Least talented fighter to get a title shot?

[TRYHARD 2001]

Gil Castillo probably. He actually did beat Nate Marquardt in a smaller promotion when Marquadt was like 20 years old and lost to Dave Menne for the title.

If we're counting Pride, gotto go with Kanehara. Ended up with a 21-27-5 record.

If we're counting Pride, Wanderlei's fight with Tatsuya Iwasaki would have to rank right up there (assuming it was a title fight). Don't feel bad if you don't remember it, it was a dad vs teenager type of scenario that Pride threw out there to see if ANY Japanese fighter could beat Silva. Of course, hindsight being what is is, we know the obvious answer to that...

 

[LoveMyMMA]

Don’t care what anyone says, Michael chandler is definitely up there.

 

[SuperAlly]

Conor McGregor

 

[nostradumbass]

If we're counting Pride, Wanderlei's fight with Tatsuya Iwasaki would have to rank right up there (assuming it was a title fight). Don't feel bad if you don't remember it, it was a dad vs teenager type of scenario that Pride threw out there to see if ANY Japanese fighter could beat Silva. Of course, hindsight being what is is, we know the obvious answer to that...

That was a non title bout for some reason.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

Michael Bisping

 

[Sean0]

Half of Valentina's opponents were cans. Jessica Eye, Katlyn Chookagian, and Lauren Murphy had no business fighting for a title in the ufc.

 

[HHJ]

SarahKaufman , Sara McMann, Bethe Correia

Sara Mcmann is an olympic medalist.

 

[Elvis.]

Gil Castillo was no sorcerer of martial arts abilities

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

That was a non title bout for some reason.

I gotta assume the reason was that he in no way, shape, or form deserved to be in Pride at all, let alone fighting Wanderlei, let alone fighting him for the belt.

 

[P4p Islam]

Who’s your pick for the fighter with the least amount of skills that still managed to make it to a title fight in the ufc? I’m talking about fighters who never won the belt, so Carla Esparza and Nicco Montano don’t count as an answer lol

I’ll start with an old one, John Alessio fought Pat Miletich for the welterweight title back at ufc 26. Alessio lost and ended up going 0-5 in the ufc. After his long mma career ended he became an Uber driver in Vegas.

Justin Eilers

 

[P4p Islam]

Gan McGee. Never impressed me, just really big but has limited skills

Ufc rule changes hindered him. Knees to the head of a grounded opponent was his thing.

 

[P4p Islam]

Bork lazer got a TS against Couture after going 2-1 in his MMA career. His loss to Mir then shows how unskilled he was by that point. Big wrestler, no striking, no sub defense. He beat Couture due to sheer size, but had a hard time wrestling him. I gotta rewatch that actually.
Ofc he was probably more skilled by 14 than all the women mentioned combined, ever. But wmma doesn't really count.

He knocked randy down and ended his career

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Derrick lewis

As much as I like his personality, Lewis is literally nothing but 9 overhand rights and an uppercut, the least skilled fighter to ever be ranked in UFC history, let alone be given multiple titleshots.

Bork lazer got a TS against Couture after going 2-1 in his MMA career. His loss to Mir then shows how unskilled he was by that point. Big wrestler, no striking, no sub defense. He beat Couture due to sheer size, but had a hard time wrestling him. I gotta rewatch that actually.
Ofc he was probably more skilled by 14 than all the women mentioned combined, ever. But wmma doesn't really count.

NCAA All American + Genetic freak. Was his striking rudimentary? Yes. Was he still able to knock Herring 12 feet across the octagon and fold Randy like a lawn chair with a single punch? Also yes. If Brock had trained MMA full time instead of ever going into the WWE, he would have been in contention for one of the Heavyweight GOATs, the guy just started far too late and never go used to being punched in the face.
People mentioning Brock, Serra, and literal Olympians in this thread should be ignored when it comes to opinions on this sport.

 

[Poatan Power]

Matt Serra

Serra was very talented. Great BJJ artist. He had some good chops at BJJ competition, but it was also like 1999-2001 in the bronze age of MMA.

Hardy, Lewis...Cote imho.

 

[Bearknuckle]

Elvis “the king of rock and rumble sinosic

 

[Poirierfan]

Sara McMann went to the Olympics for wrestling so I feel like that alone should disqualify her from this list

She not only went to the Olympics, she won silver.

 

[Viking Power]

Dan Hardy was far from talentless.
His ground game was severely lacking but his stand up caused enough problems for a lot of guys.

Agreed.

 

[OldBoy91]

Dan Hardy has to be up there. Dude was worse version of Darren Till., at WW I would've took Patrick Cote over Hardy.

Not even close. The only similarity between Hardy and Till is they are English. They fight nothing alike.

Awful post.

 

[Carsormyr]

So many stupid answers in this thread, it's a good thing that fighter bashing isn't a forum rule.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Its obviously a WMMA fighter and theres plenty to choose from.