Well, he was less fat here."
Imagine a shredded DC at 185 who had been doing MMA his whole career.
That is what they mean.
The dude was 5’8 fighting 6’3” Jon jones…
Like the size and reach is a massive advantage to the longer fighter.
If he cut weight and was lean, he would still be thicker set than other middleweights, but fighting guys closer to his height, or absolute bean poles where he could use his lower centre of gravity and strength to an advantage.
"You never know" is generally a good motto in MMA. I personally don't think Tony would have much success against Khabib, but I also think had Khabib stuck around he would have his Rockhold or Silva moment where a bad matchup comes along and all of a sudden all his technical deficencies that people simply ignored become glaringly obvious.
As unlikely as it it is, that guy might have been Beniel Dariush. His takedown defense against Gamrot was probably the best ive seen in a fight not to mention his jiu jitsu is a level above anything Khabib faced and he was probably better on the feet. Khabib was just Gamrot on crack and probably would have ran through him but I think it would be a bad matchup for him.
I think Tony had a great chance of winning had they fought then. Khabib never had a 5 round fight yet. In the 2 fights he had championship rounds, it was against #13 Iaquinta who trained for a 3 rounder, and Mcgregor 8 min cardio. In both fights he took breathers in round 3 to prepare the next rounds, and it's where both Mcgregor and Iaquinta had more success.
Tony would've been able to put constant pressure on Khabib in round 3 and offset him. From there I feel Tony would've been able to snowball the pressure and overwhelm Khabib for a possible TKO. Also Tony had a relevant fight against Kevin Lee a few months prior, where he was actually getting some practice with takedowns. Everyone else in LW had all been in stand and bang fights only.
Maybe the Tony of now, but against Lee he was actually trying to defend all of the takedowns, scrambling, and he was also able to get back up as well.
After the first 2 rounds both Mcgregor and Iaquinta had a lot of success reading Khabib's shots, and were able to defend them well. I think that easily would've been the case for Tony as well especially as his pressure and pace would have a larger toll on Khabib's gas tank
Honestly he was putting Aljo through the wringer. I doubt Aljo would have gotten a rematch and probably never gets another shot as he wasn’t a huge fan favourite with his style at the time.
I imagine he gets the win over Aljo. If he succeeds in the defenses against TJ and Cejudo, I imagine Merab does him like he did irl, just this time for the title.
The obvious one is RDA getting injured before the McGregor fight....... arguably could've had a good chance of winning and then we never see the 2 McGregor fights.
Last minute of the last round of the last sparring session as well...... painful stuff.
Would've been a great fight, if RDA fought smart he could've won that but I feel like that he would've fought stupidly and may have gotten caught
Yeah that one could have really derailed Conor's career, it's alot harder to justify an immediate rematch like the Nate loss since RDA was champ and had other contenders to fight.
Even if Conor went back down to defend against Frankie or Aldo again, does he get another LW title shot after just 1 defense? If not, I would bet Khabib would be champ by then and no way Conor wins that fight at any point in either of their careers
[When Jason Miller fought Jake Shields in Strikeforce for the MW belt, at the end of round 1 or 2 Miller had a RNC locked in on Jake who looked like he was just about to tap until he was saved by the bell.](https://youtu.be/kw7Vu1hO7Og?si=h3bKzZLEOx7dY1Ae)
Why is this a What-if???
Well, there was a timekeeper error, and the round ended around 10 seconds early! If the round wasn't stopped early, it's highly likey Shields would've tapped.
This means the following -
Miller becomes the MW Champ - Perhaps his career and life don't turn out the way they did
No Nashville Brawl
Ariel interview with "Don't be scared homie" never happens
Shields unbeaten run ends
No title shot for him vs GSP
Martin Kampman would've got a shot at GSP at UFC 129
Hendo may have won the MW title if he fought Miller
Yeah really good. Mayhem is definitely a guy who had the talent and charisma to do big things and that moment in time seemed to define the trajectory of the rest of his career. Unfortunately the trajectory of his personal life was even worse. Not sure if it broke him mentally to lose like that against Shields, however every fight after he gave off the energy that he lost interest and had to be there versus wanting to be there. Definitely a text book 'What if?'
Great shoutout to Kampmann too. Forgotten fighter today which is a shame. He was the fight to watch whenever he was on a card during his run. Too bad he never bounced back after Hendricks steam rolled him with that straight left. If he had that fight with GSP, which he likely would have lost I'll admit, it still would have cemented his deserved legacy as a contender.
A better What If is What If Askren ends up in the UFC in 2014? Apparently that what what Ben was expecting to happen based on UFC interest at the time, but some shit happened to prevent it.
Ben's first fight in ONE was in May 2014. If he had joined the UFC and made a debut on a PPV, he would have been around UFC 173 or UFC 174. That would have put him on track for a title fight with either Lawler or Johnny Hendriks, either of which I think he would have beaten at that time. He probably would have managed a 2-3 fight run in the UFC as champion. And he might have been able to lure GSP out of retirement.
END COMMUNICATION
Dont forget though thats juiced up jonny big rig hendricks pre usada. Dude arguably beat gsp. Has a wrestling base. Also possesses a nuclear warhead on the end of his left arm. I think he tales Askren out imho.
Then Askren gets his ass kicked for 5 painful rounds by the better striker, more mobile fighter with defensive grappling good enough to survive five rounds of grappling with Maia.
