Biggest Overachievers in UFC history

[ThaiSexPills]

What about Tommy? Here's a guy who had the HW strap literally put on him, tried to defend it, tapped to a broken orbital, yet over 6 months later still walks around with the most prestigious belt in the sport?

Tom literally finished the majority of the top 10 in his division. Then TWO months ago, he got eye poked and injured by no fault of his own. His orbital was not broken nor did he tap. It should have been a DQ IMO but whatever.

What a retarded post. That’s either bait or this is the dumbest post I’ve seen in 10 years of being on here. Jesus dude…

6 months?? Man, you really have a funny perspective of time.

He measures time the same way he measures his pecker. 2 inches/months = 6

 

[Trabaho]

Not based on expectation but achieving something they weren't good enough to.

Patrick Cote - Title shot
Bisping - 2 titles

People begged to take the title of Bisping. GSP unretired for it. He wasn't top 5 best UFC MWs while holding the title. Barely got past 46 year old #14 ranked Hendo.

 

[Gratis]

CroCop. A big upset, and a title fight later... even though he never blew up, he had a few solid years

Huh? Cro-Cop went 5-6 in the UFC, with one of those losses coming at the hands of Brendan Schaub. That's the opposite of overachieving.

 

[Dr. Rose]

Forrest wasn't even picked to win TUF 1 much less become World Champion.

I was thinking him or Dave Menne (although people will say look at his record outside the UFC, but all on the regional circuits and his big wins are Carlos Newton and...Shonie Carter, smh).

 

[KO Shotz]

Frankie Edgar & Forest Griffin are top 2 in my book.

 

[Hitdepruns]

Jan "Blachowicz" (not sure about the spelling). I think Nobody saw him as champ and beating Izzy.

 

[honzo]

I'd say Serra and Bisping come to mind straight away.

 

[Substance Abuse]

Evan Tanner.

He may have become the UFC Middleweight Champion of the world after joining a legitimate camp, but his career began when he started training himself using Gracie BJJ instructional videos at home.

 

[oski]

His orbital was not broken

Tommy posted this, himself...



What's weird is that his fanboys still are clueless here, but it certainly explains why he was holding the rag on "the wrong eye."

Anyways, glad we could clear that up for you.

 

[Thy]

johnny walker getting ko'ed multiple times for our entertainment. He one of my fav fighters for sure.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Robbie Lawler

We all always loved him but no one was picking him to not only return to the UFC but make a championship run with some of the most unforgettable wars in the divisions history. I always thought Rory was the next "guy" after GSP like many others.

 

[Limeade]

Jan "Blachowicz" (not sure about the spelling). I think Nobody saw him as champ and beating Izzy.

Other way. Few thought Izzy could move up in weight and take out Jan. The real surprise was Izzy getting tagged during the standup.

 

[mkt]

I see a lot of threads about biggest busts in UFC history.

On the flipside, who are people that succeeded tremendously or far-exceeded expectations? (for whatever reason....luck, heart, etc.). Define "overachiever" however you want. They found success.

Not talking hugely hyped prospects. Guys like Conor, Velasquez and Anderson had a lot of hype coming in.

Here's a few of mine

Matt Serra- He beat GSP. I can't think of many other huge, memorable wins, or bigger upsets in the whole history of the company
Dillashaw- Dillashaw was certainly a prospect, but I don't think anyone saw him rising to the levels he achieved (EPO or not)
Gonzaga- When he came into the UFC, I don't remember a lot of hype. A lot of people thought he'd be a stepping stone for CroCop. A big upset, and a title fight later... even though he never blew up, he had a few solid years
Frankie Edgar- Now he's practically a legend, but he was undersized and I don't recall others thinking he would go very far, early on.

This is a mix of one-hit wonders, front runners and overachievers.

I'd say Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin and maybe Edgar (talented but definitely undersized at LW) would be examples of overachievers.

 

[mkt]

yep but belal was for a long time top 10-15 and even just outside the rankings before and no one was shocked. Him being champ, he overachieved compared to expectations
Same for Miocic. You wouldn't have expected him to be the HW champ who defended his belt the most with wins over Overeem, Ngannou, and Cormier when he was losing to struve

True, but Stipe was a Golden Gloves boxer and multi-sport D1 athlete. He had the makings of a potential champ, especially at HW. Belal wrestled briefly at D1 but had a late and slow start in MMA. No one would've imagined him being a champ when he was 30 years old in like 2018.

 

[mkt]

I think Belal and Miocic were pretty great. Excellent records and wins over lots of top opponents

Belal was mostly a rank squatter (like most WWs of his generation) except his win over Brady that aged pretty well. The versions of Burns, Wonderboy, Maia, etc. he beat were past their best days.

I agree about Belal being an overachiever, though. He doesn't have any "super powers" (major KO ability, truly elite submissions or wrestling, great athleticism, etc.) but worked hard and maxed out his potential.

 

[BROWNPRIDE]

Brock Lesner

 

[mkt]

Strcikkland, Belal, Serra, Griffin, Nico Montana, Miocic, Pennington

Strickland is a good choice. No one saw him becoming a MW champ when he was a WW. Like him or not, he put in the work and developed a style (including the Philly Shell) that worked for his abilities (good cardio/durability but not much KO power or dangerous explosiveness).

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

aside from forrest, bisping's another one for sure. i wouldn't put serra in the running as it was just one flash in the pan win, that was gifted to him out of nowhere. with forrest and bisping you had more of a sustained run - serra came off a reality show, one big win and then disappeared just as fast.

Matt winning the show was already over achieving he was picked to lose Carter a 2nd time and Lytle was a big favourite.

 

[BluntForceTrama]

Bryce Mitchell you get outta hea

Instead of his fists Bryce uses his idiotic mouth to get undeserved high profile fights

 

[mkt]

Merab. Lost his first two UFC fights. He didn't start out with the ability of a Khamzat or Khabib, but developed the wrestling, cardio and tenacity to win the belt and defend it multiple times. Clearly a very hard worker.