“Underrated” is a bit of a slippery term, especially in MMA.
Everything has a tinge of subjectivity, and that’s part of the fun, but you have to try and define your boundaries a bit, too. That’s what I’ve attempted to do here with this list of the most underrated stand-up fighters in MMA.
I’m taking a bit of a blended approach on this one. These are guys who fans—casual and serious alike—either may not know of intimately or don’t typically think of as particularly dangerous stand-up fighters. It also contains a few well-known fighters who don’t get enough credit for their stand-up skills.
This is not a prospect list, and all of these guys are at least reasonably established. After all, you can’t really be underrated if no one has heard of you.
This is also not a hardcore technical breakdown. Good stand-up means you’re using it to win fights, or at least hurt people.
Stats aren’t everything, but one point of data that I’m including in this piece is each fighter’s total number of wins by striking-related stoppage, which includes KO and TKO, as well as things like taps to strikes and retirements. For convenience I’m calling it SRS.
OK, enough ground rules. Here’s the list.