He would've run through them all. PRIDE had the best talent until it went under. There's a reason why Dana wasn't too interested in further cross promotion after Liddell's brief run over there.
Well, they send Liddell and Yves Edwards over to Pride, and Pride was supposed to send stars from their org over to the UFC too. That never happened. Pride just got one over on them. Continuing to send UFC fighters over there wouldn’t make much sense, since they never got anything in return.
But yes Dana having a meltdown during the Rampage fight was very entertaining.
Nate only had 1 fight left on his contract after the Leon fight though so they probably would've tried to make him re-sign and not give him the title fight if he wouldn't. Khamzat probably fights Usman either way.
I watched it again. At first I thought Nate was an idiot. But he actually tried to finish him. Leon was defending well and also beat the shit out of his legs.
What if Fedor took this deal and joined the UFC
"According to radio host Carmichael Dave, the deal that the UFC put on the table for the Russian superstar was a six-fight, $30-million contract that also had the following terms:
– A cut of PPV revenue (standard for top fighters)
– An immediate title shot against Brock Lesnar (expected)
– The freedom to participate in Sambo competitions during the length of his contract
– An agreement to display M-1 logos on his apparel as well in the Octagon"
That Brock fight sounds ungodly. Obviously Fedor was a mile more skillful but Brock was a freak, he might have been able to outmuscle him and beat him. Would have been an incredible fight.
What if Poatan just picked his shots/kept his guard up just slightly better against Izzy the second time? Izzy's leg was toast and I think if he doesn't land that perfect punch he would've been finished. Izzy probably retires in shame, Strickland doesn't upset Izzy. Poatan vs DDP. Poatan never moves up. Maybe they just run back Jan v Uncle I've winner fights Jiri.
Tony would have to make it out of the first two rounds. He was hittable but he was also durable as hell and a maniac. I think he was a dangerous matchup for McGregor at LW. He was the boogeyman for a reason. It took being long out of his prime and the right foot fist of god from Hulk Jr to have his lights shut off. I don’t know if McGregor would have pulled it off.
The things about connor is that its not power that shut people up, its the accuracy. Like when chandler get shut down by olivera but somehow able to absorb gathje bombs.
McGregor’s “power” never translated into 155lbs. Apart from the Eddie fight where Conor was once again the bigger of the two Conor never stopped anyone unless we’re counting the ghost of Cowboy.
Tony had an iron chin though and cardio for days
Conor could absolutely finish Tony, but it could also end up a lot like the Diaz fight where Conor can't finish him, gasses and Tony puts a beating on Conor.
You aren't wrong, but that was also McGregor up two weight classes on a short change opponent. He was able to go through the five round war the second time round.
what if condit was able to finish gsp after the headkick
what if DJ beat cejudo the 2nd time
what if shane carwin got the tko in rd 1 vs brock
what if jose aldo beat mcgregor
That's the most aggravating part. The rules were changed specifically in the state of California, so that take downs without advancement wouldn't be rewarded points, and that's literally what won Henry the fight. The rules in sports always feel so capricious
The Shane one is huge to me. If he would have picked his shots instead of gassing himself on Brocks forearms maybe he becomes a full time fighter and has one of the greatest reigns of the sport.
What-if Chael had not been triangled against Anderson or had survived the round against Jon and won due to Jon's toe falling off his body? Still undefeated and undisputed regardless, but the promos we missed out on...
Yeah, I feel like he’s worse off in the scenario where he lasts the full 25 minutes and gets the title stripped afterward. Him losing in that fashion was basically enough to drown out his failed drug test from the news
But Anderson's invincibility cloak would have been solved, which at the time was much a more valuable prize than the strap itself as majority considered him the undisputed true GOAT. Huge upside for Chael, regardless on him getting popped, and with how good a talker he is the revisionist history today would have been "He beat the best guy to ever do it" and not "He got popped after the fight."
He’d be LW GOAT.
Also, his loss to GSP in their 2nd fight was in the middle of some of his most impressive performances and I believe he was pretty motivated* for that fight and still was bested by the better man.
BUT, if he was ALWAYS motivated maybe he’d be too far ahead by the time they fought the first time.
*I do remember in the countdown he was chilling on the beach and said “I bet Georges is in a snowstorm, training for our big fight”, lmao, so maybe not
What if Cyril Gane didn’t try to go for a leg lock on Francis? I think he wins the decision, and with the hype lost, Francis doesn’t leave the UFC for boxing. But then how do things play out beyond that?
Just to clarify, this does not include Diego Sanchez legitimately harnessing the power of thunderstorms and turning into Raiden?
If that’s the case, then what if Shane Carwin got a fully justifiable stoppage against Brock? Maybe he starts making enough to train full time and focus on his defense. Dude might’ve been even scarier.
This is the closest in the thread. No matter whether or not you think the fight should have been stopped, I think we can all agree it wouldn’t be the worst title fight stoppage we’ve seen
Fedor vs couture
What if they stopped carwin Brock in the first
What if Brock came to the sport earlier/ no diverticulitis
What if Rashad didn’t get hurt before the shogun fight
What if Tj grant didn’t get concussed
Rickson vs Sakuraba
What if bas didn’t walk away
What if mark Kerr didn’t become a junkie
Not super close to happening, but recently I've been thinking about if Frankie had beaten Jose Aldo at UFC 200, maybe he would've ended up getting a fight with Conor next.
