Could Hendo go down as the Greatest?

After Fedor lost to Werdum most still had him as the greatest, after the Bigfoot loss a lot of people questioned it, after the Hendo loss it really and to be looked at and Anfield saying he tought Hendo was on that level got me thinking.

Right now there are 3 fighter that are fighting for the GOAT and I honestly belive will surpass the likes of Saku, Gracie, Rutten and Frank Shammy etc..

Fedor, Anderson, Hendo

I think GSP has a good shot at it but at 30 his career could go Ken Shamrock shaped and have a terrible finsih. He might surpass the 3 I named but lets wait till he gets past Diaz!

I would love to know how people on the Armbar would rank them in terms off all time greats now?

The Crazy thing about Hendo's career is he spent the 1st 9 fights of his career over 3 tournaments, I dont know the Brazil opens weight classes so Ive no Idea what weight it was at but UFC was under 200lbs when he won that and Rings was Openweight, Which is as good as Hw I say seeing as it included Big Nog.

He Held 6 Title/Tournamet wins compared to Fedor and Andersons handfull between them. And in as many weight classes as Fedor and Anderson between them (Openweight being a weight class!)

I know his record doesnt stack up because of his losses but he is a natural Mw who beat Nog and Fedor who are the two top ranked Heavies of all time.

He Aslo has 8 win over Pride/UFC champs
Fedor also has 8
Anderson has 7

Seriously I know losses are losses but Ali had less wins and more Losses than Joe Louis, and most people will tell you he was better.

Hendo started his career on a 3 tournament 9 fight winning spree and 14 years later he is Wearing Gold and has just become the 1st man to KO Fedor.

Anyone got him top now?

Also Anfield I hope in the madness of an afterparty you thanked his on behalf of the Armbar for this...

The sport is too young to be deciding whether fighters will be the greatest of all time or not, there are too many current fighters like GSP, Jones and Velasquez who might go on to do much greater things than other fighters have done. Fedor was the greatest fighter of his generation during his time in Pride years ago, now currently Anderson is the greatest fighter of his generation due to his accomplishments in UFC. It will always be up for debate as to who people deem as the greatest MMA fighter ever, personally I'd say Anderson but I'm sure you can find as many people who would say Fedor. As for Hendo, there is no doubt that he has a hall of fame career, and that he is no doubt one of the top 5 fighters since the sports creation due to his accomplishments, but even if you were to say he is the third best, I see that being a distant third behind Anderson and Fedor.

not trying to be harsh on hendo, but he has like
...7 losses in his prime and like...7 of his wins could have gone the other way.

manschesthair_utd wrote:not trying to be harsh on hendo, but he has like
...7 losses in his prime and like...7 of his wins could have gone the other way.

Thank you. Too many people gloss over this.

He certainly deserves top 5 but certain fights stand out for me that raise questions. Hendo's prime is hard to say but 3 fights in recent years IMO doesn't make him the GOAT.

1) Jake shields comfortably beat him bar the first round and he's a 170lber.

2) Anderson beat him when both were in there primes so therefor Silva should be above him.

3) Rampage beat him and it wasn't a controversial decision and again that was around the time where if he had of beaten Rampage then he would have united pride and UFC titles then maybe gone on to build a stronger argument for GOAT.

Good points lads, chesty I dont think too many of the decision SHOULD have gone the other way and I think he had a couple of close decisions go against him but fair point he is lucky not to have another couple of losses or so on his record I guess.

Superman yep all good points, Id argue that Anderson and Shields where because a man of his age was totally weight drained making the cut and Id back him to finish Shields at say a 195lbs catchweight... Also you have to bare in mind that Anderson was number 1 ranked Mw and Shields was number 2 ranked Mw at the time so these losses were two of the most forgivable on his record.


Rampage loss is what it is, he gave Rampage a close fight when Rampage was on the best form of his career, I think Everyone will look back it as the Peak of Rampages career. All I can say is Hendos performance was a lot better than Chuck or Wanderleis! Rampage is one of the most underrated Lhw of all time, IMO he is close to passing Chuck/Wandy/Couture by but its a win Hendo will need to Aveng to become the GOAT Id say.

When you say top 5 is he 3rd behind these two or would you say GSP is over him at this stage of his career? Is Saku better? Or who does everone see as the top 5? Id love to know what you all think.

Probably not the Greatest but surely Top 10 Hendo has an impressive resume no doubt even the defeats he has are against good fighters OK he has had a few favourable decisions over the years.

If anyone ranks someone like Couture ahead of Hendo they need fucking shooting.

I absolutely agree with the weight cutting issue Ben great point and I'd back him any day of the week against Shields at a higher weight.

I would tend to agree with you about Rampage been under rated too cos no one really gives him the credit that he deserves having dispatched long time favourite Liddell and the other contenders in Wandy and Hendo. He seriously has to be up there in the best LHW's of all time. Throw Shoguns name in there and it could be the top 4 LHW's of the last ten years. I say last ten years cos I see Jon jones making a name for himself. Tito deserves honourable mention too in the early days but injuries have rapidly seen him fade over the years.

GSP has to be in there, even if he loses to Diaz he probably has at least another 6 years fighting so plenty of chances to add some names to his already outstanding record. Just a shame that his fights aren't entertaining anymore.

No

sunthunder wrote:

manschesthair_utd wrote:not trying to be harsh on hendo, but he has like
...7 losses in his prime and like...7 of his wins could have gone the other way.

Thank you. Too many people gloss over this.

Or the truth:

Too many people trying to belittle his accomplishments.

manschesthair_utd wrote:not trying to be harsh on hendo, but he has like
...7 losses in his prime and like...7 of his wins could have gone the other way.

Depends on when you define his prime to be.


Henderson is number 3 all time for me, number 2 if he gets Anderson again and beats him. His losses to Anderson and Shields were both down to his gassing badly after the first round. He comfortably won the first round against both before gassing because of the weight cut.

Ben, he remembered me from the night of the Bisping fight and we had a good laugh about that fight and Bisping in general, the guy I jumped on when the KO happened and hugged in a moment of beer spilling questionable behaviour was also there. Turns out he's one of Hendo's closest mates. Really nice guy, I spent most of the night drinking with him, his missus and the two friends of mine that came to the fight with me. Hendo was floating about but he spent a long time with us. I'm going over in October to train at Team Quest for 2 weeks, hips permitting. If I can't train I'll just give a couple of instruction classes or something.

Anfields5thKing wrote:

manschesthair_utd wrote:not trying to be harsh on hendo, but he has like
...7 losses in his prime and like...7 of his wins could have gone the other way.

Depends on when you define his prime to be.


Henderson is number 3 all time for me, number 2 if he gets Anderson again and beats him. His losses to Anderson and Shields were both down to his gassing badly after the first round. He comfortably won the first round against both before gassing because of the weight cut.

Ben, he remembered me from the night of the Bisping fight and we had a good laugh about that fight and Bisping in general, the guy I jumped on when the KO happened and hugged in a moment of beer spilling questionable behaviour was also there. Turns out he's one of Hendo's closest mates. Really nice guy, I spent most of the night drinking with him, his missus and the two friends of mine that came to the fight with me. Hendo was floating about but he spent a long time with us. I'm going over in October to train at Team Quest for 2 weeks, hips permitting. If I can't train I'll just give a couple of instruction classes or something.

Cracking mate im sure that will be a great experience. Hendo at number 3 sounds good to me, I reckon he is UFC bound for sure. Evans is next in line so I reckon Hendo has 3 opponents, Machida, Rampage (if he looses) or the winner of Shogun vs Forrest. I reckon we see him in a number 1 contender fight with one of these guys.