MMA's Most Overrated Fighter by Division

In any sport you watch, there tend to be athletes who are overrated, mostly based on accomplishments that they have failed to repeat or due to inconsistency.

MMA is no different, as personal records may lead one to believe that a fighter is much better than he actually is.

In addition to that, being a fan favorite or unwarranted hype may give certain fighters competition who are out of their league or a flood of praise that may not be deserved.

Going by division, let us examine who each division's most overrated fighter is.

Bantamweight: Brad Pickett

Brad Pickett gets a lot of hype for the level of competition he faces.

Holding a professional record of 20-6, Pickett has shown skill, but has not shown it at a high enough competition level.

Although he has beaten former title challenger Demetrious Johnson, who is much bigger, he has dropped important establishing bouts against Hideo Tokoro, Scott Jorgensen and Renan Barao.

And with a nickname like "One Punch," it would be expected that he has knocked out a good number of opponents—except for the fact that only six of his 20 wins have been by way of TKO or knockout. His last knockout was in 2008.

Pickett is an important fighter for British MMA, but still has a way to go before the hype behind him is warranted.

Featherweight: Manny Gamburyan

Manvel Gamburyan is an aggressive, exciting fighter who always presses the action.

But the former title challenger has gained an excessive amount of hype when he earned his title shot.

Gamburyan is 11-7, hardly a record that calls for a celebration. He is as tough as they come, but when he steps up in competition, he falters.

Although the featherweight division was thinner when Gamburyan got his title shot, he barely looked like a guy ready to challenge Jose Aldo. Although he did knock out Mike Brown to cash in his title shot, Brown has not looked like himself in his last five bouts or so.

If you want to look at more recent fights, he has lost to Tyson Griffin, who has struggled at featherweight in two fights and Diego Nunes, who outclasses Gamburyan on the feet and avoided a ground fight.

Gamburyan will always be exciting and tough, but needs to take a step back, as he is not elite in the featherweight division.

Lightweight: Melvin Guillard

This one hurts me, as I like Melvin Guillard as a fighter. Guillard is a skilled striker and decent wrestler, but could get choked out by a gust of wind.

Guillard has done a good job against lower and mid level fighters, but when he fights guys with good ground games or guys in the upper part of the division, he does not show up.

Through his UFC career, he has been submitted by Josh Neer, Joe Stevenson, Rich Clementi, Nate Diaz, Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller. Most of these fights were steps up in competition for him, and he was unable to walk away victorious.

He does hold several notable victories over Evan Dunham, Gleison Tibau and Jeremy Stephens, but these guys are mid-tier fighters at this point, proving that Guillard himself is only a mid-tier fighter.

If Guillard could defend a choke, he could be a top fighter. Until then, he finds himself looking for a lower level fight.

Welterweight: Jake Shields

Jake Shields might be the most over hyped fighter in mixed martial arts.

Coming into the UFC, he was supposed to be the man to give Georges St. Pierre a run for his money. He eked out a close decision over Martin Kampmann, lost decisively to GSP and was rocked to sleep by Jake Ellenberger. That does not sound like a world beater to me.

The UFC hyped Shields up prior to the St. Pierre fight, saying how he has beaten Jason "Mayhem" Miller, as well as Carlos Condit and Yushin Okami in one night. Miller is not all that big of an accomplishment, even considering that Miller almost choked Shields out. Condit was young in his career and inexperienced, while Okami is a less skilled version of Shields.

I know the UFC had to hype the fight for pay-per-view sales, but Shields is obviously not a top guy in the UFC.

And other than laying on Dan Henderson for five rounds, he really has no other top wins at welterweight.

Middleweight: Brian Stann

This pick makes me feel un-American, so I may have to go enlist in the Marines to feel better after choosing Brian Stann for this slot.

There is a huge amount of hype that surrounds Brian Stann, who is an explosive striker with a developing ground game.

Stann has dominated lesser competition and those willing to throw leather with him. But, every time he steps up in competition, such as when he fought Chael Sonnen and Phil Davis, he has shied away from victory.

Some might point to his victories over Chris Leben and Jorge Santiago as big victories. While they are good wins for him, they were favorable matchups. Leben will stand with anybody, which Stann wanted. Santiago is also confident in his striking, but has a very questionable chin, which Stann exposed.

Again, I feel like the anti-patriot with this pick, but it does not mean it's not true. Stann is a good fighter, but not as great as hype would lead us to believe.

Light Heavyweight: Ryan Bader

An Ultimate Fighter winner, Ryan Bader garnered a great amount of hype following the show.

Bader continued to gain a great amount of hype, building his record off of low level fighters, an over the hill Keith Jardine and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Although the Nogueira win was big, he basically just took him down and laid on him.

He then took a step up in competition against Jon Jones. Many thought he would give Jones a ton of problems, but was completely outclassed by Jones.

He then asked to fight Tito Ortiz, who is well past his prime. Bader was again easily handled.

After knocking out Jason Brilz in his last fight, he has taken a fight against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Either they are feeding Bader to Jackson as a sacrificial lamb for the Japanese fans or the UFC again believes in the Bader hype train.

Either way, Bader is still developing and should not be fighting higher levels of competition.

Heavyweight: Stefan Struve

First and foremost, I must commend Stefan Struve for his toughness and continued development. The guy takes a ton of punishment and asks for more.

That being said, Struve has fallen against competition step ups, in rough fashion.

In all three of his UFC losses, Struve has been brutally knocked out by Junior dos Santos, Roy Nelson and Travis Browne.

Struve's wins have come against lower to middle level competition, including Pat Barry, Christian Morecraft and Sean McCorkle.  Yet, he still constantly finds himself on main card bouts.

Yes, most of these main card fights have been on free television events, but are there no other fighters who deserve national spotlight?

Struve will continue to improve and be a fantastic heavyweight in the future, but for now Struve possesses a little too much hype.

Feel free to leave comments and personal opinions, I will be interested to see what you all have to say.