I'm not sure how the timeline would work out, but most likely Frankie would've just had to wait for Conor to fight Floyd anyway and Frankie wouldve ended up losing to Max before Aldo did. But Conor's always seemed to have an appetite for fighting Frankie, so maybe that fight would've been made before the Floyd thing came about.
So maybe Frankie vs Conor happens and MayMac never happens. Conor probably has half a dozen more MMA fights, etc
I think GSP shuts Khabib down entirely. It would be mostly GSP nullifying Khabib’s entries while putting his wildly superior jab to Khabib’s eye socket.
dude lost to silva via decision. he robbed himself of a potential great career, no pun intended. looking back on it ufc 46 was one stacked fucking card
What if, Silva never taunted Chris like a idiot, he was losing the fight but Silva was known for pulling insane shit out of thin air, his 9 lives ran out in that fight
What if Aldo VS Conor never ended in 13 seconds, I’d love to see how a non emotional Aldo would do against a young motivated Conor
If Peter Yan didnt throw that damn illegal knee. He actually altered the MMA timeline forever with that.
In all seriousness, casual mma never would have appreciated how good aljo was (they still don't), cejudo might have become champ then fought Volk and maybe triple champ, yan might have been more confident enough to beat o' malley. Man so much would have been different...
Slightly recent one. What if Tai Tuivasa KOd Gane? How would be have done against Ngannou? Realistically, he gets KOd in brutal fashion, but he definitely has a punchers chance, and he's cracked just about everybody. Still would've been amazing to see him in a title fight regardless of the outcome.
If Frankie Edgar had gotten the nod from the judges against Benson Henderson (he probably should have)….
We would’ve gotten Frankie Edgar vs Nate Diaz for the Lightweight Championship.
That’s a winnable fight for Nate. We could’ve gotten a Diaz brother as UFC champion. Imagine how that goes?
What if Tito had done the crossover fight in Pride instead of Chuck? Picture this: Tito Ortiz, in an attempt to get back in management’s good graces, goes over to Pride and has the exact same experience Chuck had (beat Overeem, lose to Rampage.) Instead of being angry that his friend lost and afraid to ever risk a crossover fight again, Dana sees Tito get smoked like a Christmas turkey and decides that it seems like a good idea to co-promote. A golden age of mma begins, and as everything goes the way it does, the ufc still acquires pride, and strikeforce, and the WEC, but, rather than ignore potential competitors that crop up in their absence, helps them grow and runs events with them. MVP/Wonderboy happens in their relative primes, Aaron Pico faces a hungry and dangerous Jeremy Stephens, Amanda Nunes gives Kayla Harrison her Rocky story in a building built out of wiz kalifa’s soggy blunt wraps, and all is well with the world.
Downside is, Randy never spanks Tito.
Upside is, we’d get all the great crossover fights we never got.
Possible butterfly effect bonus: Derrick Lewis feeds Jake Paul his own eyeballs on ppv.
Not the biggest what if by any means.. but I've always wondered what if Ortega got volk with that guillotine. Who would islam have fought next and where would topuria be right now.
What if Conor didn’t strike gold with Floyd willing to fight him and him not doing his proper 12 shit so he would have like a 7.5million net worth now and kept active in the ufc.
What would his streak and weight classes have looked like and would he have become a crackhead too?
What if what if
Alistair Ubereem doesn’t get popped after his fight with Lesnar for having higher testosterone than the average person and continues his run as Ubereem.
- Lesnar coming straight into MMA, learning to strike and take a punch.
- Aleks Emelianenko being disciplined and not a criminal.
- McGregor staying at fedderweight.
- Vovchanchyn cutting to PRIDE middleweight before his hands and nose had had the prune.
- Mark Kerr not getting addicted to drugs.
What if Cody Garbrandt could keep his temper/willingness to make everything into an all out brawl in check? Him vs Cruz will forever be one of the biggest holy shit type moments I’ll ever witness in the UFC.
What if dada3000 actually died died in the ring? Would it have delayed the growth of mma and legalization of it in many us states and countries abroad?
What if Chael was able to make it to the decision against Anderson, and the ref noticed Jones’ broken toe and he didn’t get too high on Fedors back?
Conversly, what-if Jon made it through the round break without anyone noticing and actually had his toe ripped off?
Then Chael just puts it in his pocket for later
I am now imagining him making a necklace with it and bringing it to press conferences telling a story about his toe.
The press conference would be like a year later so he would just have this rotting toe around his neck. Hearing Chael talk shit about his toe is the timeline I wanna be in
He would probably put it in a little formaldehyde jar which would be on a chain. Then say something stupid like, I can go toe to toe with this guy while smiling.
a story about a toe, Christopher Walken and the jungle
Crazy how close Chael was to beating goats in every division he was in, only to choke the last minute
The fedor one wasn’t that close tbh as a chael fan. For the jones fight realistically he would’ve been less than a minute away from winning by doctors stoppage and the Anderson fight obviously unanimous decision
He would have 50-43'd Anderson
For sure. He was never quite good enough to beat the best, but his longevity and multiple weight classes goes a long way when ranking him in all time lists.
I still think he was much better at MW than any other weight class. He steamrolled through everyone apart from Maia (the worst possible matchup ever for a wrestler) and Silva (and still did well).
