We'll have to agree to disagree on the fedor - Bigfoot fight.
Fedor beat the number 2 and 3 HW's of all time?
You mean the number 2 and 3 HW's of the sport at a time the sport was still in it's infancy.
The sport has moved on,the fighters have improved and the field of talent is 20 times bigger and more talented in todays game.
Fedor,Nog and Cro-cop need applauding for laying down the foundations and setting the standards for todays fighters,but just like in every sport,new atheletes take the torch and carry it further untill the next gen takes it off them.
Like going on an undefeated run in the UFC today is far more impressive than doing it in Pride.
A because the talent is alot better and theres far more of them and B because with each win in the UFC the talent you face next is equal or better than the fight before,where as in Pride you can go from fighting Nog to a fujita or a Cro-cop to a Zuluzinho.
There's no gimme matches thrown in todays game.
Nog and Cro-cop of then would still struggle against todays top HW's.
Age can be argued as part of why they don't look like the dominant beasts they once did,but to be fair cro-cop was only 31 and 7 months and another win,coming off his crowning achievement in the game before Gonzaga and Kongo beat him and Nog was only 31 and on a 3 fight win streak over timmeh,herring and Barnett when Mir beat him.
31 is not that old in for a HW MMA fighter and in Nogs case,i think it can be said that his game in the UFC actually showed improvements since his Pride days,his striking is alot better.
It's just a case of the talent has improved and alot have eclipsed the greats of yesteryear,Just like Bob Fitzsimmons wouldn't of beat Ali or Ali wouldn't of beat Lennox,Roger Bannister isn't any longer the greatest ever mile runner,high school students are now breaking the 4 minute mile.
The argument of jones fighting smaller guys is laughable,especially when praising cro-cop as the 3rd best HW of all time,Cro-cop won his GP beating 3 MW's,Jones might be bigger than alot of his opponents,but at least he fights guys in his weight class,and not guys that should be two wieght classes below him.
The only fighters that cro-cop beat who were bigger than him were Barnett,alex,herring,waterman,Al Turk and Hong man Chio,with the 3 wins over barnett,that's 8 out of his 40 fights,Clearly the #3 HW of all time
Even fedor and Nog have got big lists of smaller guys on their records.
Cowboy,I don't see how the 29 year old,former champ and current top 5 LHW,Shogun can be called on the downside of his career,yet a 40 year old coleman wasn't.
Coleman had not long come out of retirement when he fought fedor.