Most deserved title shot

[Prazeres]

So with the announcement of Murphy vs Evloev I though about how you hardly could get more deserving of a title shot than the winner of that one.
So it got me thinking about the guys who had the least Dana White priviledge and had to do the most to deserve their shot.
Two exemple that come to mind are :
Gray Maynard, was on a 8 fight win streak in the UFC, including wins on Dennis Siver, the current champion Frankie Edgar, Jim Miller, Roger Huerta, Nate Diaz and still had to win a title eliminator against Kenny Florian to get his shot.
Merab, who was on a 10 fights win streak, including 7 ranked guys, the last 3 all being former champions ranked within the top 3 when he fought them.

 

[BigTruck]

Tony Ferguson

 

[Tito Tapped]

Jon Fitch couldn't get top opponents to save his life during his 8-0 3 year run to the title. Followed up that loss with 5 more wins in a row before the questionable draw with BJ and eventual flatlining in the contender fight with big rig.

 

[reddhelium]

Leon Edwards and Jon Fitch come to mind

 

[VinceArch]

Tony Ferguson

/thread.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

tj grant

 

[SurferH2O]

HW: Volkov (18 UFC fights)

LHW: Ulberg (10 UFC fights)

MW: Imavov (12 UFC fights)

WW: Michael Morales (7 UFC fights)

LW: Dariush (25 UFC fights)

FW: Evloev (9 UFC fights)

Special mentions for: Miller, Lauzon, and of course Ferguson.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Tony Ferguson

The MMA Gods took a big sh*t on Khabib vs Ferguson ever happening...

 

[gentel]

Belal "Remember the Name" Muhammad

 

[gspieler]

JDS has to be in the discussion. All prior to first title shot:

Werdum(ko)
Strueve(ko)
Cro Cop(tko)
Yvel(tko)
Gonzaga(tko)
Nelson(UD)
Carwin(UD)

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

So with the announcement of Murphy vs Evloev I though about how you hardly could get more deserving of a title shot than the winner of that one.
So it got me thinking about the guys who had the least Dana White priviledge and had to do the most to deserve their shot.
Two exemple that come to mind are :
Gray Maynard, was on a 8 fight win streak in the UFC, including wins on Dennis Siver, the current champion Frankie Edgar, Jim Miller, Roger Huerta, Nate Diaz and still had to win a title eliminator against Kenny Florian to get his shot.
Merab, who was on a 10 fights win streak, including 7 ranked guys, the last 3 all being former champions ranked within the top 3 when he fought them.

Saying Merab is a bit dishonest, he literally turned down his title shot when he had 8 wins.

Belal literally had his prime farmed by the ufc going 9-0-1.
Edwards also had to go 9-0-1 while the ufc did bullshit like demand he only fight unranked khamzat for an entire year while khamzat pulled out each time.

 

[HNIC215]

 

[Alpha_T83]

Jon Fitch against GSP. Probably Evloev right now and definitely if he beats Lerone Murphy.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

Diego Lopes vs Volk 3 obviously

 

[jsbx45]

Recency bias makes me say Belal Muhammad but I'm sure there are others. Ferguson od course...Bisping had a shitload of wins before he ever got near a title shot.

 

[Egészségére!]

Bisping had a shitload of wins before he ever got near a title shot.

Cerrone too

Like Bisping he had a few losses in the mix, but when he finally got the shot back in 2015 he had 15 ufc wins & was on an 8-0 streak

 

[cmw43]

HW: Volkov (18 UFC fights)

LHW: Ulberg (10 UFC fights)

MW: Imavov (12 UFC fights)

WW: Michael Morales (7 UFC fights)

LW: Dariush (25 UFC fights)

FW: Evloev (9 UFC fights)

Special mentions for: Miller, Lauzon, and of course Ferguson.

Volkov really got screwed with the robbery against Gane, even Dana said Volkov won.

 

[balkanbomber85]

Barack Larson

 

[Greyscale]

Machida

 

[dipstickjimmy]

Recency bias makes me say Belal Muhammad but I'm sure there are others. Ferguson od course...Bisping had a shitload of wins before he ever got near a title shot.

Difference between Bisping and the others is he always made it to an official title eliminator but came up short. UFC 100 vs Henderson was an "Official" title eliminator. His fight with Chael was an "Official" title eliminator. He finally got his shot when The Cris pulled out of the rematch with Rockhold and the other top contenders declined.