The reason I think some of the are fake legends and also overhyped is:
They tend to call Tito Ortiz a legend of the sport. Is that correct? Not in my opinion, because he was always just running around in the UFC at a time, where Pride had the best fighters of the world and pride was also international. They had more exposure and a bigger crowd.
Yeah, that sport has few legends to offer, but I'm not sure if even one of them has to do something with the UFC...
The legends would be: Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko CroCop, Sakuraba, Big Nog, Wanderlei Silva, probably Dan Henderson, hell even Rampage Jackson ... these were / are mystical legendery fighters.
And of course all of that is only my opinion.
And regarding Jon Jones and Anderson Silva. I in fact do think that they're very overhyped and not as good as everyone wants them to be. If there is one fighter who deserves respect, then it's Fedor Emelianenko, since he was always undersized in the heavy weight division, yet he took on every fight and dominated so many of them. Sakuraba is another one. He was probably a natural middle weight, yet he was facing heavyweights and giving them a run for their money.
But Jon Jones and Anderson Silva? Physically they have so many advantages over their opponents in their respective division. Of course that's how it goes, but when you have someone like Jon Jones, who never trains his legs in order to keep his body weight low, LOL! .. It's hard for me to take all the hype serious, since I know for a fact that he wouldn't do that well in the heavyweight division, where he actually belongs.
He could easily be bigger if he wanted, but he decides to beat up smaller guys.
But Jon Jones is a special case anyway. I think that the UFC should have a special division for guys like him, who are tall, have long limbs and so on. In theory they should all have the same weight and if he would rule in that division, I would have no problem with that. But seeing him beat up on Shogun and when he takes him down seeing the comparison, where Shogun looks like a child next to Jones? It's like watching a boy wrestle against his dad.
Honestly just reading this I can't help but to think you're a PRIDE fan not really an MMA fan. How can you not consider Royce a legend? You're right the term is a bit loose in a sport so young, but Royce was a pioneer. In today's MMA he might not be anything special but not only did he perform well in his time period, but he brought a ton of attention to the sport and inspired many future fighters. And Anderson is without a doubt the greatest MW ever and possibly the GOAT if you don't have Fedor as the GOAT. GSP, while not my favorite guy at all, is the clear #1 WW of all time. Those guys are legends. Huge win streaks with many historic wins.
I agree about Tito. He spent his best days beating non-top contenders and when he did fight the top guys he lost. He wasn't a bad fighter at all but a lot of his legacy will be looked down upon because of the fact that he was ducking Chuck.
And you are just wrong about Anderson and Jon being "too big," for the division. First of all, Anderson has fought at 167 lbs before. The guy is not built like a tank. And he has weighed in at well under 185 for several fights. At LHW he looks a bit flabby, not out of shape, but overall pretty soft.
If height and reach meant everything then Kendall Grove would have been great, Stefan Struve would have been a champion, and Hong Man Choi wouldn't be losing all the time. George Roop? 6 ft tall fighting at FW and BW yet loses to many fighters. Divisions for guys who are tall and long? Lol cmon man that is going full retard. If a fighter isn't killing themselves over making weight (Anthony Johnson) then the weight they fight at is fair.
Fedor is amazing and has a strong argument for GOAT. But sometimes it's a bit ridiculous how people keep saying he was smashing guys way bigger than him. Who are Fedor's best wins? Big Nog, Cro Cop, Coleman, Arlovski, Randleman, and Herring? Great wins, no doubt. But most of them are around 240. They weren't WAY BIGGER than Fedor like people assume. They were definitely bigger. But Fedor was much faster. Being bigger does not mean you hold every single advantage. Fedor was a big guy (generally speaking) so he had KO power and was fast as shit for HW. His grappling was amongst the best in the division and his fight IQ while he was in his prime was amazing. The huge giants he smashed were freakshow fights for the most part.
I will agree with you that Jones would have a tough time at HW. I think Cain, JDS, among a few others would give him a lot of trouble. I also believe he has the potential to rule that division as well.
I feel like you're just such a big PRIDE fan and can't get over the fact that that era for the most part is over (except some people like Anderson, Hendo, Shogun to some extent). It's ok to have memories of that time period, but it's also ok to just let it go and enjoy the current generation. If you can't acknowledge great fighters like Anderson, Jones, Aldo, Velasquez, etc. then it just makes you look bitter. Enjoy the new wave of MMA my friend, it's not as bad as it seems.
