Most underrated champs in UFC history

[PlayboyMixx]

Murilo Bustamante deserves an honorable mention here. He's definitely one of the more overlooked and underrated champions in the history of the sport. A bit ahead of his time in terms of well-roundedness and after leaving the UFC while champion, had a streak of extremely contentious losses in Pride, including a robbery in a title fight that would have made him the first guy to win a belt in both the UFC and Pride.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Frank Shamrock, you never hear about him because of his feud with Dana I suppose, he's one of the best champs they've ever had

 

[Domitian]

Silva, machida and Belfort were not past their prime yet when Weidman beat them. He was also doing fine against rockhold untill that stupid kick he threw. His problem was gassing. He was beating Romero until the 3rd as well.

Silva was 38 when he lost to Weidman. He was past his prime before that fight too. Just because you win a fight doesn't mean you aren't declining.

 

[RonMachineGunJhun]

Evan Tanner and Rich Franklin. Both basically self taught. Also Frankie Edgar. What he did at LW when he has shown he is basically a BW/ His wars with Maynard and beating BJ 1 1/2 times

 

[RonMachineGunJhun]

Yea Frank Shamrock too. I agree 100%

 

[BigTruck]

If you think post USADA Belfort who had lost 30 lbs of muscle when he fought Weidman was still in his prime... there's no point in talking further about this...

He lost 30lbs of muscle and was still fighting y middleweight? Holy shit he is the weight cut king.

 

[NDiaz209]

He lost 30lbs of muscle and was still fighting y middleweight? Holy shit he is the weight cut king.

Not literally 30 lbs dummy. But anyone who thinks Vitor was in his prime when he fought Weidman is stupid. So yeah.. You're stupid

 

[mjoln]

Nobody other than the fanboys believe that GSP beat Hendricks

I dont care about gsp but he won that fight. If you score it round by round as you should then gsp slightly won three rounds 10-9 and Hendrics clearly got two rounds but not clear as 10 - 8. Hendrics was better fighter but Gsp won with that scoring system.

 

[Alexander_GOATanovski]

Only people who have no clue how MMA is scored think Hendricks was robbed.

"bUt LoOk At GsPs FaCe He MuStA lOsT!"

Idiots.

Only GSP fanboys that have no clue how MMA is scored think GSP has a valid argument for winning.

"bUt iT WaS a ClOsE fIgHt CaUsE iT wAs 48-47"

Do you know what the Halo Effect is? Hendricks isn't getting dominated like everyone else GSP fought. He must be winning.

The excuses become more and more desperate. <Lmaoo> Shields, Condit, and Diaz all had moderate success against GSP to varying degrees. The halo effect doesn't apply here when you consider that GSP did not look invincible in any of his last 3 fights. The competition caught up to him and he was ready to bounce.

Round 1 was 19-18 in significant strikes for GSP. 27-26 in total strikes for Hendricks. Both had 1 TD each. GSP had one submission attempt Johny zero. Close round that coiuld go either way. Johny shouldn't get extra credit for doing better than all the others who lost before him. I believe if you watched that fight on a computer played out with Random avatars like a video game and scored it you would see it as a close fight that could go either way.

Poor guy is actually citing ufcstats instead of going over each exchange in round 1. It was hardly a close round: either you favor a mediocre one armed guillotine and weak jabs or you favor strong uppercuts and hooks to the head. Dominick Cruz also landed more strikes against Cody Garbrandt, does he have a case for winning as well? Hendricks doesn't need extra credit for doing better than GSP's other opponents because Hendricks was anointed the winner by every media source.

GSP outstruck Hendricks overall, 4 of the rounds were within 5 strikes or less but the one other round GSP outstruck Hendricks 31-15 in significant strikes. More than double but that was a 10-9 like all the other razor close rounds? In order to be the man you gotta Beat the Man and Johnny failed to do that.

Pretty easy to land more strikes when your arsenal is mostly jabs and inside leg kicks. Hendricks was landing hooks, uppercuts, and elbows. Also great job on bringing in the "you gotta beat the champ convincingly" chestnut and effectively conceding that GSP and his fanboys don't have a leg to stand on. I was surprised that you didn't mention that Hendricks "tapped" in round 1 or that he was on PEDs.

that only shows how close the fight was.

It actually shows that nobody within the media thought GSP won. Only the 2 Las Vegas judges thought so, one of them being Sal D'amato.

Lol whenever someone says GSP won that fight its Location: Canada

One of the most deplorable and mentally unhinged fanbase ever. One of them is actually arguing that GSP should have won because he landed more "significant" strikes. They cannot take a loss to save their lives.

 

[Mental Ray]

I can only thinf of DJ because this dude should be treated as one of the best of all time. Shogun, RDA, Weidman, Edgar, for example, they ere all good and we know that.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

Only GSP fanboys think that have no clue how MMA is scored think GSP has a valid argument for winning.

"bUt iT WaS a ClOsE fIgHt CaUsE iT wAs 48-47"

The excuses become more and more desperate. <Lmaoo> Shields, Condit, and Diaz all had moderate success against GSP to varying degrees. The halo effect doesn't apply here when you consider that GSP did not look invincible in any of his last 3 fights. The competition caught up to him and he was ready to bounce.



