UFC's 3 Biggest Underachievers

Not every fighter in the UFC is destined for greatness. 

Sometimes, even the greatest of fighters with seemingly boundless potential hit an unexpected wall.

Maybe they can't handle the step up in competition. Maybe they can't handle the pressure. Maybe, just maybe, they were never the fighters we thought they were. 

Whatever the case may be, some fighters are simply destined to eternally dwell in the balance of stardom and anonymity. 

Scroll on to see who made the cut as part of the three biggest underachievers in the UFC. Fighters were selected based on talent, performances and general expectations that were never met.

3. Phil Davis

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Phil Davis once authored a nine-win undefeated record before standing across the Octagon from Rashad Evans. A win for Evans would grant him a title shot. A win for Davis? We can only imagine. 

Quickly into the match would we realize that Davis was outmatched. His NCAA Division I All-American-caliber wrestling would go unnoticed in a fight against a comparable grappler with better striking. He wasn't ready to fight the best of the best. But, with only four years of MMA experience, that was OK. 

Fast-forward two years and Davis would find himself amid a four-fight unbeaten streak with a unanimous-decision victory over former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. Realizing the UFC president would forever be reluctant to grant him a title shot without any noticeable improvement in his rhetorical ways, he decided to step up his game and call out the champion. 

Unfortunately for Davis, he wouldn't be able to back up his talk. He wouldn't even get the opportunity to prove himself in any championship bout because of a one-sided loss to the resurgent Anthony "Rumble" Johnson.

Much to Davis' dismay, he isn't just wrestling anymore—he's participating in MMA. The top of the division harbors five solid fighters who can do so much more than just wrestle their opponent to the mat. Until Davis realizes he won't be able to use his wrestling as a crutch for his subpar striking, he'll dwell in the realm of disappointment. 

2. Michael Bisping

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Few other fighters in the UFC have taken part in, and lost, so many bouts on the doorstep of an approaching title shot. 

He first suffered a highlight-reel knockout loss to Dan Henderson after a whole season of The Ultimate Fighter's worth of verbal altercations. He was supposed to come in and accomplish one simple task: Avoid circling toward Henderson's H-Bomb. That didn't happen. Bisping's three-fight winning streak was all but deemed irrelevant and a shot at the title no longer existed. 

Bisping bounced back a few fights later, managing to get a four-fight winning streak going before running into Chael Sonnen in what was likely the last bout the Brit would need to win before finding himself inside of the Octagon with then-champion Anderson Silva. Bisping fought well, but never saw his hand raised—effectively sending him back in search of another winning streak that could warrant him a shot at the title. 

A knockout loss to Vitor Belfort and a five-round loss to Tim Kennedy ensured that the 35-year-old fighter would likely never find himself competing for UFC gold.

1. Alistair Overeem

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Did you really expect anybody else to be here? 

Alistair Overeem stepped into the Octagon against Brock Lesnar in 2011 to prove his dominance over all of the other heavyweights in the world. It took him a mere two minutes and 26 seconds to prove his point—he was worthy of a title shot against then-champion Junior dos Santos. 

He disappointed a majority of the MMA community when his drug test results showed elevated testosterone levels—he would no longer take part in a heavyweight bout to put an end to all of the arguments.

Overeem would return almost a year later to face off against Antonio "Big Foot" Silva in what many considered to be a warmup fight for the Reem. Should he get past Silva, the UFC would have no choice but to grant the popular heavyweight with an opportunity at the title. Silva had different plans.

So did Travis Browne.

So did Ben Rothwell. 

Almost three years after his UFC debut and Overeem is no longer a heavyweight title contender. He's not even considered a top-10 heavyweight in the UFC. 

He'll have what many consider to be a final chance to prove his worth in a bout against Stefan Struve in December. Should he lose that bout, Overeem won't have to worry about being one of the biggest underachievers in the UFC—he'll have to worry about being one of the biggest underachievers outside of the UFC. 

Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University's student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.