5 UFC champions who were perennially underrated by the fans
Any fighter who manages to capture gold in the UFC octagon is obviously deserving of respect from the fans, but often, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Whether it’s because they beat a fan favorite, or because people simply don’t buy them as the best, a number of UFC champions over the years have been perennially underrated by the fans.
A couple of these champions ended up getting their respect after they lost the title, but some are still looked down upon today, which is truly shocking.
Here are five UFC champions who were perennially underrated by the fans.
#5. Aljamain Sterling – current UFC bantamweight champion
The current UFC champion who seems to be perennially underrated by fans is definitely reigning bantamweight kingpin Aljamain Sterling. Will that change if he can overcome former titleholder TJ Dillashaw later this month? Only time will tell.
For now, though, it’s fair to say that ‘Funk Master’ has had a rough ride from a large portion of the fanbase despite his undeniable talent. His two title bouts against Petr Yan are likely the reason for the way that he’s viewed by these fans, but how fair is this in reality?
Obviously, the first fight between Sterling and ‘No Mercy’ was hugely controversial. It saw Yan largely dominate proceedings before using an illegal knee to knock out ‘Funk Master’, making him the first fighter in UFC history to win a title via disqualification.
Labeled a paper champion by some fans because of this, Sterling then beat Yan in a five-round rematch, in particular dominating him on the ground in the second round, only for a number of people to bizarrely believe ‘No Mercy’ deserved the nod.
WHAT A ROUND for Sterling! Wow!
Things are getting very interesting here... 🍿 #UFC273 https://t.co/WUmPoI8kWC
In reality, Sterling deserves massive respect from the fans regardless of his fights with Yan. He remains the only man in the UFC to beat the Russian, and also holds wins over Cory Sandhagen, Pedro Munhoz and Renan Barao. He’s lost just once in his last ten fights.
Hopefully, regardless of the result of his upcoming bout with Dillashaw, and particularly if he wins, Sterling will get his much-deserved dues afterwards.
#4. Frankie Edgar – former UFC lightweight champion
Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar is now widely recognized as a legend of the promotion these days, as he’s been competing for over a decade now and has fought and succeeded in three different weight classes.
However, it’s safe to say that back in 2010, when he stunned the world by unseating BJ Penn to claim gold inside the octagon, he wasn’t nearly as respected as he is today.
In the eyes of a number of fans, ‘The Answer’ was an unworthy titleholder, and the emotion that many fans felt when he dropped his title to Benson Henderson in 2012 was a relief.
Why was this? Essentially, a lot of it had to do with the popularity of Penn. ‘The Prodigy’ was the UFC’s first real lightweight superstar, and at the time that he lost to Edgar, he was almost seen as invincible.
Ten years ago today, @FrankieEdgar halted BJ Penn's dominance over the lightweight division by upsetting The Prodigy at UFC 112. https://t.co/nLRIFjfyYK
Given that the decision to hand Edgar the title was hugely controversial, it was easy to see why some fans saw the New Jersey native as a paper champion of sorts. When he then dominated Penn in a rematch, though, those feelings should’ve been wiped away.
Unfortunately, though, that wasn’t the case, and many fans still saw ‘The Answer’ as the guy holding Penn’s belt. It didn’t help when his next title defense saw him draw with Gray Maynard and take tons of damage in the process – even if he beat ‘The Bully’ by TKO in their rematch.
In the end, probably thanks to the fact that he came close to losing to Maynard in both bouts and seemed to be putting on a never-ending stretch of rematches, Edgar never really got the respect he deserved as a champion.
In hindsight, though, the fact that he dethroned Penn at the peak of his powers should mean he’s seen as a true all-time great.
#3. Stipe Miocic – former UFC heavyweight champion
Many observers, including UFC President Dana White, have been open in describing Stipe Miocic as the greatest heavyweight champion in UFC history. Despite this, it always felt like Miocic never quite got the respect he deserved during his reign.
The reason why Miocic is so highly rated by the likes of White is a simple one. Before his reign, no UFC heavyweight champion – even greats like Cain Velasquez and Randy Couture – was able to make more than two successful title defenses.
Miocic was able to make three, and also added a fourth to his ledger when he captured the title for the second time in 2019.
