MMA: The 20 Most Underrated Fighters of All Time

Underrated is a slippery, and surprisingly charged, term in MMA. 

If a fighter is deemed to be underrated, does that mean we are discussing those whose careers are better than their records indicate? Or does it apply to a great fighter who is relatively unheralded? If it's the latter, who is doing the heralding: hardcore MMA fans, casual MMA fans or the general public?

This is the Gordian knot one must unravel before ranking the most underrated mixed martial artists in the history of recorded time.

Never being much of a knot untier, I ultimately took the easy way out and tried to blend all of the above criteria: fighters who were, and are, better in real life than they might appear on paper or in the media, fighters who sometimes get overlooked during barstool arguments among serious fans and fighters who are not known at all by the public—but should be.

20. Guy Mezger

Record: 30-14-2

Mezger had the misfortune of retiring in 2003, just as the sport was on the cusp of a huge leap in popularity.

The UFC 13 tournament champion, Mezger bested Tito Ortiz, Semmy Schilt and a host of others.

(Photo credit: Susumu)

19. Alexis Vila

Record: 9-0

An underdog among underdogs, the 40-year-old Vila is a presumed speed bump in reigning Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren’s path to winning the promotion’s bantamweight tournament and becoming Bellator’s first dual beltholder.

But not so fast, my friend. Vila is an Olympic bronze-medal wrestler who has six knockout wins on his MMA résumé. Warren looks past the Cuban-American at his peril.

18. Marco Ruas

Record: 9-4-2

The vale tudo pioneer may not have the gaudiest record, but he deserves credit for being one of the sport’s first true mixed martial artists. The UFC 7 tournament champion is one of the more unsung old-school fighters among MMA’s hardcore fanbase.

17. Cole Konrad

Record:  8-0

The first and only Bellator heavyweight champion, Konrad is regularly acknowledged for his wrestling prowess (he is a two-time NCAA Division I champion) but just as often derided for his doughy physique or a perceived paucity of stiff competition.

Regardless, not only has Konrad never lost an MMA fight, he has yet to be seriously challenged.

16. Ian McCall

Record: 11-2

Simply put, “Uncle Creepy” is the best flyweight on the planet today.

The newly minted Tachi Palace Fights champion wrested that belt away from Darrell Montague last month and arguably captured the world No. 1 flyweight ranking when he handed Jussier da Silva his only career defeat back in February.

When he steps into the cage this December to defend his belt against Will Campuzano, McCall will not have lost in almost three years.

(Photo credit: MMAranked.com)

15. Gilbert Yvel

Record: 36-16-1-1

A current three-fight losing streak and a history of borderline criminal behavior in the ring and the cage have tarnished Yvel’s legacy. But it doesn’t change the fact that he has wins over guys like Cheick Kongo and Semmy Schilt.

(Photo credit: Tapology)

14. Thiago Silva

Record: 14-2-1

Few fighters have cut a swath of destruction through their opponents the way Silva has. All but two of his wins have come via striking-related stoppage. Several were downright nasty.

Silva has fallen on hard times of late, in large part due to a failed drug test. Here’s hoping he’s clean and rededicated to the fight game after his one-year suspension lifts in February 2012.

13. Sergei Kharitonov

Record: 18-5

The hard-hitting Russian lost this month to Josh Barnett in the semifinals of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. Barnett showed that Kharitonov, a former boxer, is still not the world’s greatest grappler, but Sergei still can claim victories over Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum and Pedro Rizzo.

(Photo credit: Susumu)

12. Ronaldo Souza

Record: 14-3-1

The five-time jiu-jitsu champion falls a few spots after losing his Strikeforce middleweight title to Luke Rockhold just over a week ago. But the 31-year-old Jacare will be back and until further notice will continue to be considered one of the world’s top middleweights.

11. Jeremy Horn

Record: 88-21-5

Still fighting after all these years. In fact, he captured a minor-league championship belt in his most recent fight, held earlier this year.

The jiu-jitsu wizard has taken down the likes of Chuck Liddell, Chael Sonnen, Gilbert Yvel and Forrest Griffin, to name a very few. (And yes, that is Sonnen in the photo.)

When you have the capacity not only to get into 114 professional cage fights, but to win 88 of them as well, you deserve to be on the tip of every fan's tongue. Hopefully one day Horn will get his due.

10. Eddie Alvarez

Record: 22-2

The current Bellator lightweight champion hasn’t lost in more than two years. His last three wins have come over Pat Curran, Roger Huerta and Josh Neer.

9. Mamoru Yamaguchi

Record: 26-6-3

McCall may be the best flyweight in MMA today, but Yamaguchi is still the best of all time.

Maybe it's the weight class. Maybe it's the fact that he's spent most of his career in various non-Pride Japanese promotions. Maybe it's something else. Regardless, virtually no one—no one—gives Yamaguchi his propers.

