The 15 Most Overlooked Fighters in MMA Today

It's a lot easier—for me, anyway—to follow team sports than it is to follow an individual sport like MMA. Even if you can't name the backup right guard for, say, the New Orleans Saints, you can still root for them without much of a problem. The guys in gold are good, the other guys are bad, yay for Drew Brees and that's that.

There's more to being an MMA fan. It's not as easy as picking one favorite and stopping. You can't just click over to your favorite guy and then chillax, as that one favorite is probably only going to fight four times a year tops. Plus, the fight cards are selected for you; it's not a full or near-full menu every time. And that's to say nothing of weight classes or the guys who fight on free events versus the guys you have to pay to see. You get the idea.

So if you really want to know what's going on in the world of MMA during any given event, you pretty much have to know who everyone is. That's why I find that the average MMA fan is far more likely to know who the No. 10 featherweight contender is than the average football fan is to know who the starting receivers are on any roster outside their home team's division. Not to say one is more knowledgeable than the other; it's just different.

That said, there are still some guys who fall through the cracks, even among devoted fans. Whether it's because they're in a smaller promotion, lack charisma or simply don't get the high-profile fights they seem to deserve on paper, these are the 15 most overlooked fighters in the sport today.

15. Ronaldo Souza

Record: 14-3-1

The five-time jiu-jitsu champion falls to the bottom of the list after losing the Strikeforce middleweight title to Luke Rockhold. But the 31-year-old Jacare is still one of the world’s top middleweights, even if much of the world doesn't know it.

14. Ben Saunders

Record: 12-3-2

This UFC castaway is making waves in Bellator, where he tore through Chris Cisneros and Luis Santos to reach the welterweight tournament final. His Muay Thai was always vicious, and now it's complemented by a more thoughtful ground game. And let's not forget that he didn't fare too badly in the UFC, going 4-3 with a signature win over Marcus Davis.

Could a tourney championship—or a return to the Octagon—be in his future?

13. Ian McCall

Record: 11-2

The Tachi Palace Fights flyweight champ is probably the best 125-pounder in the business. He'll defend his belt for the first time this December against Will Campuzano.

12. Sergei Kharitonov

Record: 18-5

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

11. 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.

Silva has fallen on hard times of late, and it's largely self-inflicted, thanks to a failed drug test. Even though he's inactive until next February, I'm still not sure I'd go around poking this particular dog in the eye by calling him names like, oh, I don't know, "juice monkey." Just a word to the wise *coughbrandonveracough.*

10. Alexander Gustafsson

Record: 12-1

When last we saw him, the well-rounded Swede was putting the final nail in Matt Hamill's career. When we see him again, the 24-year-old will be tangling with grizzled Russian Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 141.

9. Donald Cerrone

Record: 16-3-1

Cowboy has faltered a few times on his road to stardom. But at 3-0 in the UFC and riding a buckin' bronco's worth of momentum into this Saturday's tilt with Dennis Siver at UFC 137, Cerrone could be staring down the barrell of a big Octagon run at lightweight.

8. 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

7. Joseph Benavidez

Record: 15-2

For a more-or-less-consensus No. 1 contender, Benavidez has a national profile the size of a postage stamp.

All the talk at bantamweight centers around Urijah Faber or Brian Bowles, or Demetrious Johnson before that. Meanwhile, Benavidez just keeps winning, most recently over Eddie Wineland in August. His only losses both came to Dominick Cruz, and both were pretty darn close.

It's odd that Benavidez seems overlooked even in the world of overlooked rankings. Everybody's always like "dude you so crazy everyone loves Benavidez no way he's overlooked." That, of course, is right before everyone goes back to ignoring him.

6. Alan Belcher

Record: 17-6

The Talent has won seven of his last nine, including a convincing tap-from-strikes victory over Jason MacDonald in September. It was Belcher's first fight after a 16-month layoff following a serious eye injury.

5. Jorge Masvidal

Record: 22-6

The high-energy kickboxer will have a chance to gain some overdue notoriety in a December fight with Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce lightweight title.

4. Patricio Freire

Record: 17-1

Pitbull's only career loss came last June, to eventual (and reigning) Bellator featherweight champ Joe Warren. His path to top contender status has pulled off at a rest stop for now, as Freire tends to a broken hand, but I imagine the 24-year-old will be back on the road before too long.

3. Jake Ellenberger

Record: 26-5

Remember this guy? The guy who knocked out Jake Shields?  Oh, yeaaaaah.

Seriously, though, what does this guy have to do to get into the welterweight title mix? The guy can wrestle, he has thunderfists and he hasn't lost in more than two years. Oh, and he just knocked out Jake Shields!

Is Diego Sanchez really a logical next step for this guy? Are you really saying he has less of a shot against Georges St-Pierre than neurotic boxer Nick Diaz and two-time GSP victim B.J. Penn?  Is that what you're telling me? Because I just want to clarify.

Oh, and here's one more question: What do I have to do to make Ellenberger-Koscheck happen?  Come on, UFC. It's out there like the nose on your face.

2. Jon Fitch

Record: 23-3-1

The man known as “Smoke Break” can be a little deliberative 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 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.

1. Alexis Vila

Record: 11-0

When he stepped in against Joe Warren one month ago, the 40-year-old Vila was as much of a nobody as you can be without carrying an "L" on your record sheet.

That changed in precisely one minute and four seconds, which is how long it took Vila to find a home on Warren's jaw for his ball-peen of a left hand. He followed that performance by out-grinding Marcos Galvao to reach Bellator's bantamweight tournament final.

The Cuban defect has knockout power in both hands. He's also carrying an Olympic bronze medalist for freestyle wrestling in his back pocket. Literally. He carries it. I've seen it.

Vila's not only getting better with age, he's getting better with every fight. Eduardo Dantas is no slouch, but in the tournament final on Nov. 26, he better not overlook the most overlooked fighter in the sport today.