Nick Diaz and the 10 Most Loved/Loathed Fighters in MMA Today

Every sport has their Tim Tebow or Jeremy Lin, that guy who seems to get about as much love as he does hate. You bring their name up, and it instantly starts a debate between you and your friends.

MMA is one of the sports in the world where you can see your most hated athlete literally get beaten. In other team sports, they make take a few bumps, but odds are, your anti-hero lives to fight another day.

For a fighter, every fight could be their last, so there is always the prospect of seeing your favorite (or least favorite) fighter step inside the cage for the final time. Whether you love them or love to hate them, they always find a way to make you tune in.

Josh Koscheck

Josh Koscheck has been playing the role of villian since he first entered the UFC. Fans love to hate on Kos and he embraces the hatred fairly well. I guess if you're going to be hated your entire career, might as well run with it right?

Although many fans love to hate Koscheck, there are a handful of fans that like what Koscheck brings to the table. He has explosive wrestling and knockout power in his hands. But it's not his fighting skills that fans like.

It's the fact that he gives us his own opinion and not that of his agent. Like Nick Diaz, what you see with Koscheck is what you get. He won't hold back if he doesn't like someone and gives you an honest opinion every time he talks.

For the Koscheck haters, the truth hurts.

Nick Diaz

Nick Diaz goes out to fight each time he puts his gloves on and isn't afraid to tell you how he feels before the bout.

He's very real and doesn't hold any punches when conducting pre-fight interviews. His no holds barred interviewing style has made him both a fan favorite and loathed at the same time.

MMA purists (or fans who don't like people from the 209) simply cannot relate to Diaz's upbringing and background. His haters love to point out the fact he sounds like nothing more than a thug from Stockton or in some cases, point to Diaz not fighting under the Zuffa banner for most of his career.

Quinton Jackson

Quinton Jackson became a star by knocking people out and talking the talk. Unfortunately, "Rampage" hasn't knocked anyone out since Wanderlei Silva back in 2008.

That still doesn't stop fans from predicting a KO each time Jackson steps inside the cage, and while he does still possess KO power, his opponents have done a good job of avoiding his power strikes.

He will always be a fan favorite given his colorful personality, but people will also begin to stop backing Jackson as much due to underperforming.

The fact that he set us all up for a bout with rival Rashad Evans only to leave/retire for a movie career also did him little good in the fans' eyes.

Georges St-Pierre

Georges St-Pierre has ruled over the UFC's welterweight division for years now. St-Pierre is what a big-market team is in any of the major team sports played in America.

He wins, he's always in the news and we're always hearing about him.

On the flip side, GSP has been one of the most successful UFC fighters in history, and people love a winner. He's dominated virtually everyone he's faced and avenged both of his two losses.

For GSP to gain back some of the fans he's lost, he will need to work on being a more exciting fighter. For MMA fans it isn't enough to dominate your competition; you need to finish them as well.

Michael Bisping

Michael Bisping had enough trouble getting a fanbase before his bout with Jorge Rivera. Now, it will be a tough climb up the hill in order to win back the majority of MMA fans that he's lost.

In the bout, Bisping clearly wound up to deliver an illegal knee to a downed opponent and then showed no remorse for the act. As if that weren't bad enough, Bisping spat at/near/in the general direction of Rivera's cornemen.

He's been one of the most consistent fighters in the middleweight division, but his lack of punching power combined with his arrogant attitude have made fans disregard Bisping's success.

The Brit seems to be figuring things out from a P/R standpoint after the "Mayhem" Miller fight, and even gained some fans in his loss against Chael Sonnen.

Alistair Overeem

Alistair Overeem has made a career off knocking out or tapping out much of his opposition. He's an imposing figure with an even more imposing MMA game.

However, as good as Overeem has looked, much of it came against lesser competition. He won the Strikeforce title in 2007 and would not defend it for nearly three years. In that time, he fought a number of guys who didn't even belong in the same locker room as him.

Overeem will finally have a chance to put to rest the talk of him not fighting the best of the best as he challenges Junior dos Santos for the UFC Heavyweight title. Dana White, like many fans, has been quick to criticize Overeem's record, but now, he gets a chance to prove all the doubters wrong.

Anderson Silva

Nobody can deny that Anderson Silva will go down as one of the top five best fighters of all time. What some people will dispute is how he's achieved some success in the UFC.

While his most recent fights have been a display of what makes him so great, there have been a few cases of Silva playing games with his opponents. Some fans refuse to let go of the Thales Leites and Demian Maia bouts.

Then there's the case of Silva "ducking" fighters like Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen. It would've been interesting to see if Silva would've healed any faster had Michael Bisping defeated Sonnen.

Although it's most likely just verbal jabs from Sonnen and Henderson, it does make you wonder sometimes if Silva does get a little choosy with his next fight.

Jon Jones

In the midst of defeating three former world champions, it seems Jon Jones has added another feat to his impressive resume.

He's gone from fan favorite to one of the most hated men in MMA in a little under a year.

Like Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva, he makes winning look easy. It's part of the reason fans love Jones, but the fact he's done it against three fan favorites also hasn't done him any favors.

Besides rising to stardom in such a small time frame, what fans love to hate on Jones the most is his attitude. Whether you classify him as fake, cocky or confident, it's clear that fans are more focused on Jon Jones the person instead of Jon Jones the fighter.

Fedor Emelianenko

Mention one bad thing about the almighty Fedor Emelianenko and watch the Internet debates spark up like wildfire. It seems like the "Pride fanboys" will never let their precious Emelianenko be criticised despite most of it being true nowadays.

There's no question that Emelianenko will go down as one of the best heavyweights in MMA history, but the argument of him not fighting in the UFC will always count against him.

It may not be a fair criticism of Emelianenko given the talented fighters under the Pride banner, but fighters who make a career outside the UFC tend to have a tough time creating a legacy.

Chael Sonnen

Perhaps the most polarizing figure with his words alone, Chael Sonnen has taken trash talk to a new level.

It's good that Sonnen can back his talk up, or else he really would've talked himself into irrelevancy. When Sonnen opens his mouth, people tune in to hear him talk regardless of their opinion on the man.

By defeating Brian Stann and Michael Bisping in back-to-back fights, Sonnen will finally get a chance to get his hands on Anderson Silva again.