Aspinall vs HWs of 10+ years ago

[KAZSoliloquy]

Rate Aspinall’s skill level. How would he do against the HWs from the early 2010s decade?

- Cain
- DC
- JDS
- Carwin
- Brock
- Overeem
- Werdum

cain, dc, and jds beat him. possibly werdum. aspinall fucks brock and carwin up as well as any version of overeem except ubereem.

 

[HP_Nut]

Aspinall is very skilled for a HW but he hasn't definitively proven himself yet, what I mean by that is, his resume needs some more big names/wins. I think he's a very dangerous high risk fight for Jones, but we need to see more. Some guys wilt when they're the one on the receiving end for example, so we need to see more true tests

 

[Striker Fox]

He did beat Stipe later that year, but that was before Stipe was Stipe.

How wasn't that prime Stipe though?

He was 32 y/o with 14 pro fights, and 10 years training MMA against JDS at this point, and champ 1.5 years after losing the fight.

Did he show something in the Hunt, Arlovski, Werdum fights that he didn't against JDS?

 

[Nobru]

Rate Aspinall’s skill level. How would he do against the HWs from the early 2010s decade?

- Cain
- DC
- JDS
- Carwin
- Brock
- Overeem
- Werdum

too soon, we barely saw him fight

 

[jx820]

How wasn't that prime Stipe though?

He was 32 y/o with 14 pro fights, and 10 years training MMA against JDS at this point, and champ 1.5 years after losing the fight.

Did he show something in the Hunt, Arlovski, Werdum fights that he didn't against JDS?

It was likely the tail end of his physical prime.

But, I think it's pretty reasonable to say his prime as a fighter, when the skills, experience, and physicality all came toghether was when he was knocking out Werdum and Overeem in title fights and not when he was losing to Struve and JDS. I think at that point he was just starting to face guys you could pick out of a line up, and I don't think anyone was picking him as a future champ let alone a future hall of famer.

That's not a knock on Stipe, I don't believe everyone has to be flawless or be a blue chip prospect on day one to achieve greatness. My only point was that he wasn't there yet.

What he showed against Hunt and Werdum that he didn't show against JDS was a winning performance. This is just speculation but I imagine what changed was probably in his heart and in his head more than the training room. Some fighters are broken by their first loss or two (Rousey and Dominic Reyes), and some grow immensely from them (Cejudo and Dominic Cruz).