I think it depends on what we mean by overachieve. I think DDP's skillset is a bit more diverse than I initially thought, but I think he does still rely heavily on athleticism, conditioning, grit and smart game-planning.
I think his skillset is more diverse than Sean's, even though I thought you could argue Sean won.
You don't necessarily need a diverse skillset to be great (in the higher weight divisions). Dan Henderson, especially by the time he got to the UFC, had an extremely limited skillset for a MW. He's an all-time great.
Don't conflate skillset with how
good a fighter is. Look at how effective Dan and Sean were/are with relatively limited skillsets (e.g., how many martial arts techniques you know, irrespective of how effectively you apply them).
Compare their skillset and success with a guy like Martin Kampmann:
- a BJJ blackbelt with almost as many submission wins as knockouts;
- could grapple nearly neck-and-neck with Jake Shields;
- great, complete kickboxing game;
but could never get to a championship fight for a variety of reasons (depth at WW, tactical errors, durability later in career, etc.).
I also think there's a distinction between "sloppy" and limited skillset. Outside of striking, Izzy is limited--not sloppy, IMO. Condit, especially for his time, had a great skillset for a WW--but his striking was a little sloppy.
DDP is a little more skilled than I thought, but I think he can look a little sloppy in there. That may improve overtime or it could be baked into the cake.
