I was reminiscing about this earlier, and it still feels crazy to me.

after he got destroyed by Charles Oliveira, and before he beat Rafael Fiziev. the general consensus in this sub (and the mma community as a whole) is that he wasn’t elite and as good as we initially thought he was, and that he’d start going on a decline due to all the mileage throughout his career starting with Fiziev.

this was as recent as March 17th (the day before he fought Fiziev)

fast foward to July 29th, and the consensus has completely flipped.

most fans now acknowledge that he’s a bonified killer and an all time Lightweight great, close to nobody regards him as being “overrated” anymore.

i will admit i wasn’t too sold on him after he beat Rafael Fiziev, as i thought Fiziev was being overhyped.

but after watching him do to Dustin Poirier, what McGregor, Chandler, Alvarez, Holloway & Pettis failed to do, my opinion has completely changed.

i also believe Rafael Fiziev has gained some respect back after the Dustin Poirier KO, as he was able to take the fight to Justin. and arguably win the first two rounds, even with Gaethjes egregious eyepoke.

Fiziev won R1 vs Justin much more decisively than Dustin did.

with a few adjustments, i believe Gaethje is a winnable fight for Fiziev. (although i do believe Rafa being undersized for the division is a big problem)

has there been any other cases of a certain fighter gaining a lot of respect as a fighter, for their skills in such a short period of time?