Is Overeem the best Fighter who never won the UFC Title?

[Bruce Lee666]

Dear OP:

Overeem had a 5-7 record in PRIDE and a 12-8 record in the UFC... that doesn't sound like he was the best of anything.

Skillwise Reem it's Very Good You can't beat him in 3 or 5 rounds sadly he got caught many times in UFC, Reem could beat any fighter in the planet in a good day, Even Jones say Reem scared him when they trained together.

 

[BowserJr]

Most accomplished and skilled fighter to not win it

How many Pride, UFC and K1 champs did he beat?

Lesnar, Mir, Hunt x2, JDS, Vitor x2, Arlovski, Was working Crocop before the nutshot

 

[BowserJr]

Skillwise Reem it's Very Good You can't beat him in 3 or 5 rounds sadly he got caught many times in UFC, Reem could beat any fighter in the planet in a good day, Even Jones say Reem scared him when they trained together.

Reem scared Jones away from doing HW

 

[Taric]

Skillwise Reem it's Very Good You can't beat him in 3 or 5 rounds sadly he got caught many times in UFC, Reem could beat any fighter in the planet in a good day, Even Jones say Reem scared him when they trained together.

Cowboy Cerrone has famously knocked out dozens of elite fighters in the gym...that doesn't make him the best fighter to never win a UFC title.

 

[mkt]

Dan Henderson is the correct answer, though he did win in Pride.

Reem was never a Pride champ.

Yep, I'd give it to Dan. Just off the top of my head: he beat future/past UFC champs Bisping, Belfort, Shogun, Rich Franklin and Pride GOAT Fedor (despite Dan being 6 years older and smaller).

And while older Dan was on TRT until it was illegal, he didn't do so many PEDs that he put on 60 pounds of muscle in his late 20s like Alistair. I put a footnote/disclaimer on some of Overeem's wins when he looked like a comic book character.

 

[mkt]

When I think of "best fighters to never win a UFC title" I think of guys like Nick Diaz and John Fitch

I'd throw Jake Shields up there, too. Lots of wins over big fighters. Similar to Fitch except Fitch spent more time in the UFC (and was clearly the 2nd best UFC WW for a number of years).

 

[mkt]

With the way Mousasi got dominated by Machida and Jacare I feel like he was just never at that championship level and his highest level win (Weidman) was a clearly out of prime Weidman. Mousasi reminds me of Cerrone where he was a great and elite fighter but not quite championship material with a championship opponent level win.

Where as guys like Overeem (less proof due to PEDS), Joe-B, Faber were without a doubt able to beat every single fighter outside the champ at their peaks and even gave the champions hell in their title shots.

Agree 100%. Speaking of Jacare, he may not have enough big wins to be a candidate for this, but he deserved a title shot vs. Bisping over 46-year old Hendo and GSP...and I'm confident Jacare would've won that fight. The same is true of Yoel. Either could've been champ with slightly different circumstances in that 3-4 year period after Anderson lost to Weidman. Some think Yoel beat Whittaker in one of their fights, too.

 

[Bruce Lee666]

Agree 100%. Speaking of Jacare, he may not have enough big wins to be a candidate for this, but he deserved a title shot vs. Bisping over 46-year old Hendo and GSP...and I'm confident Jacare would've won that fight. The same is true of Yoel. Either could've been champ with slightly different circumstances in that 3-4 year period after Anderson lost to Weidman. Some think Yoel beat Whittaker in one of their fights, too.

Ronaldo are a Good Fighter.

Hurt to see Romero Cheating against Ronaldo.

 

[Bruce Lee666]

Cowboy Cerrone has famously knocked out dozens of elite fighters in the gym...that doesn't make him the best fighter to never win a UFC title.

I Agree but in Reem case he it's the best who never win the UFC Title.

 

[mkt]

Dan it's a Tough Guy but the new generation of Top UFC Guys are too much for him.

That was VERY late in Dan's career. Hardly fair to show some fight when he's like 44.

 

[mkt]

Reem losing to the trifecta of slow, big, heavy-handed but awkward fighters (Bigfoot, Browne, Rothwell) in a 19-month period when he was only 33-34 is enough to disqualify him IMO.

 

[HHJ]

Dear OP:

Overeem had a 5-7 record in PRIDE and a 12-8 record in the UFC... that doesn't sound like he was the best of anything.

 

[HHJ]

Reem losing to the trifecta of slow, big, heavy-handed but awkward fighters (Bigfoot, Browne, Rothwell) in a 19-month period when he was only 33-34 is enough to disqualify him IMO.

And only ONE title shot this whole time???

 

[mkt]

And only ONE title shot this whole time???

Yep, he was supposed to have a shot when JDS was champ but blew that with a failed drug test. It was an aging, weaker HW division and he still always got KO'd when he came close to a title shot (except his actual title fight with Stipe).

 

[HHJ]

That was VERY late in Dan's career. Hardly fair to show some fight when he's like 44.

DC would always do this to him tho. Bad matchup for him.

 

[Aluminati]

Dan Henderson is the correct answer, though he did win in Pride.

Reem was never a Pride champ.

To counter the Pride title, Overeem defeated the lineal Pride HW champion in Werdum, won the HW title in Strikeforce and both orgs were folded into the UFC.

 

[AmericanMMA]

To counter the Pride title, Overeem defeated the lineal Pride HW champion in Werdum, won the HW title in Strikeforce and both orgs were folded into the UFC.

Well on top of the two Pride titles, like Reem, Hendo also was a Strikeforce champion and fought for the title at two weight classes.

 

[mkt]

DC would always do this to him tho. Bad matchup for him.

Probably, but DC is a weight class bigger, too. And DC would do the same to all the other Pride guys who were Hendo's size, especially in a cage. Very good chin + good boxing/power + Olympic wrestling is very hard to beat unless you're prime Jon Jones.

As a side note, I was impressed with Hendo beating Cavalcante in Strikeforce in between Cavalcante KO-ing King Mo and Yoel (two high-level wrestlers who were younger than Hendo). Dan finished that roided dude and even did a really nice hip toss IIRC.

 

[Bruce Lee666]

Probably, but DC is a weight class bigger, too. And DC would do the same to all the other Pride guys who were Hendo's size, especially in a cage. Very good chin + good boxing/power + Olympic wrestling is very hard to beat unless you're prime Jon Jones.

As a side note, I was impressed with Hendo beating Cavalcante in Strikeforce in between Cavalcante KO-ing King Mo and Yoel (two high-level wrestlers who were younger than Hendo). Dan finished that roided dude and even did a really nice hip toss IIRC.

Doesn't have much Size Difference DC it's not a Big HW like Ngannou, DC Ragdoll Dan because he's a better fighter.

DC can't Ragdoll Reem!!

 

[King in the North]

Dan Henderson and Urijah Faber deserve some love.


Although realistically Hendo was a Pride champion when the UFC bought the promotion out so it should count for something. And Faber was a king of the FW division in the WEC which of course would become the exact same division the UFC would bring in.

So I’ll go with those two because had the timing been a little different they obviously would’ve been champs given they had done it in what was essentially the exact same division/a better division in their promotion.