We'll see. You can't really judge someone's legacy mid career. What if Pettis becomes a 50/50 fighter the rest of his career? What if he never is the same? What if he wins every fight until h retres?
We dunno, his legacy isn't cemented either way yet. However, when you see things like this happen.. it really reminds you how many ways their are to lose in MMA. It's VERY hard to be undefeated for any length of time. That's why, IMO, Fedor is by far the greatest ever. Out of every fighter to compete in MMA whose career has started and ended.. 10 years unbeaten on top of the HW division for 7 = mind boggling impressive. Boxing is a lot different. You can only lose one way in boxing, and that's by getting hit in the face. In MMA, man, there are SO many variables. You have to be perfect at EVERYTHING on EVERY fight night. Pettis very well could end up one of the greatest ever, or he might end up being one of those natural gifted athletes who relied too much on his talent and didn't put the work in the same way a guy like RDA had to in order to get to that level, because he was so talented. Eventually those hungry guys are going to catch up to you. All speculation, but yeah, Pettis did seem to enjoy partying and shit between fights, he also had a longggg break after he won the title.
One thing is for sure, pre fight Pettis kinda seemed to believe his own hype. Rufus with the Mayweather comparisons, and did anyone see Pettis' house on Embedded? His entire house is covered with paintings of himself. Lol. 4 hair cuts a week too. He definitely is into himself.
Anyway.. It always seems like any tim the UFC/Dana promote a guy as "the new Anderson Silva", the "new #1 pound for pound".. they go out and lose. Once they started hyping Barao that way, he lost. Pettis gets the same praise/hype, he gets destroyed.
I want Conor to beat Aldo but due to all the hype they've put in to Conor it wouldn't shock me at all if the plans blow up in the UFC's face and he gets wrecked. Shit happens all the time.
What's weird to me in this sport, is like every 2-3 years, some new guy comes along who is now "THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME!". It's annoying and people need to just let careers play out, respect those who have been there and done it already, and just wait and see.
Lots of guys we see right now who people consider "phenoms" and "all time greats" are in the middle of their athletic prime. Let's see wher ethey are 5-7 years from now before people start running around saying they are the greatest.
Everyone loses in MMA. 20 years from now, I highly doubt there will be a champion who went his entire career without a SINGLE loss who retired undefeated. Again, it makes it even crazier that Fedor never lost mid career, and only at the end. I doubt Jones goes his entire career without losing.
Plenty of people said Anderson would never lose, he was unstoppable, greatest ever, etc.
Look at Anderson in late 2012 after he destroyed Bonnar in a joke fight. EVERYONE thought "oh my god he's just so amazing".. Would anyone have guessed in his nxt 2 fights that his career would be almost put at an end, and THEN the entire PED scandal would happen (where he couldn't even hurt a 170 lber while geared up)? That hurts his legacy BADLY.
So anyway ,rant over. "Legacy" is a silly idea to talk about for a fighter in his late 20s. Who knows what his legacy will be? I love watching him fight, that's for sure, and he finishes guys in really amazing ways. But you never know who else out there might have the answer to beating him.