The 10 Most Overrated Fighters in MMA

Over the years we have seen many fighters come and go in mixed martial arts.

All too often, a fighter that makes some brief noise while fighting in smaller promotions often crumbles under the bright lights when he makes it to a big name organization.

Another scenario is that a once heavily hyped fighter who showed promise when he first started out in a big name promotion like the UFC begins to show huge holes in his game the minute he has to step up to more elite level opponents.

Let's find out who are currently the most overrated in our beloved sport...(hint: Bob Sapp is not No.1)

10 - Tim Sylvia

Standing at 6'8" and having to cut weight to make the Heavyweight limit of 265 pounds, Tim "The Maine-iac" Silva should have been the greatest UFC Heavyweight Champion ever; however that was not the case.

While he had good stand up skills to go with some pretty decent ground work, the Miletich Fighting Systems product hit three major points in his career that earned him a spot on this list:

HE CHEATED: Shortly after his first UFC title defense at UFC 44 against the equally massive Gan McGee (6'11"), Sylvia was stripped of the title due to a failed drug test in which he tested positive for steroids. In any sport, once your labeled a cheater, all of your accomplishments begin to get called into question.

LOSS TO RANDY COUTURE: This was the beginning of the end of Sylvia's status as a supreme heavyweight. At UFC 68, in what was thought to be a David vs. Goliath match up, Sylvia was set to face off against MMA legend Randy Couture.

"The Natural" was a big underdog going into the fight, as Tim's sheer size, height, and reach advantage should have been enough to defeat Couture; but unfortunately for Sylvia, Couture took it to the former champion by not only flooring him with a crisp right hand, but also dominating him in the ground game as well.

I don't think that Sylvia ever fully recovered from this incredible loss.

STRING OF RECENT LOSSES: Now fighting at Super Heavyweight due to excessive weight gain, Sylvia has a laundry list of losses since UFC 68; most notably against Fedor Emelianenko (Affliction:Banned) and professional boxer Ray Mercer.

9 - Cung Le

With the exception of his loss against Scott Smith at Strikefore: Evolution, this former Middleweight champion is virtually undefeated in his MMA career. However, many feel that he's one dimensional in that all he does is rely on his powerful leg kicks. All of his fights have taken place under the Strikeforce banner, so he's never really been tested outside of that.

Former UFC Champion and MMA legend, Frank Shamrock has really been the only test for Le, and it remains to be seen if someone is able to take him down and hold him down. It would be pretty interesting to see how he would fair within the UFC's 185 division.

8 - Cheick Kongo

This chest thumping heavyweight has great striking, and is built like a bodybuilder, but when it comes to working to his ground game he's a "girly man."

7 - Brandon Vera

It's always interesting when you meet up with someone who is basically a younger version of you, but in some ways they're better. It could be that they're a little taller, or a little stronger. It could be that they want it more than you ever did.

Well at No. 7 on our countdown, Brandon Vera met his next gen upgrade in Jon Jones. Jones was bigger, more athletic, and just plain more gifted than Vera. Similar to Jones, Vera came into the UFC as the new kid on the block, racking up wins against Justin Eilers with a vicious headkick and Frank Mir. Then as time went on, the disadvantages of being undersized in the Heavyweight division began to take its toll on Vera.

He did the smart thing by dropping down to a more natural weight for his size at 205, but so far he's 3-3 since the switch. "The Truth" is that perhaps it's time to face facts that his long term goal of being the first MMA fighter to hold both the UFC Lightheavyweight and Heavyweight belts at the same time is now just a fantasy.

6 - Mike Brown

Mike Brown is a big featherweight. At WEC36, Brown scored an upset by defeating former Featherweight poster boy Urijah Faber with a powerful right hook that knocked "The California Kid" straight to the canvas. However, there are some notable items that lead us to believe that he belongs on this list.

BROWN/FABER 2: In what was the highly anticipated rematch for the 145 pound title, Faber was able to take Brown to the distance in a decision loss, but the action packed fight went back and forth.

All of this would have been a pretty impressive performance on Brown's part, but Faber suffered two broken hands during the fight, and essentially was relying on elbow strikes as his primary mode of offense. Brown, who was fully functional, should have been able to capitalize on this and wasn't able to finish a weakened Faber.

