Fighters who you think aren't champion level that became champs

[ejazahmednit]

Just because they aren't the consensus best in the division doesn't mean they aren't championship level
I think fluke champs like Jens, Serra are more in line with this list.
Anyone who won a championship and defended it is championship level
In recent times I would say Pennington, I would say Strickland but he beat Adesanya pillar to post

 

[meast]

Here is a list IMO

Michael Bisping
Forrest Griffin
DDP
Matt Serra
Jens Pulver
Conor @ LW
Dave Menne
Tim Sylvia

Imagine including DDP and Bisping but no Strickland

 

[Levi_]

Everyone at LHW after Jones and before Alex.

Strickland for sure.

 

[ComfortablyNumb55]

Stop trolling bro, you either on stricklands dick or just retarded

Are you denying Sean has the best jab in MMA history?

 

[chinarice]

One that I didn't see listed is Woodley.

Never thought much of him. Always found him extremely overrated on here. I feel he was very lucky to win the title and be there during a time where the guys right there with him were 1 dimensional strikers like Wonderboy and Till and 1-dimensional grapplers like Maia. Got to finish off what was left of Lawler.

 

[michi972]

If the current Bellator champions came over they would be the UFC champions or the #1 contender.

Alvarez beat many great fighters. He's not a dominant champion, but it isn't any more weird that he was a champ than it is Pettis or Benson who were also champs from smaller orgs.


It doesn't even make sense why he would be a guy who isn't champ level but RDA is. Even if you ignore Alvarez beat RDA, RDA did not really have a greater collection of wins than Alvarez did, and he lost to a lot of fighters, some of which were gatekeepers. Alvarez lost to better fighters on average until their respective reigns.

Rda hit prime later, Alvarez had that 1 out od 10 fights against him. More than that RDA had good run at ww, which Alvarez wasn't capable of.

 

[ThePimblettEra]

Bisping is the classic example, but he kinda earned it due to the time served.
He wasn't the best in his division when he became champ, by any means, but IMHO he deserved to hold the belt at least for one fight due to his dedication, effort and mentality.

I think a lot of haters eventually gained a lot of respect for him.
There was no quitting with that cunt.

 

[Ace70 V2]

Um Sean has the best jab in MMA history and a top 5 defense in MMA history.

Anderson Silva's jab puts Sean's to shame