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

#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.