Rousimar Palhares and 4 Other Underappreciated UFC Fighters

The UFC has a ton of stars in the organization that get all the media and tons of promotion. Although these men deserve it in most cases, there are other men in the organization who deserve some light shed on them for what they do for the company.

There are some fighters in the UFC who are straight-up underappreciated for the work they do in the cage. Here are six of them that deserve to be recognized for what they do.

Rousimar Palhares

For a man who damn near rips off everybody's legs, it does not seem like the UFC appreciates Rousimar Palhares enough. 

I get it, the man is a little out there. He didn't immediately release a hold on Tomasz Drwal. He stopped fighting Nate Marquardt mid-fight because he thought Marquardt's leg was greased. He started celebrating atop the cage even though the referee did not stop his fight against Dan Miller.

Despite all of that, Palhares continues to rack up wins. It seems that the UFC undervalues Palhares, given the level of competition he has received as of late. After the loss to Marquardt, Palhares has defeated Dave Branch, Dan Miller and Mike Massenzio. That does not seem right for a guy whose only UFC losses are to Marquardt and Dan Henderson.

Dan Miller

You wanna talk about a guy who works his butt off in fights and does not get any credit for the most part, you have to start with Dan Miller.

Dan Miller has never been finished, despite the level of competition he has faced. In addition to that, I cannot count the number of times where Miller has stepped up on late notice to fight a top opponent, not only saving a payday for said opponent, but saving a fight fans want to see as well.

It may not help that his brother Jim gets a lot the attention down at lightweight. With his recent drop the welterweight, maybe Dan can start to make a name for himself and become more appreciated by all.

Mike Pyle

Lost in the midst of the dog-eat-dog world known as the welterweight division is Mike Pyle. He consistently shows up ready to throw down, but is rarely mentioned by MMA fans or the UFC.

He quietly builds up his resume, beating tough fighters in the shadows of the Carlos Condits and the Nick Diazes of the division. He is 4-1 in his last five fights, losing only to surging contender Rory MacDonald. Of those four wins, he has temporarily derailed once-hot prospect John Hathaway, retired Ricardo Almeida and made quick work of Ricardo Funch in his last outing.

He is a true veteran of the sport who will probably always be undervalued. 

Gleison Tibau

You can continue talking about all the top lightweights in the division and how all of them are a fight away from a title shot, but remember how deep the division is. Men like Gleison Tibau get lost in the mix.

A fighter who is criminally underappreciated, Gleison Tibau continues to win against tough opponents. In his last six fights, he has only lost once (Jim Miller) and has beaten opponents such as Josh Neer, Kurt Pellegrino and Rafael dos Anjos.

He is a big lightweight who is a tough out for anybody. He is a Brazlian with an actual wrestling background, as well as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. 

Charlie Brenneman

OK, so Charlie Brenneman might be a guy who depends on his wrestling to win his fights, but you cannot deny the heart and never-die attitude he brings to every fight.

For one thing, we have to remember that Charlie Brenneman saved the day not long ago: The main event of the fight night in Pittsburgh was scrapped, and he stepped in on extremely short notice to fight Rick Story. Not only that, he won!

Brenneman is very undervalued and overlooked because of his style, but look at his UFC record. His only losses are to Anthony Johnson, who he probably gave up 20-plus pounds to, and top contender Johny Hendricks. He holds wins over notables Daniel Roberts and the aforementioned Story.

He will likely always be underappreciated by fans for everything he does.