5 MMA legends whose records do not match their reputation

#4. B.J. Penn – 16-14-2 MMA record

BJ Penn stuck around too long and damaged his record in the process

B.J. Penn is not only a UFC Hall of Famer, he’s widely recognized as a true MMA legend thanks to both his incredible skills inside the octagon and also the fact that he helped to build the sport’s lower weight divisions essentially from the bottom up.

However, while there’s an argument that at his best, ‘The Prodigy’ is still the greatest lightweight to ever compete in the UFC, unfortunately, his record doesn’t stand up to that idea at all. If anything, his 16-14-2 ledger is actually below average.

The Hawaiian, who won both the UFC welterweight and lightweight titles during his time with the promotion, holds wins over fellow greats such as Matt Hughes, Caol Uno, Jens Pulver and Diego Sanchez.

However, his willingness to jump into weight classes that he simply didn’t belong in, such as his excursion to 205 pounds for a fight with Lyoto Machida in 2005, meant that he picked up losses that he probably shouldn’t have.

Add in the fact that he returned from retirement one too many times, ending his UFC career on a horrible seven-fight losing streak, and suddenly, his poor record is understandable.

Had ‘The Prodigy’ simply hung it up after his 2011 loss to Nick Diaz as he’d planned to, his record of 16-8-2 still wouldn’t have looked great, but would’ve been far closer to his reputation than his actual ledger is.

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#3. Kazushi Sakuraba – 26-17-1 MMA record

Kazushi Sakuraba shot to fame in Japan, but his willingness to fight larger foes damaged his record

When it comes to Japanese MMA, few fighters were able to reach the legendary status that Kazushi Sakuraba enjoyed in the early 2000’s. Despite coming from a pro-wrestling background, Sakuraba succeeded where the likes of Nobuhiko Takada failed and made a massive mark in the ring, primarily in PRIDE.

After pulling off major wins over the likes of Vitor Belfort and Carlos Newton during his early years, Sakuraba wrote himself into MMA history by submitting Royler Gracie in 1999, becoming the first fighter to officially defeat a member of the Gracie family in several decades.

From there, the Japanese star defeated three more members of the illustrious family – Royce, Renzo and Ryan – earning the nickname ‘The Gracie Hunter’ in the process.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for Sakuraba to become a victim of his own success in many ways. Rather than match him with fighters his own size – Sakuraba could’ve fought at either 170 or 185 pounds in the UFC – PRIDE preferred to put their biggest star up against huge, monstrous opponents.

Unsurprisingly, this didn’t go so well for Sakuraba, who suffered devastating losses to the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Mirko Cro Cop and Ricardo Arona.

Worse still, had Sakuraba simply retired when PRIDE closed its doors in 2007, he could’ve ended his career with a respectable 20-9-1 record. Instead, he headed to the new DREAM promotion and ended up fighting for far longer than he should’ve done.

In the end, his career finished with a five-fight slide, leaving him with a ledger that simply doesn’t match his stellar reputation at all.