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BJ Penn and Randy Couture Overrated?

ForbiddenSun

ForbiddenSun

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Both deserve to be HOF's as two division champs and pioneers of the sport but neither of them even crack 60% for win percentage.

Fighting is about winning. That's one of the reasons Fedor is considered the GOAT despite never fighting in the UFC because of his win streak, it's legendary.

So putting your objective hat on, can you REALLY consider a fighter an all time great if they couldn't even win 60% of their fights (6 out of 10)?

BJ Penn
16-10-2 = 57% win percentage

Randy Couture
19-11 = 58% win percentage
 
BJ is not overrated. Randy is. The godfather of TRT in MMA.
 
Overrated only to fans. Ask fighters & coaches and you'll get a different answer.
 
Look at who they fought. Especially BJ.

The last three losses of his career came from Edgar, MacDonald, Diaz. BJ was a monster in his prime and fought at LHW at one point because he wanted to.

Randy's record is not as impressive, but his achievements are, so is the age he was competing at and his popularity. Context is important.
 
That is because they fought nothing but top comp most of their careers. Look at Penn's losses......

Edgar 3x
GSP 2x WW
Diaz WW
Rory WW
Machida HW
Hughes WW

Nothing but top fighters.
 
Jim cozad>unnatural couture>drunk penn
 
JKS said:
That is because they fought nothing but top comp most of their careers. Look at Penn's losses......

Edgar 3x
GSP 2x WW
Diaz WW
Rory WW
Machida HW
Hughes WW

Nothing but top fighters.
Click to expand...
Agreed
 
Can't say BJ is overrated. He fought nothing but top guys his whole career. And at his peak, he may of been the best MMA fighter on the planet imo..

But I'm a BJ nuthugger so don't listen to me.
 
the term"murders row" is very apt when talking about who these 2 have fought.
 
Randy? Maybe. Depends how you view him.

Penn? No way. Guy fought everywhere, every weight, everyone; just fought a little too long.
 
It's hard to call a two division champ overrated when they aren't even widely considered in the running for GOAT...
 
It's so sad seeing new fans to the sport just not getting what made it great in the first place. Seeing Randy constantly counted out yet finding a way to win against seemingly superior opponents was amazing at the time. People were legit worried he might die against Sylvia haha, funny to look back on it now. If anything I think he's underrated. 5-time UFC champ for goodness sake.
As far as BJ goes, as much as I think he's one of the sports biggest underachievers (despite being a 2-time champ). What he did achieve in his career was epic. Both guys are legends.
 
Both would get destroyed by current top fighters of their divisions.So yes,kinda

But depends on how you "rate" them really. I mean if the majority considers BJ top10 GOAT,yes he is heavily overrated
 
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B-Man said:
It's so sad seeing new fans to the sport just not getting what made it great in the first place. Seeing Randy constantly counted out yet finding a way to win against seemingly superior opponents was amazing at the time. People were legit worried he might die against Sylvia haha, funny to look back on it now. If anything I think he's underrated. 5-time UFC champ for goodness sake.
As far as BJ goes, as much as I think he's one of the sports biggest underachievers (despite being a 2-time champ). What he did achieve in his career was epic. Both guys are legends.
Click to expand...

I agree with your assessment. Both guys were great but BJ with all of his God given ability really did underachieve for stretches of his career. Randy on the other hand kept proving the neighsayers wrong. Couture is one of the most underrated fighters of all time.
 
Great for their time. Just like Fedor was great for his time, now he wouldn't even be top 5.

...and in the future, fighters of today will be overshadowed by future talent. In the evolution of combat, fighters will keep becoming even more well-rounded.

Time, how does it work?!
 
How can you overrate a two division champ? Both Penn and Coture fought bigger opponents and got titles well above their natural weight.
 
If Couture is overrated, so is Sakuraba. They're both really similar in broad ways. Classic underdogs always counted out in fights against bigger, favored opponents and yet time after time managed to pull off a startling upset.
 
this is what happens when noobs judge a fighter's career by looking at their record on wikipedia.
 
BJ is definitely not overrated.

His losses have all come to monsters (most in higher weightclasses).

Rory Macdonald (Possible future champion)
GSPx2 (Welterweight Champion & WW GOAT)
Hughes (Welterweight Champion & #2WW GOAT)
Lyoto Machida (Light Heavyweight Champion)
Nick Diaz (Strikeforce Welterweight Champion)
Frankie Edgar (Lightweight Champion) & FW title challenger.
Jens Pulver (Lightweight Champion)

Then when you take into consideration how close his first fight with edgar and gsp was, and the machida fight. Anyone at the time can vouch for how impressive BJ was as a fighter (especially a clean fighter. At lightweight, before edgar he decimated anyone and everyone put infront of him and made it look easy.
 
I only ever saw BJ getting his ass beat all the time.
 
I mean the one of only 3 guys to win belts in different divisions in a major mma promotion but yeah they are "overrated."
 
TSO said:
How can you overrate a two division champ? Both Penn and Coture fought bigger opponents and got titles well above their natural weight.
Click to expand...

Most fighters move down in weight class, these two maniacs move up. One has to admire the guts and the belief in themselves of these two men.
 
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