Currently the most overrated and underrated fighters...

[JohnGalt2341]

That Hendo sucked in that match doesn't make Shields the second coming.

You're right. It doesn't. But this is what DOES make Jake Shields the most underrated fighter out there. 14 straight wins since Dec 2004. Finishing most of them. That's exactly the same as Anderson Silva's track record. Anderson Silva does it and he's considered the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Jake Shields does it and most people still have no idea who he is. Their level of competition has been about the same. Anderson's road has been slightly more difficult but not by much. Brock Lesnar wins a couple of fights and people think he's the greatest heavyweight ever. Some even think he's top 10 pound for pound. Jake's won 14 straight fights against tough competition. Brock will NEVER do this! Aside from Fedor(best fighter ever) and Anderson Silva(most consider him the best pound for pound) I can't think of any other fighters that are currently on the kind of winning streak like the one Shields is on. I'm not counting Lyoto Machida because he lost against Rua. I don't care what the judges say. Now, tell me, who is more underrated than Jake Shields?

[Kaladarus]

Shields is way underrated considering he can dominate just about any fighter at 170 or 185.

[Facepunch]

I think the most overrated fighter is whoever they are trying to build up before a big fight at the time.

Remember when Tito was going to fight Ken Shamrock for the millionth time, and they kept building Shamrock up as this eternal legend etc. When in fact he was always second fiddle to Gracie during his heyday, and lost his most memorable fight to Dan Severn (most memorable in my opinion) the guy had some wars, but he was all hype.

Lot of hype in the fight game.

sometimes it is hard to discern what is real and what is hype.

Tito, Liddell, (to a degree) Couture, rampage, evans all have been over hyped at one time or another, you only fall for this stuff if you buy into the fallacy that every person that steps into the ring/cage/octagon does not have a punchers chance.

[JohnGalt2341]

I think the most overrated fighter is whoever they are trying to build up before a big fight at the time. Remember when Tito was going to fight Ken Shamrock for the millionth time, and they kept building Shamrock up as this eternal legend etc. When in fact he was always second fiddle to Gracie during his heyday, and lost his most memorable fight to Dan Severn (most memorable in my opinion) the guy had some wars, but he was all hype. Lot of hype in the fight game. sometimes it is hard to discern what is real and what is hype. Tito, Liddell, (to a degree) Couture, rampage, evans all have been over hyped at one time or another, you only fall for this stuff if you buy into the fallacy that every person that steps into the ring/cage/octagon does not have a punchers chance.

You make a pretty good argument and I agree with much of it. But the thing is, in the early 90's Ken Shamrock was one of the best MMA fighters in the world pound for pound. He lost once against Royce. That's nothing to be ashamed of. Royce is the most important fighter in the history of televised MMA. Ken has 2 wins over Bas Rutten. Bas is no slouch. Ken is still one of the most important fighters in the history of televised MMA. Could Ken in his prime compete with today's fighters? Doubtful. But he's still a legend, even if he was overhyped all 12 times he fought Tito.

[Facepunch]

You make a pretty good argument and I agree with much of it. But the thing is, in the early 90's Ken Shamrock was one of the best MMA fighters in the world pound for pound. He lost once against Royce. That's nothing to be ashamed of. Royce is the most important fighter in the history of televised MMA. Ken has 2 wins over Bas Rutten. Bas is no slouch. Ken is still one of the most important fighters in the history of televised MMA. Could Ken in his prime compete with today's fighters? Doubtful. But he's still a legend, even if he was overhyped all 12 times he fought Tito.

Good point, Bas Rutten is friggin awesome. I remember getting his VHS tapes on training for MMA when I was like 16.
The point stands though, whoever is in the next UFC will be the most hyped / over rated person at that time.

[ktkn]

OVERRATED
1. GSP- Great athlete and everything, but for anyone to say he's top 3 p4p and that he's a dominant champion would be a joke. He can't finish his opponents and just eeks out decisions.
2. Machida- I mean seriously, for people to consider this guy in a p4p conversation after losing his last fight would be ridiculous. He probably wouldn't even beat Mousasi or Rampage.
3. Koscheck- for someone who got destroyed by Paulo Thiago and cheated to win his last fight, this guy is super overrated. I mean faking an eye poke while getting kneed? Then poking your opponent in the eye 26 times until he can't see and then getting the victory? wow, and people think he's seriously a top 3 WW.
4. Frank Mir- I mean seriously, anyone with a half a brain knows Roy Nelson would have the advantage over Mir in every position if they ever fought. Lets not forget that Mir's two biggest wins are flukes for obvious reasons. He already owned him in a grappling match, plus he obviously has the better hands.
5. Aoki- Melendez will finally end the hype...
UNDERRATED
1. Gegard Mousasi- would own anyone at LHW except MAYBE Shogun.
2. Rampage- still hasn't lost in the UFC (Forrest didn't win) and should still be champ.
3. Ken-Flo- dude's a beast, he's easily the #2 LW
4. Brett Rogers- so he loses 1 fight and now he's a can? what a joke... this man can beat anyone
5. Nick Diaz- the baddest mofo on the planet...nuff said

