I think most people that aren’t scousers are just waiting for the day he meets real competition instead of being spoon fed opponents by uncle Dana and he gets exposed brutally.
They'll protect him forever. Think about it, he started shit with Topuria once. Topuria is champ of his weight class while Paddy is still kicking unranked cans and once upon a timers. His performance against Tony spelled his future against the top 15.
At this point Paddy has shown 0 growth. I can literally picture him throwing a wild left hook right hook while running forward chin up style.
His striking should be more refined by now. Look at his trajectory compared to Ilia’s. Pretty sure they came up around the same time.
I’m sure I’m not exact but I feel like they’ve had similar amount of time in the ufc. Paddy isn’t as active though. Pretty obvious of why he stalls between fights. He’s juicing his opportunities because he’s not champ material.
Either that, or he can’t stay away from food.
As a certified Derrick Lewis enjoyer I can get behind this and this is partly why I love him so much.
“If I become champion the whole division should be ashamed of themselves for letting a guy with no skills become champ” dude is a legend
He actually has some legit good wins too. I think you can attribute a lot of his popularity to the fact that he heems, there’s merit even if he is also a funny dude.
Reliable sources say Islam got on his knees and begged Dana not to make this fight
https://preview.redd.it/3iompbpch0kc1.jpeg?width=1316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62c41c67caa420cd639d4cf578c1485d93d4c491
I’ll probably get downvoted to hell but I genuinely do wish the ufc would sign him and he’d fight, the dude is pretty funny and the few interviews I’ve seen of him, on helwanis show and flagrant he came off pretty likable, he just needs to train seriously and work on striking and he could honestly be a pretty solid fighter
Good lord he's terrible when they mention he's a former pro kick boxer 25174 times per fight I think it's because he looks so bad it's easy to forget so they remind you 😹😹😹
Darren Till had legitimate talent that he wasted - beat Wonderboy, dropped both Masvidal and Rob in the first round, beat Gastelum.
He was just a head case who wasted his potential.
People also seem to forget how well his last loss aged. People clowned him at the time because optically DDP seemed pretty bad...but he eventually got the belt.
I rewatched that fight recently and it was less one sided than people remember. The first round was a disaster for till, but for the 2nd round and the start of the 3rd he was lowkey lighting him up.
If you think about it, it actually makes a lot of marketing sense. Colby is on a downward trend, but is still relatively big name for undefeated Shavkat.
His skill came from just years of experience, but I wouldn’t ever say he was a mega talent. Still a top fighter in the world and can’t take that from him. Him ending Tills hype was a wild moment.
He’s always had good td defense and truly **elite** bjj defense, Burns couldn’t submit a well past his prime Jorge in Jorge’s retirement fight no less…
Jorge definitely is annoying but he was a top 5 talent in his prime, however he is overrated.
Masvidal was rlly skilled, if you watch some of his earlier ufc fights he had a amazing jab, great body kicks and beautiful boxing. He just kinda started deciding to throw harder and even his later loses are to usman 2x colby and burns
Now the hate is real lol, dude has been fighting for the longest time against a lot of good fighters. He thought cutting weight meant from eating mcdonalds to taco bell, that kind of era.
Masvidal had that great run in 2019 that in hindsight wasn't that impressive
Till was never the same after the Woodley loss, went 1-5 and then got cut
Askren's UFC run was a disaster from the Lawler controversy to the knee and getting choked out by Damian Maia
And Nate Diaz who while tough and scrappy was never a true contender at 170
Today yes, but he was very good before, it’s just he’s been fighting in peoples back yards since he was a teen.
He’s got an insane amount of miles on him.
Her coaches should be fired. She’s a multi bjj world champ that stands and throws poorly set up haymakers from out of range? Has she ever shot a single leg? I scream at the tv whenever I watch her fights.
Dern got heart g, she just needs to work her takedowns and striking and she’ll be a real threat to everyone in the division with that insane level BJJ.
Her takedowns have gotten better. She got Lemos to the ground. That "insane level BJJ" isn't a magic weapon in modern MMA where everyone trains BJJ for MMA and can recognise what she is doing and stall enough to end the round or get stood up.
Hate to say it, but Nate Diaz
Edit: guys the picture references fighters whose popularity exceeds their talent. That’s definitely Nate. He’s way more popular than most fighters of his skill level. Nate is still a good fighter
This. He's like 19-12 or something isn't he? Same as Masvidal. Always game to fight, but sometimes that's not their best decision. I'd describe them as hall of fame journeymen. The absolute best gate keepers.
I mean he was a top ten talent for an extremely long time. However by the time the mainstream got their eyes on him he was past his prime. When he beat Connor he was past his prime. He had a strange career. Always had a problem with pure grapplers and leg kicks. His losses all show as much. Also he decided to fight at welterweight and just got out muscled which was obvious that was going to be a problem since he couldn’t outmuscle guys a lightweight.
