5 current UFC fighters who deserve more respect from fans
The UFC’s current roster features well over 700 fighters competing in 12 different weight classes. So it’s easy to understand why some of them might fly under the radar.
It’s easy to see why the UFC’s best fighters garner so much adoration. However, the truth is that the promotion also houses many athletes who deserve far more respect from fans than they get.
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These fighters may be past their primes now, or may not have lived up to early expectations, but why fans don’t show them the respect they deserve is anyone’s guess.
On that note, here are five current UFC fighters who deserve far more respect from fans:
#5. Aljamain Sterling – current UFC bantamweight champion
It’s fair to say that any fighter who claims UFC gold deserves massive respect from fans. After all, even greats like the Diaz brothers, Alistair Overeem and Chael Sonnen were unable to achieve that during their storied careers.
However, despite currently holding the promotion’s bantamweight title, it seems Aljamain Sterling simply doesn’t get the respect he deserves, compared to his fellow champions.
There’s an obvious reason for that, though. ‘The Funk Master’ was widely seen to be losing his title bout with Petr Yan when ‘No Mercy’ knocked him out with an illegal knee. That made Sterling the first fighter in the promotion’s history to win his title via disqualification.
Nevertheless, regardless of how he won his title, disrespecting Sterling is absolutely ridiculous, considering his plethora of accomplishments inside the octagon.
‘The Funk Master’ has wins over some genuinely great fighters, including former bantamweight champion Renan Barao and current contender Pedro Munhoz. He’s also the only man ever to finish #4 ranked Cory Sandhagen. What’s more, Sterling made it look easy, dispatching ‘The Sandman’ with a rear naked choke after just over a minute.
Therefore, regardless of whether or not he’s actually capable of beating Yan, there can be no doubt that Sterling is one of the best 135lb fighters on the planet right now – if not the best.
There’s no way he should be seen as anything but a legitimate champion, meaning he deserves far more respect than he currently seems to get from fans.