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[Lesnar_FTW]

He doesn't get much talk anymore but I feel like Mousasi was extremely overrated for a short time.

[rivethead]

This thread is fine as long as there is some objective discussion about why fighters may be overrated. If it degenerates into "Fighter X sucks" it's getting noobed.

I think you need to define your perception of overrated.

I definitely see a problem with Bisping being ranked at top 10--I've never seen him as high as 5, that would be sad--but it's really because he has no wins over a top 10 MW. It's not as though he doesn't possess the skills to beat a top 10 MW, he just hasn't. That's where I coined the term "soft ranking" in that there is more subjectivity and the ranking is based more on potential and a shallow talent pool in a given weight class.

Ranking overeem as top 5 before he'd beaten a top 10 fighter falls into the same category. I still feel he's very softly ranked at top 5, although he's a solid top 10 at this point.

When I think about "the most overrated" I move away from rankings specifically and look at what people are saying about the fighters themselves.

Jones is getting a lot of flack right now, but for a while, he was riding a huge wave of manlove in the industry and stuff was getting thrown out like "he's the most talented fighter over 185" and a bunch of similar nonsense. The fact is, he's far more gifted than talented. He's an enormous LHW, with an unparallelled reach advantage that often reaches into the double digits. He's gaining skills with every fight, but his skillset isn't anything more than above average right now, unless it's augmented with his freakish frame. He's got great speed and wonderfully unorthodox striking, but his technique still has tremendous holes. He's got solid grappling, but it's nowhere near great.

I felt the same thing about lesnar when he was still a golden boy, people would talk about his "world-class wrestling" and technical abilities [not to mention those fans who could say "he moves like a LW" with a straight face] when he really had good, solid wrestling--no better than that--that was augmented by a freakish physique. I can remember fanboy after fanboy telling me that he was going to take down Carwin at will because "DI wrestling is always better than DIII" until Carwin exposed him for being a good--but not nearly the best--wrestler in the division.

I think what happens is the sports industry is full of hyperbole. Teams don't just win, they decimate opponents. A fighter doesn't score a takedown, he scores a takedown relentlessly. Couple that with Zuffa's tendency to take hyperbole to the nth level in overhyping fights [and then throw in a bit of rogain's commentary to boot] and you've got a lot of fans who believe it when they say stuff like "Frankie Edgar totally dominated Penn" in a fight that was a close decision. You've got mopes like sonnen pretending that he's not only capable of winning a belt, but that he's already done so as a cutsey, inside joke that some sad fans barely seem to grasp. When you bring the passion of your average MMA fan into the mix, they're going to view all of this hype through rose colored glasses, and suddenly lesnar becomes better than Fedor ever was, or Jones is p4p elite, or Bisping is one fight away from a title shot.

It happens in all sports, though, not just MMA.

rh

[Supe]

I think Guilliard is up there. Everyone talks about his potential, he would be a title contender if he fixes this or works on that. When it comes down to it he is a fighter with excellent boxing, mediocre TDD, zero grappling skills and the mental toughness of your average Twilight fan. He will never sniff a title, ever because he's not good enough and doesn't work hard/smart enough.

[roaddawg]

Originally Posted by Fe1

I don't see anyway that you can see Bisping as underrated. As far as Frank Shamrock goes, please, for the love of god do not judge him from his time in Strikeforce. I don't find that he was overrated at the point but he certainly was past his prime. Back in the day, he was an absolute machine. He earned the nickname "The Legend"



I don't think he was overrated. He was a really tallented fighter that fought too fas past his prime. No one really rated him highly after 2002 lol

I personally see Bisping as the most underrated fighter in UFC history. Dude is pratically expected to get steamrolled in just about every fight against a top opponent and 99% of the time it never happens.

People thought Wandy, Sonnen and Rashad would smoke him and he held his own. Hell even Sonnen thinks he has the potential to beat Silva.

Bisping absolutely positively does not suck. He may not knock out people but then again nor does Griffin (who also doesn't suck).

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Melvin Guillard

[VimyRidge]

Originally Posted by HillbillyDeluxe

Melvin Guillard

I think on any given day, Guillard has the chance of beating any lw, but any decent lw has the ability to beat him as well.

[VimyRidge]

Anderson Silva.

People say he is the greatest in the world and best ever but he has only fought a handfull of tough opponents. 3 guys he has beat are willing to fight Jon Jones, but he is too scared and/or his management is too scared. That fact that his management has no faith in his skills is evidence that he his overrated.

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Originally Posted by VimyRidge

I think on any given day, Guillard has the chance of beating any lw, but any decent lw has the ability to beat him as well.

you should of seen my first answer! lol but that would of been straight clowning, didnt feel like being in troll mode.

[VimyRidge]

Originally Posted by HillbillyDeluxe

you should of seen my first answer! lol but that would of been straight clowning, didnt feel like being in troll mode.

Feel free to say what you want, I have thick skin. I don't think people ever overrated Guillard. Anybody that has beaten him, I think he could have also beat.

[TapOut27]

If it wasn't for Royce Gracie winning the first 3 UFC's we wouldn't have the UFC today as we know it. Royce is the reason this sport is popular, the reason more fans tuned in vs Hughes, and he showed the world you have to learn BJJ to fight. So you can pretty much go blow yourself if you don't think Royce was important to the sport. And how is he overated when he fought in a time when it was style against style and not MMA...dumb dumb dumb