BROWN/ALDO: Jose Aldo was on the rise to becoming a wrecking ball in the 145 division, and it was only a matter of time before these two would meet for the title. While many felt that Brown would be able to outpower Aldo, the Black House product unleashed a vicious attack that easily dispatched Brown by the second round.

Where Brown goes from here is anybody's guess, perhaps a rematch with Aldo?

5 - Chael Sonnen

Chael Sonnen is the only member of this list whose overrated ranking will actually get worse after his fight with Anderson Silva on August 7th. As much smack talk as Sonnen has been doing in preparation for this fight, the bottom line is that he's not as good as he thinks he is.

While he's been been able to eek out a victory against Nate Marquardt to leap frog to "The Spider," he has an Achilles heel which is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Nearly all of 10 career losses have come from submissions.

You would think that he would have worked on that by now. Let's just hope that he's managed to pick some things up which will help him if Silva should want to show Mr. Sonnen his Jiu Jitsu black belt up close and personal.

4 - Matt Brown

As the resident "don't screw with me" guy in the Ultimate Fighter house from season seven, Matt 'The Immortal' Brown seemed like a pure bad ass with Chuck Norris-like toughness. However, once the show was over and Brown finally got his shot to fight for the UFC, he dropped three out of his seven fights for the promotion.

While many hyped Brown as being this up and coming star on the rise, he has struggled. Maybe he should change his nickname, because at this rate Dana White will probably drop him from the organization with another loss.

3- Todd Duffee

At UFC 102, Todd Duffee made UFC history by scoring the fasted knockout in company history. There were magazine articles, and various other forms of hype surrounding this young fighter. He was big and strong, and had the makings of becoming a challenger to current champ, Brock Lesnar.

The reason that I have placed Duffee on the list is due to his recent loss at UFC 114 where he was soundly defeating Mike Russow with ease until Russow shocked all of the MMA community by sneaking in a quick knockout punch that put Duffie to sleep. So much for being invincible.

2- Houston Alexander

Another overhyped fighter with similarities to assumptions based on his physique. Alexander has raw punching power, but that is all he's got. His losses to Thiago Silva and Kimbo Slice left the company with no choice but to cut him from the roster.

Let's take a break from the overrated to appreciate excellence

Ah...Rachelle Leah. You will never be overrated.

Ok guys, wipe the drool and lets go to the No. 1 loser.

1 - Kimbo Slice

How do you get into MMA without putting the time in at a gym perfecting your art? Well you fight at backyard barbecues and post them on YouTube of course. Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson, became an internet sensation a few years back by engaging in backyard brawls with all comers for money.

He's a true testament to how the information age has allowed us to take a guy who's essentially committing organized assault and thrust him into the MMA landscape with all the hype and media that most MMA fighters with traditional backgrounds could only dream of.

The mystery surrounding Slice was that he had this "incredible punching power." So how would that power fair against trained athletes? Well despite the now defunct Elite XC's attempt to make him their poster boy, his power and street fighting skill was not all that it was cracked up to be.

Against James Thompson he looked sluggish; his punches were ineffective which was pretty suspect considering that Thompson is not known for having a great chin. The true mark of Kimbo's mediocrity was when he faced off against virtual unknown Seth Petruzelli and was knocked out with what seemed to be a phantom punch. Not only did this loss sink Kimbo's status even further, but it effectively killed the Elite XC who placed all their hopes in Kimbo.

A short time later, UFC President Dana White offered Slice the chance to join the UFC via their Ultimate Fighter reality show. White, who was very vocal about what he thought of Kimbo in the beginning of Slice's MMA career, took this opportunity to really pump up the 10th season of TUF by bringing him on the show. While Slice showed that he was a likable and humble guy, his skill set was simply not developed enough to be successful in MMA.

In his two fights for the organization, he ended up with a record of 1-1, with his recent loss to fellow TUF competitor Matt Mitrione.

White, who is never one to waste much time, cut Slice from the promotion and has forever solved the mystery of how a guy like Kimbo would fair in the UFC.