I'm here to change that. The Illest Afro in Asia is a former Shooto champ at both 128 and 132 pounds and was the King of the Cage flyweight title holder. If that's not enough, look at that hair. Look at it!

Yamaguchi deserves your respect—perhaps even your envy. I know he has both of mine, in abundance. End of story.

8. Vladimir Matyushenko

Record: 26-5

The Janitor just keeps chugging along.

The epitome of a grizzled grappler, the Russian’s only two losses in the past six years came at the hands of Jon Jones and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

I’m personally hoping the UFC eventually remakes the match between Matyushenko and up-and-comer Alexander Gustafsson.

7. Yuki Kondo

Record: 52-25-8

Kondo’s career began right alongside the sport of MMA, as his first match came in the first event ever held by the seminal Pancrase promotion. Over his 14-year career, he defeated Frank Shamrock, Guy Mezger and Semmy Schilt, among others.

(Photo credit: Susumu)

6. Gilbert Melendez

Record: 19-2

When he faces Jorge Masvidal this December, Melendez will be defending the Strikeforce lightweight title for the seventh time. In six of those instances, he was successful.

Melendez has not lost in more than three years and has long been considered the sport’s best lightweight outside the UFC.

UFC devotees can’t play the poor competition card on this one either. Octagon veteran Clay Guida and longtime Japanese beltholder Shinya Aoki are two of the more prominent names on the Melendez hit list.

5. Ricardo Arona

Record: 14-5

In his heyday, there was no beatdown artist on the level of Ricardo Arona. Hell, there still might not be one.

The RINGS middleweight champ and 2005 Pride Grand Prix finalist has defeated Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem and Jeremy Horn twice. Perhaps his most famous achievement, however, was the absolutely medieval whupping he issued to Kazushi Sakuraba at Pride Critical Countdown 2005.

(Photo credit: Tatame)

4. Hector Lombard

Record: 30-2-1

The thunder-fisted Lombard is the current Bellator middleweight champion. Though he has plenty of notoriety among the hardcore set—a 19-fight win streak will do that—he is not well known to even casual MMA fans.

It’s a shame, given his wildly entertaining (and wildly effective) fighting style, which involves a lot of, what’s the technical term, vicious beatdowns.

3. Jon Fitch

Record: 23-3-1

Can a writer get a moment of silence for Mr. Jon Parker Fitch?

I know “Pee Break” Fitch can be a little, ah, deliberate in his pacing. His soul-crushing grind is tailor-made to break opponents, but unfortunately it can also break the will of paying customers.

As always, like it or not, the bottom line is the bottom line. Maybe that’s why Fitch, despite being the consensus No. 2 welterweight in the world for quite some time now, doesn’t seem to be in line for a rematch with Georges St-Pierre anytime soon.

In fact, he doesn’t even seem to be in line for a matchup with a legitimate contender. No offense to Johny Hendricks, a fine fighter in his own right, but that opponent is an insult to someone with Fitch’s bona fides, which include a win over Diego Sanchez, two wins over Thiago Alves and a draw with BJ Penn.

In brazenly refusing to incorporate Fitch into the title mix at 170, the UFC is not only daring (if not begging) Fitch to find employment elsewhere, but delegitimizing its welterweight contender pool as well.

(Photo credit: MMAJunkie.com)

2. Igor Vovchanchyn

Record: 54-10-1-1

Many consider “Ice Cold” the father of the modern-day MMA standup game.

He certainly had something figured out; the ref raised Igor’s arms 38 times following a striking-related stoppage.

And how’s this for a partial victims list: Kazushi Sakuraba, Gilbert Yvel, Yuki Kondo, Mark Kerr and Enson Inoue. At one point he won six consecutive fights by KO.

Igor retired in 2005, just as MMA was really heating up. Too bad, as few people realize how dominant “Ice Cold” really was.

1. Kazushi Sakuraba

Record: 26-15-1-2

In Japan and among serious fans, Sakuraba can never be considered underrated. He is, without hyperbole, a hero to millions.

However, among casual MMA fans and the general sports-watching public, Sakuraba is all but anonymous.

That’s a shame, given his epic victories over the then-virtually unbeatable Gracie clan. He won the longest fight in MMA history, a 90-minute war with Royce Gracie.

Sakuraba was known for his self-deprecating humor, less-than-Grecian physique and a willingness to fight almost anyone and never give up in the process.

And what a fighter he was. Here’s a man who retired Guy Mezger. Who submitted Rampage Jackson. Who outpointed Vitor Belfort. Who submitted Carlos Newton. Who knocked out Ken Shamrock. Who broke Renzo Gracie’s arm.

It’s hard to come up with new superlatives for Kazushi Sakuraba. However, given his illustrious fight career and the relative obscurity in which that career exists, he gets my vote every time as MMA history’s most underrated fighter.

(Photo credit: Dream Stage Entertainment)