• Xenforo is upgrading us to version 2.3.7 on Tuesday Aug 19, 2025 at 01:00 AM BST (date has been pushed). This upgrade includes several security fixes among other improvements. Expect a temporary downtime during this process. More info here

Least naturally/genetically talented fighter to take the title?

Bisping, Forrest Griffin, Tim Sylvia

Most of the Wmma champs.
I dont know about that...most of the women are pretty athletic. Pretty much all of them have strong physical attributes, if anything athleticism matters way more for the women considering their skill hasn't caught up to mens.


Literally all three of the current women's champions are physically dominant fighters. They're all more "athletic" than someone like old Volkinaski, Pantoja, Ankalaev or Maddalena
 
They guy had legendary stamina and endurance. Built a successful career off of it (because lord knows he didn't have the hand power). How that isn't "good genes" is beyond me.
Why do we persist in calling Bisping pillow fisted when 60% of his wins are by tko? Rampage is considered a powerhouse with KO power but has a 56% T/ko rate.
Dan Henderson and Chris Leben also have a lower ko rate.
 
Why do we persist in calling Bisping pillow fisted when 60% of his wins are by tko? Rampage is considered a powerhouse with KO power but has a 56% T/ko rate.
Dan Henderson and Chris Leben also have a lower ko rate.
Well, you kind of listed the reason why.

All those guys hit very hard and can knock people out in one hit, and knock them out cold. Bisping is a volume fighter. Bisping has a lot of TKOs, but actual KOs are only listed as 3, with 2/3 of them on the regional level.

Dan Henderson has knocked out 8 people cold, all of them in Pride, Strikeforce, and UFC.
 
Lol. Tim was a great fighter. 7ft 300lb fighters are not going to look like ballet dancers when throwing shots. He was the top heavyweight in his prime.
Delete your account. He was 6'8
 
Well, you kind of listed the reason why.

All those guys hit very hard and can knock people out in one hit, and knock them out cold. Bisping is a volume fighter. Bisping has a lot of TKOs, but actual KOs are only listed as 3, with 2/3 of them on the regional level.

Dan Henderson has knocked out 8 people cold, all of them in Pride, Strikeforce, and UFC.
That's true of most fighters, even removing his non-UFC fights Bisping still finished 50% of his competition by strikes. For a volume striker he still finished more people by strikes than most. Also, most of those finishes are in the second round or earlier. Holloway, Covington, Strickland, are volume strikers and they don't finish people at Bisping's rate either
 
Why do we persist in calling Bisping pillow fisted when 60% of his wins are by tko? Rampage is considered a powerhouse with KO power but has a 56% T/ko rate.
Dan Henderson and Chris Leben also have a lower ko rate.

The overwhelming majority of those KOs were TKOs, i.e., death by a thousand paper cuts brudduh. I am and have always been a big Bisping fan, but the guy very, very rarely gets anything resembling a clean KO. Which is fine, as he had a storied career and was champ. But he doesn't have much KO power at all, and to even compare his KO ability to Hendo is disingenuous or imply there's any depth to meaning that Ping's ration is higher than Hendo. . . c'mon.
Also, Hendo was BORING for a long time before he started dropping that bomb, you know that but left it out.
 
The overwhelming majority of those KOs were TKOs, i.e., death by a thousand paper cuts brudduh. I am and have always been a big Bisping fan, but the guy very, very rarely gets anything resembling a clean KO. Which is fine, as he had a storied career and was champ. But he doesn't have much KO power at all, and to even compare his KO ability to Hendo is disingenuous or imply there's any depth to meaning that Ping's ration is higher than Hendo. . . c'mon.
Also, Hendo was BORING for a long time before he started dropping that bomb, you know that but left it out.
I'm comparing their finishing rate because it's disingenuous to say a fighter that finishes every other fight has no stopping power. No, he didn't knock anybody out cold, but most don't. He still had a better finishing rate than most that don't have a pillow fist description attached to them. Only 3 of his career 17 tko's occurred in the 3rd round or later. I'm not counting the injury.

For what it's worth, I respect Bisping, but I wouldn't call myself a fan. I just don't believe a fighter should be viewed as weak when they do finish fights.
 
Why do we persist in calling Bisping pillow fisted when 60% of his wins are by tko? Rampage is considered a powerhouse with KO power but has a 56% T/ko rate.
Dan Henderson and Chris Leben also have a lower ko rate.
Aren't you already answering your own question? higher tko rate doesn't automatically translate into having heavier hands. At the end of the day, you judge someone's power by how much their opponents respect it or seem to get hurt by.
 
GSP busted his ass to get where he was and wasn't some genetic freak
Every top fighter bust their ass, but GSP is definitely among the most athletic WWs of all time. He was faster than everyone he fought and stronger than most. GSP rarely got tired too.

He's definitely closer to one of the most athletic champions than least.
 
Kenny Florian for title fights, but he lost all 3 chances. Kenny was a skilled grappler but physically appeared less athletic. Emphasis on appearing since getting 3 title shots requires athleticism. Fight IQ helped.
 
Every top fighter bust their ass, but GSP is definitely among the most athletic WWs of all time. He was faster than everyone he fought and stronger than most. GSP rarely got tired too.

He's definitely closer to one of the most athletic champions than least.
He had better reaction time and speed than his division. And he did gymnastics during his training and trained with the Canadian wrestling team, you don't do that without some kind of natural talent.
 
Back
Top