5 UFC champions who had highly underrated records
For any professional MMA fighter, winning a UFC title represents the absolute pinnacle of a career. Essentially, anyone who becomes a UFC champion tends to be recognized as a true great, but even those greats can become underrated.
Over the years, the UFC has been home to a number of champions who, for various reasons, ended up being somewhat underrated by fans despite their tremendous records.
Some of these champions ended up being more well-respected once they left the UFC or began to slide down the ladder.
Right now, Alexander Volkanovski is arguably heading in the same direction, although he may gain more respect if he beats Brian Ortega at UFC 266 this weekend.
Alexander Volkanovski vs Brian Ortega!
We're counting down the days until #UFC266!! https://t.co/6W8rY5bf8p
However, many of his predecessors remain widely underrated to this day.
With that in mind, here are five UFC champions who had highly underrated records.
#5. Rich Franklin – former UFC middleweight champion
Once considered the most dominant 185-pound fighter on the planet, former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin has somehow largely been forgotten by UFC fans these days. Even in his prime, it’s arguable that ‘Ace’ had a massively underrated record overall.
Rich Franklin's brutal KO on Nate Quarry! (UFC 56) @RichFranklin http://t.co/kYJifJco7Y
Franklin eventually retired from MMA with a record of 29-7-1, which in itself is solid enough. But when you consider that of his seven losses, three came outside of his natural weight class and one, against Cung Le, came when he was past his prime, it looks even more impressive.
Essentially then, Franklin lost to just three men at middleweight during his MMA career. And ignoring Le, there’s absolutely no shame in falling at the hands of Dan Henderson and Anderson Silva. So why is ‘Ace’ not really remembered as the all-time great he should be seen as? Well, it’s largely all down to those two losses to Silva.
Franklin was badly beaten twice by ‘The Spider’. Due to the nature of those losses, he never really came close to getting back into title contention at 185 pounds. That left him taking fights at odd catchweights and forced him up to light heavyweight at times in his quest for relevance.
However, if Silva had never made his way to the UFC, there’s every chance that ‘Ace’ would be remembered as the UFC’s greatest ever middleweight to this day. Unfortunately, though, he remains little more than the owner of one of the UFC’s most underrated records.