5 UFC fighters who turned out to be better than fans initially thought

No fighter in the UFC travels the same path, and while the likes of Conor McGregor and Francis Ngannou took a pretty direct route to the top, the same cannot be said for many of their contemporaries.

Over the years, we’ve seen several fighters break into the UFC and fail to impress – only to be far better than they were initially assumed to be.

This is often because fighters improve over time, but sometimes it’s also because said fighters somehow get underrated.

Regardless, here are five UFC fighters who turned out to be much better than the fans initially believed.

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#5. Charles Oliveira – former UFC lightweight champion

It's safe to say few fans expected Charles Oliveira to become the world's best lightweight

It’s probably fair to state that every UFC fan always knew that Charles Oliveira had serious talent. After all, the Brazilian arrived on the scene in 2010 with a 12-0 record and quickly dispatched his first two opponents inside the octagon via submission.

However, there probably weren’t many fans in Oliveira’s early days with the promotion who would’ve predicted that he’d become the world’s most feared 155lb fighter.

After all, ‘do Bronx’ always appeared to be fragile, and for a long time, it seemed like any fighter who could hit him with a heavy shot had a strong chance of beating him. Donald Cerrone was the first man to stop him with strikes in the summer of 2011, but his loss to Cub Swanson seemed to cement him as a fighter with a bit of a glass jaw.

That fight saw Swanson land a seemingly innocuous shot, only for Oliveira to collapse to the ground after a delayed reaction, leaving the referee to step in before Swanson could follow up.

However, after suffering another five losses between that fight in 2012 and 2017, Oliveira improved dramatically, taking out opponent after opponent to climb up into the top ten at 155lbs.

By 2020, ‘do Bronx’ had become a genuine title contender – but when he fought Michael Chandler for the title vacated by Khabib Nurmagomedov, it looked like his old fragility was about to resurface when ‘Iron Mike’ dropped him in the first round.

However, Oliveira was able to recover, and in the second round, he turned the tables on Chandler and finished him off with a series of strikes of his own, becoming the new champion in the process.

Essentially, ‘do Bronx’ perhaps didn’t turn out to be more talented than the fans expected – he’s turned out to be far tougher than he was ever given credit for.

#4. Anthony Smith – UFC light-heavyweight contender

Anthony Smith has gone from being a journeyman to earning respect as a legitimate contender

While he’s never quite reached the very top of the UFC, it’s fair to say that former light-heavyweight title challenger Anthony Smith has proven himself to be a far better fighter than he was initially given credit for.

In fact, there are probably plenty of fans who have completely forgotten his first run with the promotion, which came in 2013 following his brief time in StrikeForce. ‘Lionheart’ was quickly submitted by Antonio Braga Neto and released from his contract.

However, after putting together a lengthy winning streak on the regional scene, Smith returned to the octagon in 2016 and picked up his first win over Leonardo Guimaraes. A decent run of three wins and two losses followed, but it didn’t prepare anyone for what he would produce in 2018.

That year saw Smith take out two former UFC champions, Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua, before submitting former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir to net himself a title shot. And while he came up short against Jon Jones, his subsequent win over Alexander Gustafsson proved that he was very much for real.

Currently, Smith is on a three-fight win streak and is now firmly back in title contention – it’s safe to say that he’s silenced his doubters now, proving himself to be far better than most fans realized.

#3. Leon Edwards – UFC welterweight contender

Leon Edwards' low-key personality has meant his rise has surprised some fans

While many UFC fans always figured that Kamaru Usman, who won the 21st season of The Ultimate Fighter, was going to make his way to the top of the welterweight division, few people would’ve predicted that his next opponent, Leon Edwards, would do the same.

That’s largely because ‘Rocky’ has always been a low-key fighter in terms of personality, and this lack of bluster has meant that often, he’s been overlooked by fans and the MMA media alike.

For those who’ve forgotten, Edwards already faced Usman in the octagon in 2015 – losing via unanimous decision, which left him with a UFC record of 2-2.

Since then, though, the native of Birmingham, England hasn’t lost a fight. He’s put together a record of nine wins with one No-Contest and is now considered one of the best 170lbers in the world.

However, it’s safe to say that in at least some of those fights – his 2017 meeting with Bryan Barberena, and his clashes with Gunnar Nelson and Rafael dos Anjos in 2019, for instance – ‘Rocky’ was not favored to win at all.

Despite showing himself to be a brilliant striker, hugely improved wrestler, and underrated grappler, Edwards’ lack of flash has always made him an underdog of sorts, even in fights where his skills would clearly make him favored.

There’s no doubt that ‘Rocky’ will come into his likely rematch with Usman as an underdog yet again, and for once, that status will be understandable. Overall, though, it’s clear that Edwards has proven to be a much better fighter than he was initially given credit for.

#2. Brandon Moreno – former UFC flyweight champion

Very few UFC fans would've foreseen Brandon Moreno winning gold in the octagon

The UFC has seen many fighters who failed to make an impact during their stint on The Ultimate Fighter but who then went on to real success in the octagon. However, it’s safe to say that nobody really expected Brandon Moreno to be one of them.

‘The Assassin Baby’ washed out of TUF 24 in the opening round of the season’s tournament. While he pulled off three impressive wins when he arrived in the promotion later, a pair of subsequent losses bounced him out of the UFC altogether.

The Mexican returned to the promotion in late 2019. Still, despite winning three fights and drawing one – with Jussier Formiga being his most high-profile victory – nobody gave him a chance of beating reigning flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo when they met in December 2020.

Incredibly, though, Moreno produced the performance of his life to take ‘The God of War’ to a majority draw – and then shocked the world by submitting him with a rear naked choke in their rematch in early 2021.

While the Mexican lost the title back to Figueiredo in their third meeting earlier this year, he’s definitely proven himself to be a far better fighter than anyone gave him credit for in his earlier days with the UFC.

Has he improved his game overall? Of that, there can be no doubt. Looking back at his earlier bouts with the likes of Dustin Ortiz and even his losses to Sergio Pettis and Alexandre Pantoja, it’s safe to say that he was always underrated to an extent.

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#1. Marlon Vera – UFC bantamweight contender

Marlon Vera has gone from being considered an action fighter to a genuine title contender

While the UFC always values its champions and high-level contenders greatly, the promotion and its power-brokers also hugely value so-called “action fighters” – essentially mid-card talents who aren’t elite talent but guarantee fireworks when they enter the octagon.

Early in his UFC tenure, Marlon Vera looked like he’d definitely fit into the category of action fighters. Coming off an impressive showing on the first season of TUF: Latin America, ‘Chito’ pulled off impressive finishes of Brad Pickett and Brian Kelleher but suffered losses to the likes of John Lineker, too.

Even after putting together an excellent streak of five straight wins between 2018 and 2020, nobody took the native of Ecuador seriously as a contender, particularly when that run was then broken by Song Yadong.

However, his victory over red-hot prospect Sean O’Malley changed his standing in the eyes of the fans, as did a tough loss to Jose Aldo that saw him push the legend all the way.

Since then, ‘Chito’ has pulled off three straight wins, and his latest two, over Frankie Edgar and Rob Font, have cemented him as one of the most dangerous fighters in the bantamweight division.

Clearly a fighter capable of raising his game against tougher opponents, Vera is far better than anyone first believed when they saw him in his early UFC days.