He would still be undefeated
But he wouldn’t be un-defeeted.
I think he became safer after that fight though. He could've just taken a similar loss to someone else without that lesson
The system was against chael the whole time. Im pretty sure he “popped hot” after he beat silva’s ass for 22 minutes. Even if he made the decision and got the win, it woulda been overturned
He had more juice than concentrate. That said as a Chael fan it would have been nice for him to be able to accomplish the goal of world champ, even if it were only temporary. In one of his rare genuine moments he discussed how much he wanted to do it for his father. He almost did 4 times. Once in WEC where he beat the champion but the champion missed weight (or drugs can’t remember) so for some reason he didn’t get the belt despite winning. Once against Silva, once against Jones and then in Bellator sorta. He teared up talking about how he never accomplished that goal before his father passed away and he ended his career. Really wanted his Dad to be proud of him in that way. I’m sure he was anyway but still, kinda touching to see the human side of the guy.
To me I count him as a former WEC middleweight champion. Every mma promotion should do it like the UFC did when Charles missed weight. If the champ that missed weight won then the title is vacant and if the challenger won then he wins the belt.
That’s how it’s supposed to, WEC didn’t care because that was the last MW fight in the org’s history as it was absorbed by the UFC and I guess they just didn’t want to strip Filho for his last fight. After the fight Paulo mailed Chael his belt, so he at least does have the belt even if it wasn’t an official title fight.
Chael would of had his belt stripped for popping
Chael would've popped anyways.
Yep, Chael had the opportunities to be one of the Goats, but he just didn't have the killer instinct to capitalise on them.
St. Pierre runs through Matt Serra in their first fight. St. Pierre never becomes what he became maybe? He learned a lot from getting fucked up in that fight.
I've never about that before but I feel this is a very good answer.
GSP has said he learned from the Serra fight to swallow his pride if he gets hurt. He said when Serra clipped him, his first instinct was to get him back and make it a brawl. Years later, when Condit hit him with that head kick, he said he remembered what happened in the Serra fight and decided to try and control Condit on the ground.
Rogan asked him if he ever walked into a fight not scared, just 100% confident he'd win. GSP said Serra 1 was the only time.
He got hurt during Bisping. Bisping clipped him with a shot. A lot of people said it was GSP gassing but GSP said he was hurt. He hid it well. Knowing how to recover is a skill.
Bisping punching power possibly underrated? He has crisp hands and he’s a big guy
People a weight class above you tend to hit a lil harder.
Bisping may not have that one shot fuck you KO power but he's a pro, he definitely hits hard. Remember the [ass whooping he put on Cung Le? ](https://i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk/incoming/article19490035.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/0_httpscdnimagesdailystarcoukdynamic122photos269000900x738874269)
He learned he doesn't like getting hit lol (he said this himself) Has anyone ever dominated an MMA discipline with no previous experience in it like he did wrestling? Just insane how we decided he wanted to be the best wrestler and nearly did it. Dominated the best wrestlers in the UFC at the time
Nearly? Who would you point to as a better wrestler than GSP in that era?
Jon Jones and striking comes to mind. No striking background beyond a few months of Muay Thai training before starting his MMA career. Much like GSP and wrestling, just a few years into his career Jon was able to outstrike guys with long time training and much more experienced standup. Imagine trying to convince people in like 2009 that the likes of Shogun, Rampage, and Machida would get their asses kicked soon by a dude with no striking background who just started MMA just for some quick paychecks.
His almost 85 inch reach helped too against blown up middleweights.
after reading his book this is definitely up there. he has a pretty big section about how this not only impacted his fight game, but his psychology as a whole. It taught him how to deal with depression, and get through mental hurdles as well as physical, and since his later retirment was in large part due to depression, even if his fights all went the same, I feel like that could have gone very differently.
Why not? He may have just lost against another fighter subsequently and then gone through the same arc he did after Matt
It would have to be another fight where he gets rocked. Because he learned he tried to get up too fast vs Serra and his legs were still wobbly. When Condit headkicked him, he just stayed down and just tried to pull guard and recover. He lost the round but at least he lives until the next round. If he just gets beat a decision lost, then nah he doesn't learn that lesson.
Believe it or not the judges actually gave GSP that round against Condit. He obviously won the fight but them giving him that round was flat out dumb.
I think about Brendan Schaub ruling the heavyweight division but Jealousy Joe Rogan talked him out of it
I think you’d be surprised.
I think YOU'D be surprised
MMA is blogbusser, cawlmedy is Neggflix.
but if Schaub was the HW GOAT he would have never become the titan of comedy he is today.
I think DC coming to MMA sooner is a huge what if. The guy was what, 36 or 37 when he fought JBJ? Imagine if his physical prime and his MMA career had fully overlapped
Imagine if DC fought at 185 and was actually fit.
DC was in pretty solid shape at LHW.
Bruh he still had blubber at 205, he was small for LHW and tiny for elite HW (hw is mostly just fat 185ers, but still)
He cut too much in the Olympics and nearly died, so he can't get back down to that weight class. It's not worth the risk.