I cannot see how GSP can be overrated by ANYBODY. He has dominated every single fight and none of the fights have ever been close or even controversal. He hardly loses any rounds let alone fights. He doesn't need to fight anybody from the current ufc lineup at 170 as he seems untouchable. Maybe Jake Shields needs to come down to give him a test. No one at 170 right now is even close, if he is going to be tested, it will be from somebody at 185 who drops down.

[Tree Rollins]

I think the casual mma fan underrates Nick Diaz. He has the skills to contend for a title in the UFC if he ever came back.

[Eccocide]

You're right. It doesn't. But this is what DOES make Jake Shields the most underrated fighter out there. 14 straight wins since Dec 2004. Finishing most of them. That's exactly the same as Anderson Silva's track record. Anderson Silva does it and he's considered the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Jake Shields does it and most people still have no idea who he is. Their level of competition has been about the same. Anderson's road has been slightly more difficult but not by much. Brock Lesnar wins a couple of fights and people think he's the greatest heavyweight ever. Some even think he's top 10 pound for pound. Jake's won 14 straight fights against tough competition. Brock will NEVER do this! Aside from Fedor(best fighter ever) and Anderson Silva(most consider him the best pound for pound) I can't think of any other fighters that are currently on the kind of winning streak like the one Shields is on. I'm not counting Lyoto Machida because he lost against Rua. I don't care what the judges say. Now, tell me, who is more underrated than Jake Shields?

I don't disagree that Shields is underrated but the competition between him and Silva is not close. Silva has beaten all the top 10 in his division. Shields hasn't fought anyone in the top 10 at welterweight. Let him fight Koscheck, Fitch, Alves or Thiago, let alone GSP, before you can compare who he has fought vs who anderson has fought.

[NOLA42]

I don't disagree that Shields is underrated but the competition between him and Silva is not close. Silva has beaten all the top 10 in his division. Shields hasn't fought anyone in the top 10 at welterweight. Let him fight Koscheck, Fitch, Alves or Thiago, let alone GSP, before you can compare who he has fought vs who anderson has fought.

Exactly, Silva has cleaned out his entire division, Shields has cleaned out the Strikeforce division, all 3 WWs they have

[clarkd32]

I'm a huge Nick Diaz fan but don't like some of the matchups for him in the ufc. Some of the guys would take him down and just lay on him (GSP, Koschek, Fitch). Diaz takedowns aren't that great either which would make it tough for him to use his bjj.

[JohnGalt2341]

I don't disagree that Shields is underrated but the competition between him and Silva is not close. Silva has beaten all the top 10 in his division. Shields hasn't fought anyone in the top 10 at welterweight. Let him fight Koscheck, Fitch, Alves or Thiago, let alone GSP, before you can compare who he has fought vs who anderson has fought.

This statement is complete nonsense. Henderson isn't top 10? REALLY??? Not only is Henderson top 10 at 185 he's also one of the best 205 guys out there. Shields, a very small 185 guy beat a HUGE 185 guy in Dan Henderson. I realize that Henderson is not a Welterweight but that makes it all the more impressive. Let's look at some other top 10 guys that Shields has beat. Okami, Carlos Condit, Paul Daley(6 fight win streak before Shields beat him), Nick Thompson(no longer top 10 but he was at the time Shields beat him. He was on a 12 fight win streak in fact. One of those wins was over Eddie Alvarez who is also top 10). Jason Miller and Lawler are also no slouches. Hell, GSP lost to Matt Serra. No matter how good you are, it is EXTREMELY difficult to win 14 MMA fights in a row. If you do, you deserve some recognition.

[Tree Rollins]

Shields will probably be in the ufc soon, and his timing couldn't be better. At the moment, he's the welterweight whom i'd give the best chance against GSP.