However, during his reign, many fans seemed to underrate him, claiming that he wasn’t quite on the same level as Velasquez or the legendary Fedor Emelianenko – who never fought in the UFC – in the overall heavyweight pantheon.
Was there any reason for this? Well, it’s probably true that Miocic never really seemed invulnerable like those two afore-mentioned fighters did at points. He came close to losing to both Alistair Overeem and Francis Ngannou in his title defenses against them, and obviously lost to Daniel Cormier by KO before regaining his title from him a year later.
Despite this, though, it’s hard to argue with Miocic’s credentials. He defeated Ngannou when ‘The Predator’ was looking like an unstoppable destruction machine, he was the first man to stop Cormier, and he also claimed wins over the likes of Junior Dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski and Fabricio Werdum.
STIPE KNOCKS OUT DC IN ROUND 4!!!
#AndNew! What a fight! #UFC241 https://t.co/ocJIfpRvyj
Essentially, the fans were simply used to seeing their heavyweight champion as “the baddest man on the planet”, and while Miocic was a great fighter during his title reign, he never truly had that vibe.
In the future, though, it’s likely that Miocic will get the respect he deserves as the most accomplished heavyweight in octagon history.
#2. Rich Franklin – former UFC middleweight champion
When Rich Franklin claimed the UFC middleweight title by defeating Evan Tanner in the summer of 2005, it was hard not to view him as the best 185lber on the planet. With a brutal striking game, excellent ground skills, and phenomenal cardio, ‘Ace’ didn’t seem to have any weaknesses.
However, even during his reign as champion, it felt like Franklin didn’t get the respect he quite deserved. Despite shellacking Nate Quarry and David Loiseau in his first two title defenses, many fans refused to believe he was the world’s top middleweight.
Mar4.2006
Rich Franklin makes the 2nd & final defense of his UFC Middleweight title,
when he dominates David Loiseau at UFC 58 https://t.co/IgpWc3GSQk
Instead, they would often claim that Matt Lindland or Paulo Filho – both of whom competed outside the UFC at the time – could easily defeat him.
Was there any truth to those claims? While we’ll never really know, it seems unlikely that either man could’ve beaten ‘Ace’ in 2005.
It’s more likely that the backlash to Franklin was simply down to his position as a poster-boy for the UFC, which overtook PRIDE as the world’s top MMA promotion at that time – something that didn’t sit well with certain portions of the fanbase.
In the end, Franklin was unseated by Anderson Silva in his third title defense and went onto be widely recognized as the second-best middleweight in the world for a long time instead.
Unsurprisingly, of course, the idea of Silva – who had competed across the world prior to arriving in the octagon – as champion sat much better with those fans who’d given Franklin a tough time. In reality, ‘Ace’ deserved massive respect at the time, and remains one of the promotion’s most underrated champions to this day.
#1. Tyron Woodley – former UFC welterweight champion
Despite the horrible slide that led to the eventual end of his UFC career – as well as two devastating losses in the boxing ring to YouTuber Jake Paul – it’s probably fair to say that the promotion’s most perennially underrated champion is former welterweight titleholder Tyron Woodley.
‘The Chosen One’ was always seen as a high-level prospect before he joined the UFC in early 2013, and when he defeated Robbie Lawler via knockout to claim the welterweight crown in 2016, it felt likely that he’d go onto a successful reign as champion.
That was indeed the case. Woodley went to a draw with Stephen Thompson in his first defense before beating ‘Wonderboy’ in a rematch, and then defeated Demian Maia and Darren Till before falling to Kamaru Usman in early 2019.
However, it felt like most fans, like Dana White, simply didn’t want Woodley as champion and didn’t rate him in that sense, either.
Why was this? In this instance, there was perhaps a genuine reason. Woodley’s second fight with Thompson and his bout with Maia were awful, probably amongst the worst title bouts in the promotion’s history.
Those fights completely soured his reputation in the eyes of the fans, and while his win over Till was more impressive, by that point it was far too late and he lost the title six months later.
ABSOLUTELY UNLOADING!
@TWooodley #UFC228 https://t.co/91QuhPDolQ
In reality, prior to Usman’s lengthy reign, Woodley should probably have been respected as a high-end welterweight champion behind only Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre. Unfortunately for him, though, he was seen as far lesser, which is a shame of sorts.