I was just reflecting on Israel Adesanya’s career (to this point) and just thought “what if he had retired after KOing Alex?” You look at someone like Khabib, who everybody constantly says he’s such a big what if… but he retired on top. The ‘aura’ is still there. I’m starting to think that’s better than what’s happened to Izzy. Could you imagine if Khabib had stayed abit longer and then lost to Charles or something? He potentially achieves more but then we see him lose. The flip side is though you’d have to live with unanswered questions like “could I have been the GOAT?” etc Just watching guys like Izzy & Usman, who were once ‘unbeatable’, look human and lose like that, it changes your perspective a little. They’re still legends but it takes away from their ‘aura’. For example: before the Leon fight, there was genuine debates about is Usman better than GSP? Would he have beaten him? Those conversations no longer happen because he lost. Shoutout to TheRightHook, his post not long ago got me thinking about it.