More often than not in the world of mixed martial arts, you have to earn your way into the title picture, which is understandable given the amount of talent on display in any given promotion. However in some instances, most commonly the UFC, there's been a few occasions in which Championship bouts have been put together based mainly on one thing - someone's ability to talk.
It's a tactic that is utilised extremely well in the world of professional wrestling, however, MMA fans prefer for fighters to prove themselves in the Octagon instead of jumping to the front of the line. It's not always a bad thing and sometimes it works out for the best with the underdog winning the championship, but it's a lose-lose situation for the UFC in terms of the criticism they receive.
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Some fans will end up saying that the Champion isn't fighting top level contenders, meanwhile, if they end up losing the belt they'll argue that the ranking system now means nothing. Look, we applaud these fighters for managing to somehow worm their way up to the top of the card, but it's still not a thrilling prospect when it happens.
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With that being said, here are five times MMA fighters talked their way into title fights.
#1 Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva
After coming so close to defeating Anderson Silva during their first encounter, it seemed painfully obvious that Chael Sonnen would get another shot at the Middleweight Championship. Thankfully for The Bad Guy, that day did come, but looking back it is a tad surprising when you consider that he tested positive for increased testosterone levels coupled with a controversial win over Michael Bisping.
So what pushed the UFC into making the fight? Sonnen's mouth.
The guy could talk for days and days and at times resembled a professional wrestler as opposed to a mixed martial artist, but that didn't matter to Dana as all he could see was dollar signs. Obviously, the fight didn't turn out how many expected or hoped, but good for Chael managing to find his way into another title opportunity. Sort of.
Over to the females now for our next entry.
#2 Bethe Correia vs. Ronda Rousey
Bethe Correia was one of the most detestable women in all of sport leading up to her bout against champion Ronda Rousey, which is ironically one of the reasons why the fight was made in the first place. After defeating two of the supposed Four Horsewomen (who had an awful combined record), Correia was given the title shot simply due to the storyline.
Correia attempted to get under Rousey's skin throughout the entire build up to the fight, but it was never going to work and the seemingly unstoppable Champion made an example out of Correia that ensured nobody would ever question her abilities again.
Did someone say, Diaz? Oh dear.
#3 Nick Diaz vs. Georges St-Pierre
Nick Diaz is one of the most overrated and overhyped fighters in the history of mixed martial arts. There, we said it. The guy comes across as a thug and it's shocking that the UFC continues to consider him a commodity when in reality there are so many other guys who are more talented than him.
Alas, that didn't matter to the company a few years back when they booked him in to challenge Georges St-Pierre for the Welterweight Championship.
It went about as well as you can imagine for Diaz, with his verbal taunts and accusations falling on deaf ears as GSP continued to build his legacy as Champion. The result was never really in doubt and all it served to do was once again prove to the world that Nate was by far the more talented brother.
If you need even more proof, go watch his two fights against McGregor. Back to a man who's already featured once in this list.
#4 Chael Sonnen vs. Jon Jones
In case you don't know the story, here it is in short. Chael Sonnen offered to fight Jon Jones for the Light Heavyweight Championship on short notice after Dan Henderson pulled out. Jones declined, which led to the cancellation of UFC 151.
Then, Chael began running his mouth about the incident whilst knowing full well that he'd be able to sneak his way into another title opportunity.
That's exactly what happened following the two coaching opposite each other on the Ultimate Fighter, with Sonnen once again being in a headline spot courtesy of his trash talking. Ironically though once he'd got the fight, he took a much more respectful approach to the bout with Jones as opposed to his prior clash with Anderson.
Maybe he learned the error of his ways after all. We conclude with the most recent example.
#5 Cody Garbrandt vs. Dominick Cruz
Now this one is a little bit more contentious because Cody received a big helping hand from Team Alpha Male to make this fight happen. Garbrandt was barely even a top five guy when he stepped into the Octagon against Dominick Cruz, however, the story about Cody having watched Cruz ever since he was younger got the UFC thinking about a potential bout between the two.
Along with Team Alpha Male, who have experienced a number of losses at the hands of Cruz, Cody was able to make this fight happen and the Champion was more than happy to add another notch to his win column.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way, which shows that you should never underestimate your opponent despite how superior you may believe yourself to be.
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