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Mixed martial arts has exploded in the last decade. Now everyone and their dog think they can fight. Grappler, wrestle and strike like a UFC champ. There are so many arm chair MMA fans now it is not even funny.  What’s even worse is the way marketing has creeped into MMA.


Yes marketing is what has brought the UFC and MMA to what it is today but it has also has given us false or misleading expectations about certain fighters. It might not be their fault but MMA organizations, forums, blogs have given fighters better creditability than then actually deserve.


Below are the top 5 mixed martial arts fighters that are overrated.

5) Chris Leben

One fighter that has benefited from the Ultimate Fighter reality series has been Chris Leben. He is a heavy puncher but has little skills to back up his MMA game. He was marketing and overhyped so much that when he fought Anderson Silva he was the online betting favourite in most of the sports books.


That was until reality set in.


Leben continues to fight in the UFC because he will stand and slug it out with anyone. Entertaining? Maybe. But at a certain point he has to learn how to become a better fighter than how the UFC hypes him up to be.


We can only hear Mike Goldberg talk about Leben’s heart enough times. Leben is over rated because the UFC continues to praise him as a fighter but he has little to back up his fight game.


Over hyped, very much so.

4) Jorge Gurgel

Ever since Jorge Gurgel starred in the second season of The Ultimate Fighter television series he has been overly hyped as a MMA fighter. He was eliminated from the show in the fifth episode with a loss to Jason Von Flue by unanimous decision. Jason Von Flue was a below average fighter and he was able to dominate Gurgel who was favoured to win the TUF show that season.


Gurgel has a blackbelt in Jiujitsu, trains MMA fighters and runs numeriosu school in the Ohio area and he can’t even beat a fighter with little MMA background and has lost 8 out of his last 11 MMA fights and almost has more loses than wins (14 wins, 12 loses).


Gurgel got a 7 fight UFC contact strictly on the basis he was Rich Franklin’s friend. Gurgel was criticized throughout his seven-fight run in the UFC for not displaying Jiu-Jitsu in his fights. He is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu who trains with Rich Franklin.


Everytime he fought Joe Rogan would talk about how he has so much skill and how his grappling game was so good. And every time Gurgel would lose to below average fighters.


Grugel is Rich Franklin’s trainer and the level is nowhere near he is made up to be. His coaching of Franklin shows how overrated Franklin is as well. Basically, Franklin’s game has not evolved and suffered as a direct result of Gurgel’s lack of instruction and skill.

3) Rich Franklin

He is one of the nicest guys in mixed martial arts. He is the perfect ambassador for the sport. However, because he was so popular he was also hyped up and profiled as the face of the UFC.


Well despite his popularity Franklin has never been the fighter the hype has made him out to be. Yes he was UFC middleweight champion but he fought in a very weak division and he never fought a top ten fighter.


As champion he fought subpar fighters and the UFC marketed him as a world beater when in fact he is an average fighter.  


As UFC middleweight champion, Franklin beat Evan Tanner at UFC 53: Heavy Hitters, Nathan Quarry at UFC 56: Full Force, and David Loiseau at UFC 58: USA vs Canada. Franklin had problems with Loiseau and Tanner and Quarry who were C+ plus level fighters at best. Franklin never faced real top level competition in his career and once he did he was exposed.


Now he is in limbo as the UFC can no longer protect him as a fighter and they have no idea where he can fight. He cannot fight in the middleweight division because he has no shot at the title and more and more top level fighters have been brought in to compete. In the light heavyweight division Franklin has no shot and will be put into gatekeeper role.


Franklin’s lack of skill has been revealed and the UFC can no longer protect him as more and more people are realizing that he is overrated as a fighter.

2) TUF Cast members

The UFC had struck a gold mine in the Ultimate Fighter Reality show. The TUF show has propelled the UFC to what it is today. Because of the show many fighters have become top level fighters like Diego Sanchez, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Kenny Florian, Josh Koscheck and Keith Jardine.


However, as the more and more TUF season go on the pool of talent starts to dwindle.


Many of the fighters that come out of the TUF series are below average fighters but have good marketing value. Also the UFC gets these fighters into the show for a cheap price and since the fighters have some sort of marketability they are put into the UFC events. TUF alumni are given higher-profile spots than more deserving competitors.


More and more UFC events have TUF fighters in the shows and most of these fighter should not be fighting or are way overrated. Just because people see them on the TUF show they automatically think they are good fighters.


Look at this seasons TUF series. Many cast members were new to the sport of MMA and many were ex NFL players who had no real MMA experience. The show is a blessing in that it promotes the UFC but it is also overhypes and makes fighter overrated.


Many of the cast members have no business being in the UFC yet they continue to be. It's apparent the UFC has invested a lot of TV time in these fighters, but there has to at least be some semblance of competition.

1) Kimbo Slice

No fighter is more overhyped than Kimbo Slice. He was protected in EliteXC and while on the TUF show he was marketing in every commercial and clip they could squeeze him in.

He has parlayed a backyard brawling career into a MMA career and he has no skills to back it up. He ground game is nonexistent and he has shown to have a weak chin in his fight with Seth Petruzelli. One moment he's beating up no body’s on YouTube, the next he's in the main event of Elite XC's first broadcast on CBS. Some people even began arguing that he was a top 10 heavyweight fighter, simply because of the media attention he was receiving in many forums and blogs.

The Internet made Kimbo to what he is today and they is no way we can out the genie back in the bottle unless the UFC gives him actual fights. They will try to protect him and market him until he has to prove himself. He is by far the most overrated fighter in history.

Other fighters that did not make the list but are overhyped include:

Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto
Houston Alexander
Phil Baroni

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