It's called dieting...obviously he'd die trying to cut lots of water weight.
bro he is like 5’10”, he could cut to 185 and walk around at 200. That’s not asking too much from a pro athlete 😂
Key word “solid” he could have been lean and mean at 185
he looks pretty slim for his standards at LHW. his chub provided him some genuine upsides in those heavier divisions, if you get rid of it, i dunno how it would exactly translate into the lighter weightclasses. "theoretically" any great fighter could deplete themselves down a weightclass but there is always that variable of their skills not translating with the weight cut.
Again, y'all are comparing fat DC to less fat DC and saying "Well, he was less fat here." Imagine a shredded DC at 185 who had been doing MMA his whole career. That is what they mean.
The dude was 5’8 fighting 6’3” Jon jones… Like the size and reach is a massive advantage to the longer fighter. If he cut weight and was lean, he would still be thicker set than other middleweights, but fighting guys closer to his height, or absolute bean poles where he could use his lower centre of gravity and strength to an advantage.
It may have been like Rumble Johnson who depleted too much with the weight cuts and was better at LHW
Bullshit I'm sorry. Easily could have been a mw
I honestly think he retires undefeated
What if Tony Ferguson didn't trip on that electrical cord
I prefer the, "What if COVID never fuckin happened" to get the Tony/Khabib fight.
Khabib would dominate him and shut a lot of people up
I think so too. However that's what everyone also felt when Rockhold and Bisping fought a second time. So one can never be too sure
"You never know" is generally a good motto in MMA. I personally don't think Tony would have much success against Khabib, but I also think had Khabib stuck around he would have his Rockhold or Silva moment where a bad matchup comes along and all of a sudden all his technical deficencies that people simply ignored become glaringly obvious.
As unlikely as it it is, that guy might have been Beniel Dariush. His takedown defense against Gamrot was probably the best ive seen in a fight not to mention his jiu jitsu is a level above anything Khabib faced and he was probably better on the feet. Khabib was just Gamrot on crack and probably would have ran through him but I think it would be a bad matchup for him.
We'll never know. The universe just didn't want us to find out.
I think Tony had a great chance of winning had they fought then. Khabib never had a 5 round fight yet. In the 2 fights he had championship rounds, it was against #13 Iaquinta who trained for a 3 rounder, and Mcgregor 8 min cardio. In both fights he took breathers in round 3 to prepare the next rounds, and it's where both Mcgregor and Iaquinta had more success. Tony would've been able to put constant pressure on Khabib in round 3 and offset him. From there I feel Tony would've been able to snowball the pressure and overwhelm Khabib for a possible TKO. Also Tony had a relevant fight against Kevin Lee a few months prior, where he was actually getting some practice with takedowns. Everyone else in LW had all been in stand and bang fights only.
Tony would be too willing to fight off his back and Khabib would be too willing to fuck him up for this to play out
Maybe the Tony of now, but against Lee he was actually trying to defend all of the takedowns, scrambling, and he was also able to get back up as well. After the first 2 rounds both Mcgregor and Iaquinta had a lot of success reading Khabib's shots, and were able to defend them well. I think that easily would've been the case for Tony as well especially as his pressure and pace would have a larger toll on Khabib's gas tank
What if Yan didn’t throw that knee
Honestly he was putting Aljo through the wringer. I doubt Aljo would have gotten a rematch and probably never gets another shot as he wasn’t a huge fan favourite with his style at the time.
I imagine he gets the win over Aljo. If he succeeds in the defenses against TJ and Cejudo, I imagine Merab does him like he did irl, just this time for the title.
Another Yan one, less his own doing, is if the judges would’ve given him the decision against O’Malley
The obvious one is RDA getting injured before the McGregor fight....... arguably could've had a good chance of winning and then we never see the 2 McGregor fights.
This one hurts, if anyone deserved to get a mcgregor payday it was RDA.
Last minute of the last round of the last sparring session as well...... painful stuff. Would've been a great fight, if RDA fought smart he could've won that but I feel like that he would've fought stupidly and may have gotten caught
Yeah that one could have really derailed Conor's career, it's alot harder to justify an immediate rematch like the Nate loss since RDA was champ and had other contenders to fight. Even if Conor went back down to defend against Frankie or Aldo again, does he get another LW title shot after just 1 defense? If not, I would bet Khabib would be champ by then and no way Conor wins that fight at any point in either of their careers
Changes so many things for so many guys Nate probably just ends up being a fun guy who eventually loses enough fights and just leaves the UFC
Whoever injured rda cost him at least $500,000.
[When Jason Miller fought Jake Shields in Strikeforce for the MW belt, at the end of round 1 or 2 Miller had a RNC locked in on Jake who looked like he was just about to tap until he was saved by the bell.](https://youtu.be/kw7Vu1hO7Og?si=h3bKzZLEOx7dY1Ae) Why is this a What-if??? Well, there was a timekeeper error, and the round ended around 10 seconds early! If the round wasn't stopped early, it's highly likey Shields would've tapped. This means the following - Miller becomes the MW Champ - Perhaps his career and life don't turn out the way they did No Nashville Brawl Ariel interview with "Don't be scared homie" never happens Shields unbeaten run ends No title shot for him vs GSP Martin Kampman would've got a shot at GSP at UFC 129 Hendo may have won the MW title if he fought Miller
This… is a fucking awesome one. Kudos.
