[Next Big Thing]

Originally Posted by Reavant in liddel's and hughes case, the decline was much before that. Hughes started the downslide in 2006 (33 years old) and liddel when he was 36. Hughes going 3 of 4 in his last fights isnt a testament to him being prime because he could have easily lost the decision to serra, fought a can in gracie, and im on the fence with almeda but he caught him early in a strange sub. Couture is very intellegent and always a game fighter, but his last three victories were jokes of fights and he showed where he was at against machida. Wandy and fedor both started fighting in their teens or early 20s and have consistently fought through that time. The men you mentioned didnt start till way later. Lets not use Rampage to proove a point on fight volume here considering how many names do you recognize before he fought liddel the second time? Same with hughes until he got to the ufc. Silva much the same earlier in his career, but he has the a style of fighting that makes him take very little damage.

If you want to make that argument about Rampage and Hughes fight volume then you have to apply the same to Fedor. How many names do you recognize during his run? Now how many of those guys were out of their prime UFC guys? How many of those guys were just kickboxers? When you do that you have two or three legit opponents max. By the way, Fedor's fights over the last 5 years haven't been career draining wars either. I don't think any of them went to a decision.

Fedor started fighting in his teens.... Okay so did Vitor Belfort. Rampage was 21 when he started fighting and has fought out a pace that has allowed him to surpass the number of fights Fedor has. Don't you think his body would be more worn down, especially when you consider the fights he's had since joining the UFC compared to the fights Fedor has had since Pride folded? Anderson was doing muay thai in his late teens. Should his 36 year old body be breaking down on him?

I'm tempted to agree on Wandy though.