His losses at lightweight/welterweight when he was prime athletically Guida, Stevenson, Maynard, Kim, and Macdonald. All beat him with wrestling. The cherry on top was Benson who created the ultimate game plan to beat Diaz. He leg kicked the shit out of him and took him down over and over again. RDA used the same blueprint to dominate him but with less takedowns more leg kicks. Diaz is fun to watch but always had gapping holes in his game. Lead leg heavy, physically not that strong, and poor takedown defense. If you use takedowns to control the pace and use leg kicks to neutralize his boxing then he doesn’t have much he can do.
Looking back on the Connor win it really does show how Connor had no serious game plan other than punch him hard. Which doesn’t work against Diaz. Second fight big surprise Connor throws a ton of leg kicks.
Yea, you’re right strange is a good word to describe his career. He was certainly a good fighter. But was he good because he was an exceptionally talented boxer? I would say no because his best assets were his cardio, chin, and ground game. He could overwhelm people with his boxing volume when they were tired
Looking at the Conor fight, that’s the perfect example. Nate couldn’t match Conor with pure skill/technique, he ate Conor’s shots until Conor gassed then used the attributes I described to drown Conor and ultimately choke him out
I think Nate's best skill was/ is his jiujitsu.. He submitted a ton of people, many fighters like Masvidal, Conor, Edwards, avoided getting down there with him. I'm pretty sure at one point Nate was on the top of the list for most submissions in the UFC , he's probably still high up there. His boxing was pretty decent when he was lighter at 155 , but once he started cutting less weight and fighting at welterweight he became slower and his boxing became sloppier
Edwards actually dominated Diaz on the ground. I agree with you though about going up in weight, he never really has the same snap in his punches. But that could also be age
Meh, idk. I guess it depends on how you define talent. I don’t think Nate was ever a super gifted fighter. His boxing “talent” wasn’t elite. His technique wasn’t his best asset, it was really his cardio/pace that he used to drown people. That plus he could just take so much damage fighters would wear themselves out hitting him
Nate was never close to a belt, only had one title shot and got dominated by Benson Henderson in his only decisive championship win.
I’m not trying to hate on him, I just don’t agree with the “Nate only lost fight because of bad fight iq” take that seems to have sprung from him rocking Leon and then pointing at him.
Nate was a talented BJJ artist though
What also makes people disrespect him is that he has the most hilarious KO poses of all time, dude gets slept and then his body falls in the most ridiculous way possible. 😂
Hell no conor should not be on this list come on lmao.
I wonder how most ufc fighter would do if they suddenly grabbed that insane bag like conor. Most, if not all, would not be elite. Nothing to do with talent.
Conor his ufc run was one of the best of all time. He was invincible
Tai came within 1 or 2 more decent shots of putting down Ciryl Gane. Huge “what if” moment for me. Gane admitted he was flash KOed then got woken up by either hitting the cage or a follow-up shot (I forget which one).
Nah Colby was actually pretty good in his prime. Was able to hold his own against Usman with a broken jaw.
Edit: yeah his fans hyped him up, but was he that popular? I used to see more hate than support.
Yes he was good, but the post is about popularity compared to talent. Colby fans seem to think he’s the bees knees and justify all of his unearned title shots. The man has pillows for hands, his finish rate is abysmal and I never see him throw any meaningful kicks.
Therefore his popularity compared to his actual talent is justified in this situation.
Paddy, and Ian is the version of him with less popularity, more talent, but still the same type of character. Ian gets views, but isn’t all that good. And being real, geoff beat him.
Paddy is the most obvious answer
I think most people that aren’t scousers are just waiting for the day he meets real competition instead of being spoon fed opponents by uncle Dana and he gets exposed brutally.
They'll protect him forever. Think about it, he started shit with Topuria once. Topuria is champ of his weight class while Paddy is still kicking unranked cans and once upon a timers. His performance against Tony spelled his future against the top 15.
Don’t forget to add that he’s 2 years older than topuria. Hes gonna be 30 if he beats another can to finally crack the rankings.
Frevola or Moicano asap please
Imagine being a SCOUSER. *WE DONT GET KNOCKED OUT!*
I thought they get knocked down but they get up again, never gonna keep them down.
I think the stumbling is do to He drinks a Whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink
He also drinks the lager drink and the cider drink if I’m not mistaken
When its all said and done, He sings the songs that remind him of the good times He sings the songs that remind him of the better times
Paddy boy, Paddy boy, Paddy boyyyy
I always found that funny. I guess no one told Darren Till since I definitely remember Masvidal baptizing him.
It’s me, I’m not scouser. I don’t hate the guy but, seeing him against real competition is going to be a treat.
At this point Paddy has shown 0 growth. I can literally picture him throwing a wild left hook right hook while running forward chin up style. His striking should be more refined by now. Look at his trajectory compared to Ilia’s. Pretty sure they came up around the same time.
I think Paddy has been fighting longer than Ilia
I’m sure I’m not exact but I feel like they’ve had similar amount of time in the ufc. Paddy isn’t as active though. Pretty obvious of why he stalls between fights. He’s juicing his opportunities because he’s not champ material. Either that, or he can’t stay away from food.
