Lets settle this: Eddie Alvarez..underrated or overrated?

[SeattleFightFan]

His record speaks for itself.

Underrated. Def top 15 LW of all time.

That's a good way of putting it. Instead of the binary "is he great or not?" (or even worse, "is he better or worse than 'they' think he is (without exactly defining who 'they' is)?") it's better to put him in a range with other fighters. That way, the conversation has context. Heft. Something to chew on.

I have 2 points to make, with sources - not "factual" sources, but opinion sources which add more context to the discussion/debate:

1. ELO has him at #2. Source. But as we know, ELO rankings have some serious problems in MMA (not enough fights and not enough common opponents, unlike, say, chess or tennis). So it's admittedly problematic, but not meaningless.
   
2. In 2017, this Sherdog article had him at #4. Even if Tony and Khabib and maybe a few others knocked him down a few rungs in the last 3 years, he's still comfortably in the top 10.

"Is he overrated or underrated" is a useless debate. Worse than useless actually; counterproductive.

But "Is he top 15 ever" is a better question. And I agree with you; he is a top 15 LW of all time. Easily. In fact, I have him in the top 10.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

He was lucky and won the lottery with the RDA fight. RDA basically killed himself to make weight and that did 90% of the work for Eddie - even then all he could get was a standing TKO. But good on him he took advantage of that situation.

the conor fight showed how limited he really is - the funny thing is he was doing what he should have been doing in that first minute against conor. Moving to his left, throwing inside kicks. Then for whatever reason he stopped doing that, planted and starting over extending with his wild power shots.

 

[Kumason]

Only on Sherdog does someone have to be overrated or underrated lol.

 

[JPM1223]

It amazes me that people say he is not that great or overrated, he has lost to some top guys and also beat top guys as well, at this point in his career he stands at 30-7, he was the champ in bellator and the ufc, compare shogun he did great in pride and won the grand prix, his ufc career wasnt great but he won the belt. Same with eddie.

As far as as his style he is a technical brawler, more so than mike perry lol, he also is like edgar in which he would get rocked bad but had no quit and could survive/win the fight at times.

imo he is great, win or lose..

Overrated, good but did well with what he had and accomplished a lot more than peopel with similar skill set

 

[OriginMMA]

The fact that he out gunned Justin in the real BMF fight he is legit.

 

[mjfan23]

Underrated

 

[AKA_Steve_B]

Underrated before he got in UFC....
then overrated by the UFC hype machine while he was there.

I like watching him fight, except for that completely embarrassing Conor showing......

 

[Yungrich]

His win against gaithje puts him in the outer edges of top 5 for sure. Good fighter that’s is rounded, and has big heart but not amazing in any particular skill.

 

[Swoliosis]

So, Dustin Poirier isn’t good?

Max and Aldo are trash too bro

 

[Rorschachxx]

Both in a weird way.

Overrated as a UFC-champ, Was 2-1 when he got the titleshot with those 2 W's being questionable split decisions and only got it cause both Tony and Khabib weren't available. If I remember correctly RDA passed out couple of times making weight for that fight so Eddie more or less was the right guy at the right time. That being said he won the title fair and square.

Underrated as he is written off a lot of times. Seeing how he and Gaethje went toe to toe and Eddie finished him is nothing short of impressive. He has legitimate skills although his wrestling isn't as good as people say it is tbh. He has received a ton of damage in his career so his recent run outside the UFC shouldn't be held on a pedestal.

 

[laleggenda27]

I'd say he used to be a bit overrated but is now underrated. It's a common occurrence for guys who have immense success against non-elite competition (become overrated), then lose a few once they fight elite competition (become underrated). Eddie is one of these guys who sometimes looks like a world-beater, but at other times he looks like a journeyman. He reminds me of Forrest in that respect. He goes out and beats someone who's considered close to unbeatable at the time in RDA (similar to Forrest beating Shogun), but then gets Matrixed by Conor (similar to Forrest against Anderson). And a few of his better wins (Chandler and Pettis) were split decisions where most people thought Eddie lost.

Either way, Eddie has had a great career. He has great wins, only lost to very good fighters (in his prime), and always laid it on the line.

 

[Bamboozled]

I think he's probably rated correctly by most at this point in time.

At his peak, a fringe elite fighter who was probably in the category of "good to very good" in and around his prime. Very healthy resume and very solid (but not GOAT-level) list of top wins.

Who has a better resume at LW? Aoki?

 

[Andre Xiong]

A GOAT but more on the #6-10 range after the likes of Khabib, BJ, Gomi, Edgar, Benson etc

 

[Harlekin]

People forget he looked really bad against RDA until 1 good hook. Now they act like he dominated.

 

[Bamboozled]

Eddie's arguably 0-2 against Chandler, and most thought he lost to Pettis and Melendez.

1. Khabib
2. Tony
3. BJ
4. Benson
5. Frankie
6. Gomi
7. RDA
8. Pettis
9. Sherk
10. Cowboy

Lmao @ Sherk being a better LW

WW? Yes, LW? beating a isn't a great accomplishment.

BJ spent his "prime" years beating up the likes of Kenny fucking Florian and Diego Sanchez.

He also dick slapped RDA

 

[Bamboozled]

People forget he looked really bad against RDA until 1 good hook. Now they act like he dominated.

It was literally a feeling out process in the first round and then he smashed him

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

People forget he looked really bad against RDA until 1 good hook. Now they act like he dominated.

What are you talking about? The fight wasn't long RDA charged at Eddie and got caught and finished. Eddie didn't take any big strikes whatsoever so i'm not sure how you think he looked bad.