5 UFC champions who were criticised for their safety-first approach
It goes without saying that any fighter who reaches the top of the UFC and claims gold inside the octagon deserves the respect of the fans, but unfortunately, we’ve seen plenty of times that this isn’t always the case.
Over the years, a number of high-level UFC champions have been criticized by observers for a supposed safety-first approach, even when they were winning and dominating fights.
At times, these champions were criticized by their fellow fighters, and while the accusations thrown at them weren’t always valid, they were still often enough to dent their reputation.
With that in mind, here are five UFC champions who were criticized for a perceived safety-first approach.
#5. Israel Adesanya – UFC middleweight champion
The latest UFC champion to come under fire for deploying a supposed safety-first approach in his title bouts is reigning middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya.
‘The Last Stylebender’ remains one of the most popular and charismatic fighters on the current roster, and with a total of five successful title defenses under his belt, he’s also one of the most accomplished, too.
However, while his rise to the top was punctuated by a number of explosive knockouts – including the stoppage of Robert Whittaker that won him middleweight gold in the first place – it’s hard to deny that Adesanya’s most recent fights have been far less entertaining.
Sure, he was able to dominate Marvin Vettori, Whittaker in a rematch, and most recently, Jared Cannonier, but he never came close to finishing any of them. In fact, the last time Adesanya stopped an opponent was in his 2020 victory over Paulo Costa.
So has ‘The Last Stylebender’ really taken up a safer approach? In all honesty, the truth is no. Adesanya has never been a fighter willing to take a shot in order to give one back – instead, his style is based around avoiding his opponent’s offense and dishing out laser-sharp strikes on the counter.
Therefore, while earlier opponents like Costa and Derek Brunson made the error of rushing in at him, his more recent foes have taken a more methodical approach, which has left them less susceptible to being taken out.
With that considered, it’s probably unfair for fans to slam Adesanya for his fights going the distance – but given the reaction to his win over Cannonier, which even saw actor Chris Pratt criticize him, it seems likely that he’ll need to deal with this issue for the foreseeable future.
Chris Pratt apologizes to Israel Adesanya after criticizing champ’s UFC 276 performance mmafighting.com/2022/7/7/23198… https://t.co/FDziebsKui
#4. Tim Sylvia – former UFC heavyweight champion
Given that five of his first six victories in the octagon – including both of his UFC heavyweight title wins – came via knockout, it’s still fascinating that Tim Sylvia ended up earning a reputation for being an overly cautious fighter.
However, while he initially appeared to be a deadly knockout artist, all it took for the fans to turn on 'The Maine-Iac’ was one dull fight.
That fight turned out to be his third clash with Andrei Arlovski, which took place in the summer of 2006. Given that their first two fights had been wild, hopes were high for a slugfest in the third. Instead, both Sylvia and Arlovski seemed too concerned about the punching power of the other and wound up producing a staring contest.
Despite retaining his title, ‘The Maine-Iac’ seemed to bear the brunt of the criticism for the fight, and things only got worse when he went to decision with his next contender, Jeff Monson, despite a strong, technical performance.
Suddenly it felt like everyone – including UFC President Dana White – had turned on Sylvia, and the entire fanbase appeared to rejoice when he lost his title to Randy Couture in his third defense.
Sylvia went on to produce one of the best heavyweight bouts in octagon history when he fought Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2008, but by that point, his reputation was too far gone.
#3. Tyron Woodley – former UFC welterweight champion
When Tyron Woodley knocked out Robbie Lawler in brutal fashion to claim the UFC welterweight title in the summer of 2016, it felt like a star had been born.
Not only had ‘The Chosen One’ won his title with one of the most memorable knockouts in the division’s history, but he also seemed to possess the skill and power to dominate the rest of the promotion’s welterweights for some time.
However, while Woodley did go on to produce a dominant title reign that lasted nearly three years, it didn’t take long for his reputation to completely tumble in the eyes of both the fans and UFC representatives like UFC President Dana White.
Woodley’s first title defense was dramatic enough, as a back-and-forth clash with top contender Stephen Thompson ended in a draw.
