Worst fighter to become champion?

Adamant said:
The dude was a C-level fighter at best and had it not been for TUF nobody but the most hardcore of fans would even know he existed. I never heard of him before that show. TUF was his lottery ticket. Without it, and without the show's title shot stipulation, he would have NEVER gotten anywhere near the title. The dude is as close to MMA Rocky as you can get.
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He went the distance with prime hughes, prime Penn. He had to win the fights on TUF to get the shot. Not saying he was a great UFC champion, but he had a solid career.

I also had a look back at Griffins record and I take back saying he was the worst. He had plenty of wins v top tier.
 
DestinedAussie said:
He went the distance with prime hughes, prime Penn. He had to win the fights on TUF to get the shot. Not saying he was a great UFC champion, but he had a solid career.

I also had a look back at Griffins record and I take back saying he was the worst. He had plenty of wins v top tier.
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Griffin won some fights where going into the fight he seemed to be overmatched everywhere.
 
Glove said:
Ricco Rodriguez was a highly skilled grappler on par with Nougeria back in the day. One of the greatest BJJ practitioners in the world actually. There are no "worst fighters" who became champions in my opinion.
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Menne was pretty bad bro.
 
Dog Gynecologist said:
I'm not a Rockhold fan, but i don't get it, how is he the less skilled champion ? To me he is the opposite, superskilled who underachieved because of his chin
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skills =/= best/worst fighter.

if you don't have a chin you are a setup to be a terrible champ. look at what happened to the division after him, it literally went to a welterweight.
 
Michael Bisping

The evidence for Bisping being the worst champion is the fact that GSP came out from years of retirement and moved up a weight class to steal the belt! He saw the weakness!
 
Conor. Excellent striking, mediocre wrestling, below average grappling, laughable cardio. No title defences.
 
Adamant said:
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.
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This is how I know you weren't around back then. Matt Serra definitely did not come out of nowhere, he was widely known in MMA before he was ever on TUF in 2006.

Early 2000s, Matt was one of the very best jiu-jitsu guys in the U.S. Among Renzo Gracie's first American black belts, he was fighting and proving BJJ's effectiveness back when MMA was still called NHB.

By the time he competed in ADCC 2001, everyone in BJJ knew who Matt Serra was. He beat JJ Machado when JJM was the man to beat. He beat Leonardo Santos and Santos is still regarded as a killer grappler.

Also widely known in jiu-jitsu community that Matt would have won gold at ADCC except he took a dive for Feitosa due to jiu-jitsu politics.

Serra beating GSP was definitely an against-all-odds Rocky story, but not because Serra was a nobody. He wasn't. He was a known guy.
 
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Matt Serra is not only the worst fighter to become champion but imo one of the worst fighters I've seen in the UFC.
 
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