r/CombatSportsCentral

When a fighter wins by absolutely dominating their opponent to the point that they look untouchable or o fighters going to absolute war and one of them has to dig incredibly deep to be able to win it?

Glover vs Fabio and Glover vs Smith are probably two of the worst beatings I’ve ever seen someone take.

Even before the Ian Garry fight, I remember general consensus saying he’d be easily top 5 and top 3 max. Now so many more people are saying he’s the goat.

You can cut GSP’s and Jones’ career in half and they’d still have more or just as much defenses, title wins, and a title reign.

People like to say the comp now is better and while there is some truth in that, one of Islam’s defenses came from Renato Moicano. I agree GSP or Jones hasn’t beaten anyone as prestigious as Volk, but DC and even BJ Penn are still greater all time than Charles imo. Matt Hughes is pretty good too he’s still a top 25 fighter all time. I don’t think DC is that far away from Volk in terms of greatness. The fact that they have so many more defenses and a longer title reign I think should outweigh that.

So tell me why do people consider Islam the goat? Is it recency bias or is there an actual legitimate claim? In my opinion, he’s #3. I wouldn’t mind him being GOAT if he beats Morales and Prates though.

at the highest level of this sport, fights should be both competitive and fun to watch. in 25 minutes, this fight had one moment. ONE. in 25 minutes. the rest of this fight was just terrible.

Islam, despite his talent, doesn't seem like this elite finisher at WW like he did at LW. he also clearly seemed WAY more happy to stall it out this fight (which people should know, he is willing to do this to eek out a fight the moment it gets close)

Ian is never going to be the most exciting guy. He's long and rangey and doesn't take many risks at all. However, he seemed more actively interested in actually fighting. By the end of this fight, it was Ian who'd done the damage, and he himself looked unscathed.

now, let's be realistic here. This fight was NOT entertaining. Islam on fight night really seemed like he wanted to do anything but properly engage in the fight and instead try to stall it out. Without a bias, tell me what he did with any of his control time throughout this fight. if you say anything other than stall, you know you're lying to yourself.

there should be pressure on our high-level fighters, be it champs or contenders, to actually go out there and fight. fights like this should be a stain on the sport and we should be willing to call it out.