Which Champion was the least skilled.
- Thread starter wolfss
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2020
- Messages
- 1,818
- Reaction score
- 3,667
He was a bad champion but still one of the most skilled lightweights of all time. Great striking and great takedown defense.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2022
- Messages
- 487
- Reaction score
- 887
Least skilled? I'd have to say Lesnar for men. He had his roided up wrestling and hit hard like any HW, but other than that, nothing. 5-3-1 record for a champ is shit.
Cody Garbrandt would be a close second for me. He looked brilliant at times early in his career, but most of the time just shit the bed after the Dom fight. 12-5 record and 1-5 over his last 6.
I don't consider Dave Menne due to how young the sport was at the time.
Cody Garbrandt would be a close second for me. He looked brilliant at times early in his career, but most of the time just shit the bed after the Dom fight. 12-5 record and 1-5 over his last 6.
I don't consider Dave Menne due to how young the sport was at the time.
Bisping
- He was never one of the 5 best active fighters in his division at any point in his career.
- He never earned a title shot. He was only given one as a late notice injury replacement.
- He was gifted a bunch of hometown decisions. The one against Hamill was particularly egregious. During the part of the post-fight interview in the octagon where they show highlights of the winner's performance, look what they had to show because Bisping literally had no highlights during that fight.
- In between rounds of the fight with Anderson Silva, Bisping couldn't get up from his stool and his cornermen refused to exit the octagon after 60 seconds. The referee spent a ridiculously long time trying to get Bisping's corner to leave before they finally did. If the fight hadn't been in the UK, it would have been correctly scored a TKO retirement on stool.
- He is only fighter in UFC history to have been knocked down by 10+ fighters and taken down by 10+ fighters.
- He was constantly getting turned into highlights for his opponents.
- He was never one of the 5 best active fighters in his division at any point in his career.
- He never earned a title shot. He was only given one as a late notice injury replacement.
- He was gifted a bunch of hometown decisions. The one against Hamill was particularly egregious. During the part of the post-fight interview in the octagon where they show highlights of the winner's performance, look what they had to show because Bisping literally had no highlights during that fight.
- In between rounds of the fight with Anderson Silva, Bisping couldn't get up from his stool and his cornermen refused to exit the octagon after 60 seconds. The referee spent a ridiculously long time trying to get Bisping's corner to leave before they finally did. If the fight hadn't been in the UK, it would have been correctly scored a TKO retirement on stool.
- He is only fighter in UFC history to have been knocked down by 10+ fighters and taken down by 10+ fighters.
- He was constantly getting turned into highlights for his opponents.
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2006
- Messages
- 8,929
- Reaction score
- 3,607
I agree. I haven't seen a champion so badly beaten.
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2022
- Messages
- 263
- Reaction score
- 286
Timmeh, /thread
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2002
- Messages
- 14,665
- Reaction score
- 12,658
that's a pretty good choice, technically she does nothing well, just wears opponents down with in-your-face toughness (which is surprisingly effective)
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2014
- Messages
- 3,227
- Reaction score
- 4,205
Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar.
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2011
- Messages
- 14,964
- Reaction score
- 6,845
Considering he beat Ricco and Andrei twice, this doesnt make any sense. Three title defense, though not consectutive.
Tim was a lot better than anyone gives him credit for.
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2007
- Messages
- 7,448
- Reaction score
- 1,445
If we include WMMA then all the top positions would belong to then like Esparza, Montano, Tate, Holm, and Rousey (one dimensional).
Ignoring WMMA, what about Serra and Griffin. Both good fighters, but we all knew GSP would demolish Serra in the rematch. LHW division today is similar - Glover got wrecked by the elite a couple of years ago but won the title. You knew it wouldn’t last long, yet he was decisively beating Jiri up until the final seconds. This tells me that Jiri for sure won’t retain the title for that long, guy is crazy and exciting but he’s not going to be a dominant champ.
Ignoring WMMA, what about Serra and Griffin. Both good fighters, but we all knew GSP would demolish Serra in the rematch. LHW division today is similar - Glover got wrecked by the elite a couple of years ago but won the title. You knew it wouldn’t last long, yet he was decisively beating Jiri up until the final seconds. This tells me that Jiri for sure won’t retain the title for that long, guy is crazy and exciting but he’s not going to be a dominant champ.
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
- Messages
- 536
- Reaction score
- 242
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2019
- Messages
- 17,466
- Reaction score
- 20,960
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2019
- Messages
- 21,308
- Reaction score
- 46,549
Ngannou has gotta be the least skilled by a mile no contest.
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2012
- Messages
- 12,094
- Reaction score
- 1,577
It's a fairly loaded question in my opinion. Some fighters are incredibly good at one thing, like Ngannou or Khabib or Royce Gracie, some fighters have a much more varied skill set, like Jon Jones or Charlie Olives. In older UFCs the art of MMA was much less developed, and less money in it, so you probably had 'less skilled fighters' same like in most sports: the athletes of old had more limited skill sets than the latest gen athletes with top tier sports science, not to mention the latest gen has the benefit of learning from the trailblazers.
E.g. every man and his dog now is throwing front kicks, when Anderson Silva landed front kick KOd Vitor Belfort in 2011, I believe it's the first front kick KO in the UFC. Now it has become a standard technique.
A final point being, I have seen for quite a few years now people say heavyweight is a low skill division with a lot of overweight dudes who are just winging shots. In my opinion, being skilled = finishing your opponent in decisive fashion. Bigger dudes move differently to tiny dudes, and so even a dude like Black Beast swangin and bangin, is a skill in its own way, and I do not think that a bruiser who brute forces his way to become a champion, is any less skilled than a dude who employs a very wide range of techniques to outpoint his opponent.
E.g. every man and his dog now is throwing front kicks, when Anderson Silva landed front kick KOd Vitor Belfort in 2011, I believe it's the first front kick KO in the UFC. Now it has become a standard technique.
A final point being, I have seen for quite a few years now people say heavyweight is a low skill division with a lot of overweight dudes who are just winging shots. In my opinion, being skilled = finishing your opponent in decisive fashion. Bigger dudes move differently to tiny dudes, and so even a dude like Black Beast swangin and bangin, is a skill in its own way, and I do not think that a bruiser who brute forces his way to become a champion, is any less skilled than a dude who employs a very wide range of techniques to outpoint his opponent.
