Who has faced the hardest competition?

[Gunslingermma]

goober I dont think anyone was suprised to see you say that however i was suprised to see you mae such a compelling arguement

[deathbombs]

GSP and Kazushi Sakuraba. GSP grinds through top contenders in all his recent fights while also taking on a champion from another weight class. Sakuraba too faced some incredible competition facing many big name fighters although not as successfully as GSP

[WitABaseballBat*]

sakuraba

[Despotic]

Originally Posted by ÜnderLand

I'm going to have to go with Travis Fulton, the Ultimate Gatekeeper.

he said the hardest competition, not the most competition.

[PoundUmOut2]

Originally Posted by Goober Taylor

Tim Sylvia

Here is the current Sherdog Top 10:

1. Fedor Emelianenko (29-1-0, 1 NC)
2. Andrei Arlovski (14-6-0)
3. Josh Barnett (24-5-0)
4. Frank Mir (12-3-0)
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1, 1 NC)
6. Brock Lesnar (3-1-0)
7. Randy Couture (16-9-0)
8. Tim Sylvia (24-5-0)
9. Ben Rothwell (29-6-0)
10. Alistair Overeem (29-11-0, 1 NC)

That's 6 of the 9 fighters in the top ten (Tim is the tenth) that Tim has fought. And Andrei he has fought three times.

And that's just the guys in the rankings right now. Tim also beat Ricco when he was top 5, Vera when he was unbeaten at HW and top 10, and Jeff Monson who was on a 16-fight win streak in MMA and an ADCC champ.

damn, timmahs been in there with the best... good call goober.

[Goober Taylor]

Originally Posted by Gunslingermma

goober I dont think anyone was suprised to see you say that however i was suprised to see you mae such a compelling arguement

Most people overlook Tim in this regard. But who, in MMA, has faced a tougher 4 fights than Tim in his last 4 fights? Answer: no one.

And even before that, Tim almost never had any gimme fights. He has a dozen or so fights in the UFC. I think 9 were championship fights...and a couple more were #1 contender fights.

Tim will definitely be able to retire knowing that he took on all comers.

[Farnum]

It depends what you mean by "hardest"

A lot of great fighters have had some easy fights too. Do they get marked down for that?

MMA Fighter Rankings - Unbiased Current and All-time Computer Based Fighter Rankings has a stat called strength of schdule that sort of estimates how difficult the opponents someone has had through thier career.

A more in depth discussion about it can be found here Uncommon Sense Blog Archive Strength of Schedule

[painteaches]

Kimbo

[Despotic]

"90% of the game is half-mental."
Stole it from John Madden

[PoundUmOut2]

Originally Posted by Goober Taylor

Most people overlook Tim in this regard. But who, in MMA, has faced a tougher 4 fights than Tim in his last 4 fights? Answer: no one.

And even before that, Tim almost never had any gimme fights. He has a dozen or so fights in the UFC. I think 9 were championship fights...and a couple more were #1 contender fights.

Tim will definitely be able to retire knowing that he took on all comers.

tim is possibly the most overlooked fighter in the world. the man has an amazing record but people just love to hate on him. same with sherk.