Worst fighter to become champion?

[GoshiShun17]

Matt Serra. Dude came out of NOWHERE and miraculously won the belt, from GSP no less. It was simultaneously a disgrace and the ultimate Rocky story of MMA.

Nothing disgraceful about it. Shit happens.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Royce Gracie

Royce beat guys much heavier than him, when there were no weight divisions. That's more impressive than a lot of later champs, who needed weight divisions to become champ.

 

[Psychojoe86]

1) Nicco montano

2) Germaine de randamie

3) Dave menne

4) Forrest griffin

5) Michael bisping

that’s my picks ranked. Nicco is a clear number 1. Everything about her championship was useless lol. She won it against a late replacement fighter, she never defended the belt. She pulled out against shevchenko, after verbally admitting she wanted to fight someone else. No title defenses.

 

[MustangCobraSVT]

Royce beat guys much heavier than him, when there were no weight divisions. That's more impressive than a lot of later champs, who needed weight divisions to become champ.

Royce couldn't beat any of those later champions in a 2 out of 3 making him the worst.

 

[Simple Southerner]

Bis

 

[dmwalking]

Alvarez?!?! Wtf. It’s obviously Montano

i was gonna say forest griffin, but you’re right.

 

[Terrorist]

Conor Mcgregor

 

[tucan89]

Germaine De Rundummy.

She refused to fight Cyborg in a fight where it was known the winners 1st title defense will be Vs Cyborg....

 

[The Chosen]

No way. Forrest wasn't a jack of all trades and a far cry from a master of any of them, but he showed fucking heart in the octagon up until the Anderson Silva fight.

I can think of more than five champions off the top of my head that were far worse than Griffin.

Alvarez
Hendricks
Sylvia
Rockhold
McGregor
Holm
Tate

I think you’re letting your personal biases get in the way. The fact you consider Forrest a better fighter than Hendricks, Rockhold, and Conor is really stupid.

 

[thobra]

Probably Cain. A good wrestler, but always calling in sick.

 

[The Chosen]

Royce beat guys much heavier than him, when there were no weight divisions. That's more impressive than a lot of later champs, who needed weight divisions to become champ.

True, but it’s easy to beat someone who doesn’t know shit about fighting. The competition he was beating sucked, and it doesn’t help that Matt Hughes humiliated him years later in front of his clan.

 

[Deleted member 513083]

Not trying to be an asshole! Just a question to confirm or refute my own biases! Do you own a MAGA hat?

Careful there you might beat Stefan Struve's Reach with that

 

[Adamant]

On that day he was good enough to beat GSP, something a lot of fighters never managed. He was never that good again, just like Buster Douglas was never as good as he was the say he beat Tyson, but he was very good the day he became champ.

I think it's more a case of Serra having the best day of his life and GSP having the worst. GSP was just totally off that night and Serra capitalized.

 

[pankrat]

I’d take Nunes over Dave Menne

Did you actually watch Menne in his prime?
Why Menne and not many other champions from that time? Let me guess, because he doesn't look like a superhero

 

[Shoguns Prodigy**]

Forest griffin imo

 

[pankrat]

No way. Forrest wasn't a jack of all trades and a far cry from a master of any of them, but he showed fucking heart in the octagon up until the Anderson Silva fight.

I can think of more than five champions off the top of my head that were far worse than Griffin.

Alvarez
Hendricks
Sylvia
Rockhold
McGregor
Holm
Tate

Lol Rockhold and McGregor worse fighters that Griffin because he was a jack of all trades?

You are the guy I discussed with in the Sonnen thread today. Dude you are fucking clueless lol

 

[pankrat]

Of course I've been saying they should get back to the original MMA (no weight divisions) for a long time, so I might be a bit biased.

Are you serious on this one?

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

Are you serious on this one?

Yes, though I admit its a very unpopular opinion. Basically, size is part of ability in every sport (in most but not all its an advantage), and in almost every sport smaller athletes have to find (sometimes rarely succeeding) in finding a way around it. I don't think combat sports should be an exception, though as I said, that's a very unpopular opinion.

This isn't just abstract -- different sized fighters had to use different tactics and techniques when there were no weight divisions (and the bigger one usually but not always won). This isn't as necessary with weight divisions, which I think makes things less interesting.

On top of that, in as much as MMA is supposed to mimic real combat (admittedly very tenuously, since almost all real combat uses weapons), it should reflect the lack of weight divisions in real combat.

 

[AnotherOldGuy]

I think it's more a case of Serra having the best day of his life and GSP having the worst. GSP was just totally off that night and Serra capitalized.

I wouldn't disagree, but Serra was still better than GSP that day, meaning Serra beat a real champion rather than being "gifted" a title by beating an unqualified champ.

 

[DLX]

Alvarez?!?! Wtf. It’s obviously Montano

Nicco Montaño's the clear answer here.