UFC Fighters who (on paper) did not deserve their title shots.

With the recent bruhaha regarding the criteria for giving title shots to contenders (i.e., McGregor and Machida), I thought it would be nice to revisit the instances when Champions fought "undeserving" contenders and even the times when those contenders proved us wrong:


1. Anderson Silva v. Rich Franklin (C)
UFC 64
Silva just arrived in the UFC and beat Chris Leben. He was on a two-fight winning streak after losing to Yushin Okami at Rumble on the Rock (albeit by DQ). He only fought once in the UFC and then got a title shot.
Win Streak: 2

Result: Massive beatdown of Rich Franklin and the start of what is considered as one of the greatest runs in UFC History.




2. Brock Lesnar v. Randy Couture (C)
UFC 91
Brock was 2-1 in his MMA career. Got tapped by Frank Mir but then beat Heath Herring to earn a title shot.
Win Streak: 1

Result: Brock won the title and even managed to defend it twice.



3. Demian Maia v. Anderson Silva (C)
UFC 112
Demian Maia got knocked out cold by Nate Marquardt in one punch. But he earned the title shot by decisioning Dan Miller.
Win Streak: 1

Result: Anderson Silva basically just clowned around.



4. Chan Sung Jung v. Jose Aldo (C)
UFC 163

Korean Zombie was on a three fight winning streak after getting his head knocked clean off by George Roop. His wins were against Leonard Garcia (who isn't exactly a worldbeater), Mark Hominick (who just lost to Jose Aldo), and Dustin Poirier.

Admittedly, he beat Hominick in 7 seconds with an unexpected KO while Aldo v. Hominick went to a decision.

Result: Aldo kicked the shit out his arm, broke it, then TKO'd him.

 

Conor mcgregor.

 

agree with 1,2,3....not with 4

 

nick diaz
dan hardy
joe soto
vitor belfort(against jones)

 

There a few substitutions who would have been undeserved normally: Sonnen/Jones, Mir/JDS. Then again, Jones was subbing for Rashad against Shogun, too

 

People who say Dan Hardy have no idea what the fuck they're talking about. The division was thin but he earned it fair and square

 

Anderson had multiple top wins to his name when he came to the UFC. Also, Maia got the title shot because Belfort was injured and was forced out of the fight.

 

Anderson beat Chris Leben, who was undefeated in the UFC.
I hate when lists like this get so subjective. It brings the stupid shit out of everyone.

 

TJ Dillashaw and Matt Serra they were some of the least deserving of all time I think Lesnar deserved it more only in hindsight it's different

 

Sonnen: lost one title fight, went up in weight class and got another title shot (lost this one too).

Melendez: lost to Henderson and basically earned the title shot by beating Diego Sanchez. While he beat some marquee names in Strikeforce, he didn't deserved the title shot at the moment. There were contenders with better resume then.

 

Yup. A lot of people chose to ignore that though in their blind hatred.

 

i was the only guy who said dan hardy. why didn't you quote me?

 

Dana's #1 is Rory.

 

Because this is about the hundredth time this thread has been done, and once again Dan's suggested?

 

i like dan hardy. don't think he deserved the title shot

 

Not really fair to pick Soto. Dude was all they had in terms of saving the event.

 

Well i remember being excited about all those fights so if they deserved it or not didn't really matter to me. Conor mcgregor may not deserve it but who here wont pay to see that fight against Jose Aldo that fight is going to be epic and there a good chance that Conor is going to win that fight

 

Dan was on a 7 fight winning streak after being Swick when he got the shot, and Swick was on a 4-fight streak, it was a pretty clear #1 contender fight in (at the time) a shallow division. Who else would you have put up there at the time who had momentum?

 

There are far more undeserving title shots-nick diaz,chael(at jones) TS

 

Because you scare me bro.
Honestly, i didn't read any responses, just putting it out there. You don't know what you're talking about. Happy?