5 UFC champions who had highly underrated records

#4. Dominick Cruz – former UFC bantamweight champion

Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz appears to have been forgotten by some UFC fans

If it were not for his record with injuries, Dominick Cruz could well be recognized as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in UFC history, period. As it is, there’s an argument that he remains the UFC’s greatest-ever bantamweight.

However, probably due to his lengthy stretches of inactivity, he seems to be largely underrated. That's also due to the fact he’d slipped out of his prime somewhat when fighters such as Petr Yan, Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo really arrived in the division

But in reality, ‘The Dominator’ should be much more respected by UFC fans than he seems to be. Not only did he go unbeaten for the best part of a decade, but he absolutely whitewashed fellow greats such as Urijah Faber, Takeya Mizugaki, Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez.

And due to his unorthodox style, which was built heavily around his strong wrestling base, excellent timing and footwork, even his toughest opponents were barely able to lay a glove on him.

Cruz famously spent the best part of five years out of action between 2011 and 2016. Somehow he was still able to return and defeat T.J. Dillashaw to regain the UFC bantamweight title he never lost.

And while he did fall to defeat at the hands of Cody Garbrandt later that year, his record of 22-3 remains truly phenomenal. His only losses came against Garbrandt, Faber and Cejudo. Why he isn’t more widely recognized as an all-time great is truly baffling.

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#3. Rashad Evans – former UFC light heavyweight champion

A poor end to his UFC career has meant that Rashad Evans' record has become underrated by UFC fans

It’s probably fair to suggest that Rashad Evans stuck around in the UFC for far too long before his eventual retirement in 2018. ‘Suga’ ended his UFC tenure on an unfortunate five-fight losing streak. He suffered particularly soul-destroying defeats to Sam Alvey and Dan Kelly.

However, if you ignore everything that happened after his 2013 win over Chael Sonnen, the picture looks entirely different. Evans suffered a serious knee injury following that fight and ended up spending two years on the shelf. It was only after he returned, when he looked like an entirely different, gun-shy fighter, that his losing streak began.

Prior to that, though, he held a phenomenal record of 19-3-1, with his only losses coming at the hands of three tremendous fighters in the form of Lyoto Machida, Jon Jones and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. And of course, only Machida was able to finish ‘Suga’. He was able to go the distance even in his losing effort against Jones.

The list of fighters that Evans defeated is highly impressive too, even to this day. He was able to defeat a total of five former or future UFC titleholders, including four UFC light heavyweight champions.

It’s likely that ‘Suga’ has become underrated for two reasons. Firstly, the bad losing streak he ended his UFC career with. And secondly, the fact that he was never able to make a successful defense of his UFC light heavyweight title.

However, three years after his last fight, it’s fair to say that he deserves far more respect than he currently receives from UFC fans.