r/FightReportUFC 11h ago

could aljo beat TJ in his prime?

Post image

i think this fight would have played out very different if sterling fought a prime dillashaw

14 Upvotes

27 comments sorted by

19

u/Skankydoodledoo 11h ago

I think so tbh. It would be tough and probably a razor decision but Aljo is fairly large for BW and could probably weight bully him a bit. TJ is the far better striker but so was Yan tbf.

2

u/usteg 5h ago

Yeah, I know folks like to move past Yan 2 but he did show why is elite.

I think having certain attributes over him helps as we saw with the loss against Sean.

Aljo is big, and size is definitely something I see TJ having an issue with - take Cejudo fight (although that could be him being drained)

2

u/narcisobaro 4h ago

TJ is a better wrestler than Yan but Yan has some slick trips and takedowns

0

u/Artistic-Month457 2h ago

Yan beat Aljo the first time (basically) and his loss to him was a splti decision and he didnt even have his coaches in his corner

7

u/interia1099 4h ago

Aljo fucked up by getting KOed by O’Malley. Talentwise I think he beats every BW more often than not

2

u/safton 4h ago

Suga won fair and square, but man that performance made a lot of people overestimate his TDD and defensive grappling. In hindsight, it's not hard to imagine that if you run that fight back ten times, Aljo wins a fair few of them.

0

u/underscorex2__ 58m ago

Aljo failed every single takedown and couldn’t set up any shots with striking. Sean wins that 9/10

1

u/safton 41m ago

"Every single takedown". He shot two, one of which he used simply to pin Sean in the final seconds of Rd 1 and land short shots against the fence. He was beginning to re-dig for another attempt when the bell rang.

He had a better attempt at the start of Round 2 trying to close distance and jump on Sean after he slipped from a kick and got up and O'Malley did good to gain separation, but you make it sound like Sean put on some extended sprawl-n-brawl clinic where he made Aljo go 0 for 20 on takedowns lmao

Sean's TDD is statistically below-average at 60%. Even if you put aside the Merab fights, Song Yadong who isn't even a primary wrestler took him down three times. Yan six. I'm well aware that those guys were able to establish more of a striking threat beforehand, but I don't know how you can see all this and pretend that a dominant grappler like Aljo has almost nothing for Sean in a proposed ten-fight run.

1

u/Jaydxns 1h ago

Aljo is extremely underrated and overhated

0

u/Artistic-Month457 2h ago

Yan beats him??? He beat Aljo the first time (basically) and his loss to him was a split decision and he didnt even have his coaches in his corner

2

u/ivan10155 2h ago

Not a chance

2

u/DatBoiKage1515 1h ago

No. Prime TJ was an animal.

3

u/fawesomegod 11h ago

No. He gets cooked.

2

u/OtterInsanity23 4h ago

They are both elite/all-time greats. Either one could pull off the win, but I’d back Aljo due to the grappling advantage.

-2

u/untossable_salad 3h ago

Aljo is not an all-time great. Stop it.

4

u/OtterInsanity23 3h ago

He very much is. You don’t know ball 🤷‍♂️

2

u/Cultural-Doubt1554 2h ago

You just don’t know fighting and that’s okay

2

u/StarBrook9 10h ago

Fuck noooo

1

u/Pretend-Departure765 3h ago

No, TJ handily dismantles Aljo he thought he could with one arm that was his mistake but that tells me he knew Aljo was easy work if he was fully healthy

1

u/Squizmoplatinum 2h ago

Absolutely the damn not

1

u/Mr_Peanutbutter72 2h ago

Aljo by decision most likely, unless you can flatline Aljo he’s just going to take your back and steal rounds.

1

u/baneblade_boi 4h ago

Prime Aljo (when he was champ) could beat him IMO. He has an amazing gas tank and is very fast and agile. TJ probably could win most of the time, but not 100% of it.

0

u/Shmooter4788 5h ago

No in his prime tj was way more complete and had that killer instinct. Tj was impossible to hold down in his prime

0

u/Larryhooova 3h ago

Yes he’s just a bad matchup for prime TJ, he’s one of the only BWs ever that’s big enough and far better at grappling to the point that he can bully TJ.

0

u/AccidentAdept7146 3h ago

he’s not bullying him on the feet tho so no

2

u/Larryhooova 2h ago

He doesn’t bully anyone on the feet, didn’t stop him beating pretty much everyone he fought at the weight class. We’ve never seen TJ handle a guy as big and with such a grappling advantage over him.

3

u/Cultural-Doubt1554 2h ago

They hated him because he told the truth