Poor guy is actually citing ufcstats instead of going over each exchange in round 1. It was hardly a close round: either you favor a mediocre one armed guillotine and weak jabs or you favor strong uppercuts and hooks to the head. Dominick Cruz also landed more strikes against Cody Garbrandt, does he have a case for winning as well? Hendricks doesn't need extra credit for doing better than GSP's other opponents because Hendricks was anointed the winner by every media source.



Pretty easy to land more strikes when your arsenal is mostly jabs and inside leg kicks. Hendricks was landing hooks, uppercuts, and elbows. Also great job on bringing in the "you gotta beat the champ convincingly" chestnut and effectively conceding that GSP and his fanboys don't have a leg to stand on. I was surprised that you didn't mention that Hendricks "tapped" in round 1 or that he was on PEDs.



It actually shows that nobody within the media thought GSP won. Only the 2 Las Vegas judges thought so, one of them being Sal D'amato.



One of the most deplorable and mentally unhinged fanbase ever. One of them is actually arguing that GSP should have won because he landed more "significant" strikes. They cannot take a loss to save their lives.

So how did you score the fight?
Hard to call it a robbery when 2 rounds go one way & 2 go the other with the other round being razor close. If Hendricks had gotten the decision I would have been sad but not called it a robbery.

 

[welcometohavoc]

Underrated
HW- Tim Sylvia
LHW- Shogun
MW- Rich Franklin(If Anderson wasn't around he would have become the biggest star in the UFC imo)
WW- Lawler(he fought all the guys GSP didnt want to fight during his streak)
LW- Frankie Edgar

idc abt small guys

lol GSP fought everyone. Dude's UFC's wins are basically all top 10

 

[welcometohavoc]

Mighty Mouse might be the most complete fighter we've ever seen and he gets no respect.

 

[welcometohavoc]

I don't disagree with you, but that doesn't contradict anything OP said. If the last few years have taught us anything, its that journalists aren't necessarily experts

 

[RogerB08]

Only one I agree with is Tim the rest of your guys are held in high regards.

Think big Tim would get more respect if he hadn't got popped for the roids?

 

[Grandwizard666]

Personally I think Weidman is underrated as fuck. Ppl hat him bc he won on a "fluke" ko and a "fluke" leg break but then defended 2x. He's shot now but at that run he had to the title and with it was great.

Still my boy was great till he got pushed off a cliff by rockhard. Stupid ass stoppage. Herb Dean ruined his career. He's never been able to take punches the same since

 

[Grandwizard666]

Bisping.
One Eyed and had one good knee.
Hard to top that. Becoming the champ when he is strictly disabled

Flukey championship win, flukey defense against a shit challenger, lost his belt after that to a former welterweight coming off a 4 year hiatus who had never even fought at 185. He is straight up Matt sera level garbage champion and having to hear him brag about becoming champion for the rest of time is dreadful because truthly at the time he held gold he was barely top ten material. Almost all of his divisions top could kick his ass. Embarrassment of a title reign.

 

[chiefwiggum]

Only GSP fanboys that have no clue how MMA is scored think GSP has a valid argument for winning.

"bUt iT WaS a ClOsE fIgHt CaUsE iT wAs 48-47"

The excuses become more and more desperate. <Lmaoo> Shields, Condit, and Diaz all had moderate success against GSP to varying degrees. The halo effect doesn't apply here when you consider that GSP did not look invincible in any of his last 3 fights. The competition caught up to him and he was ready to bounce.



Poor guy is actually citing ufcstats instead of going over each exchange in round 1. It was hardly a close round: either you favor a mediocre one armed guillotine and weak jabs or you favor strong uppercuts and hooks to the head. Dominick Cruz also landed more strikes against Cody Garbrandt, does he have a case for winning as well? Hendricks doesn't need extra credit for doing better than GSP's other opponents because Hendricks was anointed the winner by every media source.



Pretty easy to land more strikes when your arsenal is mostly jabs and inside leg kicks. Hendricks was landing hooks, uppercuts, and elbows. Also great job on bringing in the "you gotta beat the champ convincingly" chestnut and effectively conceding that GSP and his fanboys don't have a leg to stand on. I was surprised that you didn't mention that Hendricks "tapped" in round 1 or that he was on PEDs.



It actually shows that nobody within the media thought GSP won. Only the 2 Las Vegas judges thought so, one of them being Sal D'amato.



One of the most deplorable and mentally unhinged fanbase ever. One of them is actually arguing that GSP should have won because he landed more "significant" strikes. They cannot take a loss to save their lives.

the fight was extremely close. I always rooted against gsp in all of his fights.
At the time I scored in for Hendricks. Round one was the swing round. The others were pretty clear.

fights like This someone will be at the unfortunate end as it’s so damn close.

Another reason isnusuLly fights like that there is a rematch. But gsp retired and it made the fight that much more unsatisying. As Hendricks was close could have won. And didn’t get another crack at it.

 

[Brom Bones]

Only tools do this. It's an opinion. Posting other people's opinions doesn't prove shit. I had GSP winning, but either guy winning or even a draw would be in the realm of possibilities.

 

[Dude Incredible]

Murilo Bustamante deserves an honorable mention here. He's definitely one of the more overlooked and underrated champions in the history of the sport. A bit ahead of his time in terms of well-roundedness and after leaving the UFC while champion, had a streak of extremely contentious losses in Pride, including a robbery in a title fight that would have made him the first guy to win a belt in both the UFC and Pride.

Bustamante does not get enough love. Yeah, crazy contentious shit. I tend to forget about a lot of bad decisions, those are forever with me.