Last week, Bloody Elbow passed along a video where UFC fighters Brendan Schaub and Michael Bisping, along with Bryan Callen, picked their top five most underrated UFC fighters. Their picks were decent, but the Bloody Elbow staff thought that maybe they could do a better job. So with that in mind, we decided to make our own lists. Eight of BE’s best and brightest (along with Mookie Alexander) submitted their opinions, and while there was some crossover, everyone had at least one unique fighter in their top five.
Without further ado, here’s who everyone picked.
Zane Simon
1. Derek Brunson
2. Kyung Ho Kang
3. Mitch Gagnon
4. Rashid Magomedov
5. Adriano Martins
T.P. Grant
1. Nik Lentz
2. Zach Makovsky
3. Brad Tavares
4. Kyung Ho Kang
5. Oleksiy Oliynyk
Tim Burke
1. Jorge Masvidal
2. Patrick Cummins
3. Tony Ferguson
4. John Hathaway
5. Dustin Ortiz
Phil McKenzie
1. Rafael Assuncao
2. Wilson Reis
3. Ruslan Magomedov
4. George Sullivan
5. Mike Pierce
Roy Billington
1. Neil Seery
2. Leandro Issa
3. Michael Johnson
4. Rick Story
5. Dustin Ortiz
Steph Daniels
1. Mitch Gagnon
2. Tony Ferguson
3. Matt Mitrione
4. Derek Brunson
5. Zach Makovsky
Mookie Alexander
1. Jorge Masvidal
2. Jessica Eye
3. Mitch Gagnon
4. Ryan LaFlare
5. Neil Seery
Connor Ruebusch
1. Ben Rothwell
2. Tim Kennedy
3. Evan Dunham
4. Mitch Gagnon
5. Jussier Formiga
Fernando Arbex
1. Tony Ferguson
2. Charles Oliveira
3. Thiago Alves
4. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
5. Matt Wiman
Of the 14 picks between Bisping, Schaub, and Callen (Cummins made two lists), the BE staff chose just three people from their lists – Cummins, Mitrione, and Alves.
A total of 34 different fighters were picked out of the 45 BE votes. While there are many ways to look at all of this, we’ll go with two for now. The first would be who made the most lists. That would be Mitch Gagnon, who made four. Tony Ferguson was next with three, while six fighters (Derek Brunson, Kyung Ho Kang, Zach Makovsky, Jorge Masvidal, Dustin Ortiz, and Neil Seery) made two lists.
The second way to look at it would be a UFC rankings-style deal where guys get ranked at number one get five points, and so on, down to the number five fighter who gets one point. Doing it that way, here are the top five:
1. Mitch Gagnon (13)
2. Tony Ferguson (12)
3. Jorge Masvidal (10)
4. Derek Brunson (7)
5. Kyung Ho Kang (6)
So folks, based on our small sample size, Mitch Gagnon is the most underrated fighter in the UFC. Do you agree? Disagree? Did we leave anyone out?
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