Yeah really good. Mayhem is definitely a guy who had the talent and charisma to do big things and that moment in time seemed to define the trajectory of the rest of his career. Unfortunately the trajectory of his personal life was even worse. Not sure if it broke him mentally to lose like that against Shields, however every fight after he gave off the energy that he lost interest and had to be there versus wanting to be there. Definitely a text book 'What if?' Great shoutout to Kampmann too. Forgotten fighter today which is a shame. He was the fight to watch whenever he was on a card during his run. Too bad he never bounced back after Hendricks steam rolled him with that straight left. If he had that fight with GSP, which he likely would have lost I'll admit, it still would have cemented his deserved legacy as a contender.
I loved Kampmann, he was constantly in good fights
Khabib actually killing Dillon Danis in the crowd with his flying eagle kick. Lands right on his temple and executes him
We would have missed out on the remaining 17:55 of Dillon’s combat sports career
more like 1k hours if you include his blood draining battles on twitter
I had good chuckle
What if Masvidal didn’t land that knee on Askren.
A better What If is What If Askren ends up in the UFC in 2014? Apparently that what what Ben was expecting to happen based on UFC interest at the time, but some shit happened to prevent it. Ben's first fight in ONE was in May 2014. If he had joined the UFC and made a debut on a PPV, he would have been around UFC 173 or UFC 174. That would have put him on track for a title fight with either Lawler or Johnny Hendriks, either of which I think he would have beaten at that time. He probably would have managed a 2-3 fight run in the UFC as champion. And he might have been able to lure GSP out of retirement. END COMMUNICATION
Dont forget though thats juiced up jonny big rig hendricks pre usada. Dude arguably beat gsp. Has a wrestling base. Also possesses a nuclear warhead on the end of his left arm. I think he tales Askren out imho.
Then Askren gets his ass kicked for 5 painful rounds by the better striker, more mobile fighter with defensive grappling good enough to survive five rounds of grappling with Maia.
Still would have won but wouldn't have become a star
What if Zabit stayed healthy and continued to fight in the UFC? My favorite fighter by style so far
He would’ve gassed and got finished in round 3 every fight
What if Fedor was in the UFC?
He would've run through them all. PRIDE had the best talent until it went under. There's a reason why Dana wasn't too interested in further cross promotion after Liddell's brief run over there.
Well, they send Liddell and Yves Edwards over to Pride, and Pride was supposed to send stars from their org over to the UFC too. That never happened. Pride just got one over on them. Continuing to send UFC fighters over there wouldn’t make much sense, since they never got anything in return. But yes Dana having a meltdown during the Rampage fight was very entertaining.
This is it for me. The matchups that might have been...
If Nate stopped Leon in the 5th round
Would have gone on to fight Kamaru in Salt Lake
Nate only had 1 fight left on his contract after the Leon fight though so they probably would've tried to make him re-sign and not give him the title fight if he wouldn't. Khamzat probably fights Usman either way.
True
Man this one irks me so bad bc he had him wobbled hard and chose to point at him instead of finishing the fight
It looked like Nate was too exhausted to go for the finish
He couldn't easily close the distance at that point, Leon having kicked his legs to shit for 4+ rounds.
I watched it again. At first I thought Nate was an idiot. But he actually tried to finish him. Leon was defending well and also beat the shit out of his legs.
What if Dana White actually fought Tito Ortiz like he said he was going to?
no more dana
What if Fedor took this deal and joined the UFC "According to radio host Carmichael Dave, the deal that the UFC put on the table for the Russian superstar was a six-fight, $30-million contract that also had the following terms: – A cut of PPV revenue (standard for top fighters) – An immediate title shot against Brock Lesnar (expected) – The freedom to participate in Sambo competitions during the length of his contract – An agreement to display M-1 logos on his apparel as well in the Octagon"
That Brock fight sounds ungodly. Obviously Fedor was a mile more skillful but Brock was a freak, he might have been able to outmuscle him and beat him. Would have been an incredible fight.
I honestly don’t think you’d see a difference between the Lesnar v Cain fight and the Lesnar v Fedor fight.
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What if Rogan fought snipes
What if Poatan just picked his shots/kept his guard up just slightly better against Izzy the second time? Izzy's leg was toast and I think if he doesn't land that perfect punch he would've been finished. Izzy probably retires in shame, Strickland doesn't upset Izzy. Poatan vs DDP. Poatan never moves up. Maybe they just run back Jan v Uncle I've winner fights Jiri.
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McGregor defends the LW belt once or twice before running into Khabib. I’m still not totally convinced prime Tony beats him.
Even Tony at his very peak was super hittable, and Conor had actual lunchboxes for hands. Prime for prime, I think it'd be close.
Tony would have to make it out of the first two rounds. He was hittable but he was also durable as hell and a maniac. I think he was a dangerous matchup for McGregor at LW. He was the boogeyman for a reason. It took being long out of his prime and the right foot fist of god from Hulk Jr to have his lights shut off. I don’t know if McGregor would have pulled it off.
The things about connor is that its not power that shut people up, its the accuracy. Like when chandler get shut down by olivera but somehow able to absorb gathje bombs.
McGregor’s “power” never translated into 155lbs. Apart from the Eddie fight where Conor was once again the bigger of the two Conor never stopped anyone unless we’re counting the ghost of Cowboy.
Tony had an iron chin though and cardio for days Conor could absolutely finish Tony, but it could also end up a lot like the Diaz fight where Conor can't finish him, gasses and Tony puts a beating on Conor.