[Eccocide]

This statement is complete nonsense. Henderson isn't top 10? REALLY??? Not only is Henderson top 10 at 185 he's also one of the best 205 guys out there. Shields, a very small 185 guy beat a HUGE 185 guy in Dan Henderson. I realize that Henderson is not a Welterweight but that makes it all the more impressive. Let's look at some other top 10 guys that Shields has beat. Okami, Carlos Condit, Paul Daley(6 fight win streak before Shields beat him), Nick Thompson(no longer top 10 but he was at the time Shields beat him. He was on a 12 fight win streak in fact. One of those wins was over Eddie Alvarez who is also top 10). Jason Miller and Lawler are also no slouches. Hell, GSP lost to Matt Serra. No matter how good you are, it is EXTREMELY difficult to win 14 MMA fights in a row. If you do, you deserve some recognition.

Nonsense? lol okay....First i said Welterweight...which Hendo isnt. but I'll give you that he is a top 10 at middleweight although he was injured for the fight. Condit is one of my favourite fighers, but he has never been in any top 10 - could be one day but not yet. Daley was nowhere near the top 10 when he fought Shields. For the Daley win streak you speak of, his best win was against Ludwig coming off 2-2 against mediocre competition. Lawler and Miller are tough/respected fighters but if you read what i wrote i said top 10...and neither are/were top 10. Not to mention I said welterweight. All I said was don't compare Silva's competition to Shields. Its pretty obvious the UFC has owned most of the top welterweights over the last 5 years and Shields needs to beat those guys to be established as Anderson. I got nothing against the guy but its not hard to understand that he will face much bigger tests in the UFC. .....Oh and one more thing...Silva finished Hendo, something Shields couldn't do even though he had mount for 4 rounds straight. And Anderson destroyed Forrest who is a top 5 LWH.....But its all nonsense as you say

[JohnGalt2341]

Shields hasn't fought anyone in the top 10 at welterweight.

Ok, lets take a vote. This statement is complete nonsense. Who is with me on this? Who is with Eccocide?

[Eccocide]

Lol you don't need a poll. Sherdog has all of their rankings archived. If you are so pussy-hurt over my statement go search them and show me where Sheilds beats all of this top 10 competition at welterweight that you speak of. YOU compared Anderson's competition to Shields competition. At least 7 of Anderson's last 10 opponents were all ranked in the top 10. You will struggle to find 1 guy that Shields has beaten at welterweight that was in the top 10 when he fought them. I'm pretty sure my argument is pretty valid, but continue your crusade.

[knownone]

Ok, lets take a vote. This statement is complete nonsense. Who is with me on this? Who is with Eccocide?

I agree with Eccocide, He really hasn't fought a top ten guy at welterweight... he's also never fought Eddie Alvarez just clarifying that.

[JohnGalt2341]

Lol you don't need a poll. Sherdog has all of their rankings archived. If you are so pussy-hurt over my statement go search them and show me where Sheilds beats all of this top 10 competition at welterweight that you speak of. YOU compared Anderson's competition to Shields competition. At least 7 of Anderson's last 10 opponents were all ranked in the top 10. You will struggle to find 1 guy that Shields has beaten at welterweight that was in the top 10 when he fought them. I'm pretty sure my argument is pretty valid, but continue your crusade.

I already named them. I don't need to name them again. Are you familiar with the ELO Rating System? I'm guessing no, and that's ok. It's mostly used in games like Chess and Go but it's also used in Major League Baseball. There is also an ELO rating system for MMA. ELO is non-biased. It doesn't care about how much you are on TV or what organization you fight for or how well you are marketed. It only cares about your strength of schedule and your wins and losses. Jake Shields is ranked in the top 10 pound for pound fighters of all time according to the MMA ELO rating system. I'm not saying Jake Shields is as good as Anderson Silva or GSP. I never said that. I said Jake Shields is the most underrated fighter ever. And he is.

[Socrates]

Don't forget about Noguiera, very over-rated. Cain exposed him and PRIDE.

Lmao @the purple pillow.

Seriously though, people are still talking about UFC vs Pride? That shit is 08, 09. Move on, the UFC is taking over and I don't see Strikeforce challenging anytime soon.

Big deal though, just enjoy the fights from whatever organization happens to put out a decent card.

[westerner]

If Jake Shields beats Dan Henderson in April then Jake should be considered pound for pound the most underrated fighter in the history of MMA. Keep in mind, that I think BOTH Jake and Hendo belong on the underrated list. I give the edge to Hendo in this fight but I wouldn't count Jake out. He hasn't lost a fight in years and he's not exactly fighting cupcakes.

Do you know who Hatsu Hioki is? Pretty sure he's more underrated even though Shields own.

an update as of may 14 2010 :

Jon Jones
Rampage
Carwin
Overeem
JDS
Anderson

underrated:

Brett Rogers
Roy Nelson
GSP
Rashad
Nick Diaz
Kawajiri (that will end when he beats Aoki this year)