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

[Slapchoppin]

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

Matt Serra won a tournament for the very purpose of the winner getting a title shot

if thats not deserving then i don't know what is

 

[confucius]

Korean Zombie and Demian Maia shouldn't count since they were both replacements for injured fighters.

 

[kphizzle]

Brock lesner,Chael sonnen,Daniel Cormier, machida when he fought jones
Frankie edger in the Aldo fight nick Diaz vs gsp and in the interm fight with condit, Gilbert Melendez most the guys at flyweight

 

[the ax murderer]

Conor mcgregor.

Chad Mendes.

 

[Plissken]

That's not what happened to KZ at all, he dislocated his arm throwing a punch, Aldo had nothing to do with that. He was also wearing down Aldo with damage and fatigue prior to that freak accident.

 

[LZD]

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.

Both of these.

I really do believe McGregor deserves his shot though. Sure he's hyped it and talked his way up. But imho he does deserve the fight. He's made a good case so far.

 

[TheLoneWolf527]

Chael Sonnen got his 2nd title shot by winning a decision against Michael Bisping that Bisping should have won

 

[Pacemaker Joe]

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

Yea, at the time it was pretty much Hardy or Paulo Thiago, or a rematch. Fitch and Alves had just lost to St. Pierre, Hardy was 4th in the rankings. Kos had already fought him and got the next fight. Paulo Thiago was 6th. Swick had just lost to Hardy. Semtex was 8th and 2 fights into his UFC run, Kampman had just lost to Semtex. Condit was 10th and had a hand injury.

 

[Da Speeit]

Yea, at the time it was pretty much Hardy or Paulo Thiago, or a rematch. Fitch and Alves had just lost to St. Pierre, Hardy was 4th in the rankings. Kos had already fought him and got the next fight. Paulo Thiago was 6th. Swick had just lost to Hardy. Semtex was 8th and 2 fights into his UFC run, Kampman had just lost to Semtex. Condit was 10th and had a hand injury.

Plus it was supposed to be Kampmann/Swick for the shot, Swick gets injured weeks before 103, Semtex steps in as the underdog, blasts Kampmann, so then Hardy fights Swick, where Hardy was a pretty big underdog and pulls off the upset.

Earning it if there ever was

 

[Billthebutcher2]

TJ Dillashaw, yet somehow he won. Goes to show you how unpredictable things are.

Probably Nick Diaz didn't deserve it, but that was partly a business decision, so I thought it was fine.

One that comes to mind was still fairly early on in the UFC, Tim Sylvia got a title shot after beating up on Cabbage Correira, who is basically a punching bag with an iron chin, and he ended up KO'ing Ricco Rodriguez in a shocker.

 

[Kneepocalypse]

shame on you for including KZ on that list.

 

[Billthebutcher2]

BJ Penn got a title shot against Matt Hughes for a second time after he had just lost to GSP and probably didn't deserve it. A freak rib injury cost him a fight he was winning pretty easily, although he was also fading fast from fatigue so he might have totally gassed anyway.

Edgar probably didn't deserve his first shot against Aldo because he was coming off two losses in title fights a weight up (although the second loss was a joke, he won that fight clearly), but again it was a bit of a business decision to give Aldo some new blood.

 

[Otto!]

Sera was not even top 10 when he got his shot for winning TUF.

 

[suffersystem]

Chael Sonnen got his 2nd title shot by winning a decision against Michael Bisping that Bisping should have won

Off topic, but I'd have to disagree. Bisping did a hell of a lot better than anobody expected, but Sonnen still won that match.

 

[Lawrence]

Florian vs Aldo

 

[azwethink]

Demian should not be on that list.

He replaced Belfort who got injured 2 months before the fight against Anderson. The first option for replace was Sonnen, but Sonnen got a big cut against Marquardt and Demian get the TS.

 

[sampuncher]

Lyoto vs Jones - 140 - stepped in for Rashad but was only on a one fight win streak after beating Randy.

Vitor against Jones - Beat Akiyama at middleweight and Johnson at what was supposed to be middleweight, gets title shot against the LHW champion.

Chael - Jones, self explanatory.

Yushin Okami vs Anderson - I get that he beat Anderson so there was a story behind this but he beat Marquardt and Linhares and Munoz for the shot, not massive names.

Brock after beating Heath Herring, I get he was a name though and the UFC wanted to capitalize.

James Irvin vs Anderson- 2 fight win streak, one was a DQ win.

 

[Spidermine]

TJ Dillashaw.

 

[Rvd Slmr]

Sera was not even top 10 when he got his shot for winning TUF.

But he won a tournament made specifically to get that title shot.

 

[The5thgod]

Conor
Chael vs Jones
Nick Diaz vs GSP
Gil vs Pettis