However, when the promotion booked a rematch between the two, the fight was so tepid that while a late knockdown from Woodley allowed him to retain his crown, he basically lost all of his fans in the process.
Worse still was his fight with Demian Maia just a few months later, as Woodley appeared to be content – in the eyes of some fans, at least – to do the bare minimum to edge out the grappling ace by decision.
Tyron Woodley reacts to Dana White stating his performance is good for a GSP/Bisping match-up #UFC214 https://t.co/TCBKHutrnx
Woodley’s third title defense was much better, as he knocked down Darren Till before submitting him, but at that stage, his reputation as a safety-first fighter was cemented. As a result, he was unable to get the fans back on his side before he was unseated by Kamaru Usman.
Did ‘The Chosen One’ deserve such a reputation? It’s debatable, as outside of the Maia and Thompson fights, he was largely entertaining to watch.
The truth is that while his gameplans against those two contenders were smart, they also ruined him in the eyes of the fans and arguably cost him prestige and money in the long run.
#2. Anderson Silva – former UFC middleweight champion
At his best, it’s fair to say that not only was Anderson Silva one of the most dominant champions in UFC history but also one of the most entertaining, too. A true virtuoso inside the octagon, ‘The Spider’ produced jaw-dropping performances to dispatch challengers such as Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami, while also taking out even larger foes like Forrest Griffin and James Irvin.
However, Silva’s flashy style also went hand-in-hand with a somewhat flippant attitude, and during the peak of his title reign (between 2009 and 2010), his reputation took such a battering from the fans that it was surprising when he recovered.
At one point, even UFC President Dana White seemed to have had enough of ‘The Spider’, threatening to cut him from the roster altogether if he produced another questionable showing – an empty threat, to say the least.
In hindsight, the fans who turned on Silva for a supposed safety-first style were being largely ridiculous. The Brazilian only produced three poor performances in fights with Patrick Cote, Thales Leites and Demian Maia. Sandwiched between two of them was his unbelievable knockout of Griffin.
Those three performances weren’t classic safety-first fare, either. They were more examples of a fighter who was faced with overmatched opponents and appeared to be bored of dispatching them with ease.
Still, despite everything he’d achieved, those three performances earned Silva the reputation – however undeserved it was – of being a dull fighter, something that seems crazy a decade after his epic title reign.
Why is Anderson Silva being called a boring fighter to justify Adesanya's boring performances?
Silva had 3/15 boring fights while a champion. Adesanya has 5/6 boring fights as a champ #ufc
#1. Georges St-Pierre – former UFC welterweight champion
While he’s now widely recognized as the greatest fighter in MMA history, it’s arguable that no UFC champion received as much criticism for his supposed safety-first style than legendary welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre.
‘GSP’ dominated his opponents over a ridiculous amount of time, holding his title from April 2008 to his first retirement in November 2013. However, while he rarely – if ever – lost a round during this period, he also only finished one foe too.
The fact that his fights nearly always went the distance meant that he quickly earned a reputation for preferring to outpoint his opponents rather than beat them down, but in hindsight, was this really fair?
In all honesty, it wasn’t. Not only did St-Pierre exclusively face incredibly high-level opponents such as Jon Fitch, Carlos Condit and Jake Shields – men who were rarely finished by anyone – but he also made all of them look like they didn’t belong in the octagon with him.
Moreover, the Canadian would often beat them at their own game, taking down high-level wrestlers like Fitch and Josh Koscheck and outstriking notable kickboxers like B.J. Penn and Condit.
Sure, St-Pierre didn’t involve himself in wild brawls, but then again, he never needed to. He was so far ahead of his competition that he was able to defeat them without taking much damage, and even if he couldn’t finish them, many of his foes were never the same after facing him.
How many "boring" fights did GSP truly have in his 20-2 UFC career? Shields & Diaz? You could describe the Kos rematch as risk averse, but that arguably should have been stopped between rounds. All I remember from the Hardy fight was GSP trying to rip Dan's arm off for 25 mins.
Realistically, the safety-first reputation that ‘GSP’ earned during his tenure as champion was basically the only stick that his doubters could ever beat him with. A decade later, it seems like largely baseless criticism.