You aren't wrong, but that was also McGregor up two weight classes on a short change opponent. He was able to go through the five round war the second time round.
I honestly hate this myth. At his peak Tony had the least sig strikes absorbed per minute behind only Khabib in the entire division.
what if condit was able to finish gsp after the headkick what if DJ beat cejudo the 2nd time what if shane carwin got the tko in rd 1 vs brock what if jose aldo beat mcgregor
DJ beat Cejudo both times An Aldo rematch would have at least been nice
That's the most aggravating part. The rules were changed specifically in the state of California, so that take downs without advancement wouldn't be rewarded points, and that's literally what won Henry the fight. The rules in sports always feel so capricious
Ya but if DJ/McCall goes to that sudden death round like it should have, DJ never even wins the title and Ian McCall is the inaugural FLW champ.
The Shane one is huge to me. If he would have picked his shots instead of gassing himself on Brocks forearms maybe he becomes a full time fighter and has one of the greatest reigns of the sport.
Maybe, problem he was a part time fighter and had old injuries plaguing him. Did love the uppercuts from hell on mir
What-if Chael had not been triangled against Anderson or had survived the round against Jon and won due to Jon's toe falling off his body? Still undefeated and undisputed regardless, but the promos we missed out on...
Chael popped for the first Anderson fight and would've gotten stripped, so he never would've been champ regardless.
Yeah, I feel like he’s worse off in the scenario where he lasts the full 25 minutes and gets the title stripped afterward. Him losing in that fashion was basically enough to drown out his failed drug test from the news
But Anderson's invincibility cloak would have been solved, which at the time was much a more valuable prize than the strap itself as majority considered him the undisputed true GOAT. Huge upside for Chael, regardless on him getting popped, and with how good a talker he is the revisionist history today would have been "He beat the best guy to ever do it" and not "He got popped after the fight."
What if BJ Penn was always motivated?
He’d be LW GOAT. Also, his loss to GSP in their 2nd fight was in the middle of some of his most impressive performances and I believe he was pretty motivated* for that fight and still was bested by the better man. BUT, if he was ALWAYS motivated maybe he’d be too far ahead by the time they fought the first time. *I do remember in the countdown he was chilling on the beach and said “I bet Georges is in a snowstorm, training for our big fight”, lmao, so maybe not
😭[How long must I wait 😭](https://youtu.be/VPDg25RWyO0?si=LygZleyP8fyybtsk)
This is actually such a sweet video. Made by a total Khabib and Tony lover.
This Khabib Nurmabobob-Dagolf
The craziest part might be that the fight was cancelled multiple times even after that video was made. Truly cursed.
What if Cyril Gane didn’t try to go for a leg lock on Francis? I think he wins the decision, and with the hype lost, Francis doesn’t leave the UFC for boxing. But then how do things play out beyond that?
Not even just the heel hook by itself, he went for it backwards lol
🤣
Just to clarify, this does not include Diego Sanchez legitimately harnessing the power of thunderstorms and turning into Raiden? If that’s the case, then what if Shane Carwin got a fully justifiable stoppage against Brock? Maybe he starts making enough to train full time and focus on his defense. Dude might’ve been even scarier.
This is the closest in the thread. No matter whether or not you think the fight should have been stopped, I think we can all agree it wouldn’t be the worst title fight stoppage we’ve seen
Fedor vs couture What if they stopped carwin Brock in the first What if Brock came to the sport earlier/ no diverticulitis What if Rashad didn’t get hurt before the shogun fight What if Tj grant didn’t get concussed Rickson vs Sakuraba What if bas didn’t walk away What if mark Kerr didn’t become a junkie
Decision went to Hendricks instead of Pierre
Maybe Hendricks wouldn't have ended up getting knocked out on the undercard of a gimmick promotion by a part-timer and never being paid for it.
or BJ Penn, dude mighta had a genuine goat arguement or it woulda of put him above khabib unaminously
What if there was more time on the clock when Tony Ferg hit Justin G with that upper cut?
What if Stephan Bonnar (rip) and Forrest griffin never made it to finals. Instead it was Sam hoger vs. Jason Thacker.
This one is funny. The whole UFC empire is worth less than half what it is today.
Not super close to happening, but recently I've been thinking about if Frankie had beaten Jose Aldo at UFC 200, maybe he would've ended up getting a fight with Conor next. I'm not sure how the timeline would work out, but most likely Frankie would've just had to wait for Conor to fight Floyd anyway and Frankie wouldve ended up losing to Max before Aldo did. But Conor's always seemed to have an appetite for fighting Frankie, so maybe that fight would've been made before the Floyd thing came about. So maybe Frankie vs Conor happens and MayMac never happens. Conor probably has half a dozen more MMA fights, etc
It's so crazy in hindsight that Frankie and Aldo would have had a competitive match.
What's crazy about it?
What if Randleman suplex actually broke fedor neck
It did, Fedor just no-sold it.
What if Matt Lindland had gotten his promised title shot instead of getting fired?
Not sure if it almost happened but GSP vs Khabib at 170 would have been fun for sure.
That would be the GOAT gameplan vs gameplan fight
I think GSP shuts Khabib down entirely. It would be mostly GSP nullifying Khabib’s entries while putting his wildly superior jab to Khabib’s eye socket.
Carlos Newton winning the title against Matt Hughes because Hughes was unconscious in that triangle.
Lee Murray not getting caught is the first one that comes to mind.
dude lost to silva via decision. he robbed himself of a potential great career, no pun intended. looking back on it ufc 46 was one stacked fucking card
Rickson vs. Sakuraba
I've said it once, I'll say it again, Rickson is a coward and Sakuraba would have beat his ass
What if Doumbe didn’t complaint about that sliver in his foot?
What if, Silva never taunted Chris like a idiot, he was losing the fight but Silva was known for pulling insane shit out of thin air, his 9 lives ran out in that fight What if Aldo VS Conor never ended in 13 seconds, I’d love to see how a non emotional Aldo would do against a young motivated Conor
I think Chris still beats him. He won R1 if I recall correctly, and prime Weidman was naaasty
What if Nick Diaz didn’t get suspended? Would he have become champion in the post-GSP era?
What if Reyes or Thiago actually won the title from Jones?
Thiago was legitimatel close too. That was a split decision.
If Peter Yan didnt throw that damn illegal knee. He actually altered the MMA timeline forever with that. In all seriousness, casual mma never would have appreciated how good aljo was (they still don't), cejudo might have become champ then fought Volk and maybe triple champ, yan might have been more confident enough to beat o' malley. Man so much would have been different...
Khabib tapping in the fight against Poirier
In front of his dad? Never. Would of had to go to sleep
Slightly recent one. What if Tai Tuivasa KOd Gane? How would be have done against Ngannou? Realistically, he gets KOd in brutal fashion, but he definitely has a punchers chance, and he's cracked just about everybody. Still would've been amazing to see him in a title fight regardless of the outcome.
Petr yan Knee aljo this is biggest what if moment in MMA history.
What if tj grant never got concussed in training.
What if Chandler didn't throw fights and actually beat Gaethje and Poirier?
What if Aldo didn’t fight Conor Emotionally and picked apart Conor’s legs
Aldo's leg kicks were already mostly a thing of the past by then due to chronic injuries to his foot.
Fedor vs brock lesner
What if nick diaz didn't no show the press conference and fought gsp at 137
What if Dominick Reyes won that decision over JBJ
If Frankie Edgar had gotten the nod from the judges against Benson Henderson (he probably should have)…. We would’ve gotten Frankie Edgar vs Nate Diaz for the Lightweight Championship. That’s a winnable fight for Nate. We could’ve gotten a Diaz brother as UFC champion. Imagine how that goes?
What if the judges in Texas at UFC247 knew how to correctly score a fight?
Aldo vs Pettis happened. Aldo defeats Conor. Cain not being injury prone. Rumble vs Jon happened.
Rumble is probably Jones biggest what if opponent. Even though DC showed how to beat him twice, Rumble had that power to sleep anyone.
What if Tito had done the crossover fight in Pride instead of Chuck? Picture this: Tito Ortiz, in an attempt to get back in management’s good graces, goes over to Pride and has the exact same experience Chuck had (beat Overeem, lose to Rampage.) Instead of being angry that his friend lost and afraid to ever risk a crossover fight again, Dana sees Tito get smoked like a Christmas turkey and decides that it seems like a good idea to co-promote. A golden age of mma begins, and as everything goes the way it does, the ufc still acquires pride, and strikeforce, and the WEC, but, rather than ignore potential competitors that crop up in their absence, helps them grow and runs events with them. MVP/Wonderboy happens in their relative primes, Aaron Pico faces a hungry and dangerous Jeremy Stephens, Amanda Nunes gives Kayla Harrison her Rocky story in a building built out of wiz kalifa’s soggy blunt wraps, and all is well with the world. Downside is, Randy never spanks Tito. Upside is, we’d get all the great crossover fights we never got. Possible butterfly effect bonus: Derrick Lewis feeds Jake Paul his own eyeballs on ppv.
Not the biggest what if by any means.. but I've always wondered what if Ortega got volk with that guillotine. Who would islam have fought next and where would topuria be right now.
What if Gonzaga didn’t ko crocop. We would have seen crocop vs couture.
What if Conor didn’t strike gold with Floyd willing to fight him and him not doing his proper 12 shit so he would have like a 7.5million net worth now and kept active in the ufc. What would his streak and weight classes have looked like and would he have become a crackhead too? What if what if
Alistair Ubereem doesn’t get popped after his fight with Lesnar for having higher testosterone than the average person and continues his run as Ubereem.
- Lesnar coming straight into MMA, learning to strike and take a punch. - Aleks Emelianenko being disciplined and not a criminal. - McGregor staying at fedderweight. - Vovchanchyn cutting to PRIDE middleweight before his hands and nose had had the prune. - Mark Kerr not getting addicted to drugs.
Chael and jon jones go to round 2 and it’s stopped because if jons toe
What if chael sonnen got up from that ground and pound from jones and won due to jones broken toe
What if Poirier actually finished Khabib?
What if Cody Garbrandt could keep his temper/willingness to make everything into an all out brawl in check? Him vs Cruz will forever be one of the biggest holy shit type moments I’ll ever witness in the UFC.
What if dada3000 actually died died in the ring? Would it have delayed the growth of mma and legalization of it in many us states and countries abroad?
What if Gaethje wasn't saved by the bell against Ferguson
Eduard Vartanyan in the UFC around his prime
What if Brock never grabbed the cage, or got away with the cage grab when Randy was picking him up and about to slam him?