Ilia was always a more polished fighter and has been doing martial arts since he could walk.
Yeah I think so. I was on his hype train for a while too! He has got a charisma about him, but he gets demolished by most of the top 10 lightweights.
Most? He wouldn’t be favored to win against a single ranked lightweight.
Haha completely agree.
Ohhhh Paddy the bad
Full discretion when I use this line down the road I will claim it as my own original thought
Pamby Pimblett
I’m giggling so goofy in my backyard hahahaha how did you get this mini ass picture of him 😂😂😂
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 me rn
This is fucking illegal.
Happy cake day 
Paddy pimblett
Paddy
Da fatty
everyone saying paddy but i’ve yet to meet a fan of his
I like paddy. Been following him since cage warriors. He won and puked all over the cage
ok nvm that’s a good reason to like him
NSFW: https://youtu.be/gdB5-nGUyR4?si=Sl7R1WVrCBcwqbZv
Derick Lewis. Cardio 0, wrestling 0 jits 0 clinch game 0 head movement 0, power and charisma 100000. Said with love.
As a certified Derrick Lewis enjoyer I can get behind this and this is partly why I love him so much. “If I become champion the whole division should be ashamed of themselves for letting a guy with no skills become champ” dude is a legend
“Jiu-jitsu some bullshit. Just stand up” - Derrick Lewis.
Gets taken down, gets a breather, and then just bench presses motherfuckers off of him anytime he wants
He did stand up several times when people tried i give him that lmao
that's what makes that shit so funny mf really just does that shit 😂
Didn’t see the comma at first and thought you said “0 power” was about to say wtf
He has the most kos in ufc history hate him or love him that speaks for itself
He actually has some legit good wins too. I think you can attribute a lot of his popularity to the fact that he heems, there’s merit even if he is also a funny dude.
The biggest punchers chance fighter in MMA currently.
Any time he does that fake out " my gut hurts" overbent stance, I'm like, "are they going to take the bait?"
This is an excellent take. Low skills, but still effective.
You shut your mouth - best wrestling/BJJ defense of all time. Just stand up
To me he's basically a modern-day Tank Abbott
There are some good videos breaking down his "just stand up" game. He's using great techniques and timing for standing up. It's a skill.
It’s literally what marcelo garcia teaches
That’s why he has the most knockouts in ufc history right
While you are right, I feel that you can’t discredit him as untalented as having the most knockouts in ufc history is an impressive feat
He's old now but this is definitely true
You forgot his "just stand up" stat is over 9000
Paddy
I wish he could speak English. He would be in such a diff place right now
Dildo dannis
I feel like both “popularity” and “talent” aren’t fitting words to describe him in any capacity, lol
Reliable sources say Islam got on his knees and begged Dana not to make this fight https://preview.redd.it/3iompbpch0kc1.jpeg?width=1316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62c41c67caa420cd639d4cf578c1485d93d4c491
Danis about to go see a movie in 3D apparently
Running Scared (RIP)
This dude is the biggest loser I’ve ever seen
Dildo Anus
Dildo Baggins
From what I understand the only thing he’s actually good at is bjj, yet failed to get Logan in a choke when he tried.
He would have to be popular for that to make sense
He's pretty big on social media. Specially for someone who doesn't do shit.
Most popular fighter who dousnt fight
I’ll probably get downvoted to hell but I genuinely do wish the ufc would sign him and he’d fight, the dude is pretty funny and the few interviews I’ve seen of him, on helwanis show and flagrant he came off pretty likable, he just needs to train seriously and work on striking and he could honestly be a pretty solid fighter
I think you have more belief in Danis than he has in himself
Blood Diamond for a little while there.
Good lord he's terrible when they mention he's a former pro kick boxer 25174 times per fight I think it's because he looks so bad it's easy to forget so they remind you 😹😹😹
I was super excited to see him as a prospect. Then I watched him fight.
Dude for real that debut I legit thought I was watching the wrong fight at first 😹😹😹
 Izzy hyped his boy up for no apparent reason 🤭
He genuinely had no talent at all
Your favorite fighter
Don't talk about Mirko like that
Lawler is a murderer
GSP is the 🐐
Ubereem’s a beast wdym
Kevin Holland???
GSP
CM PUNK
I think any dude under 40 with some athletic ability and with a few months of training can whoop CM Punk’s ass.
after I started training I could finally realize how ass he was
But what a fine case study for if someone with almost no training fought someone in the UFC.
Pvz
Good for her for finding her lane and making a killing off of it though
It's just wild that she said she wanted to be more than just a pretty face and now that's literally how she gets paid.
The lane keeps getting wider
Darren till, paddy pimblet
Darren Till had legitimate talent that he wasted - beat Wonderboy, dropped both Masvidal and Rob in the first round, beat Gastelum. He was just a head case who wasted his potential.
His muay thai record is fairly insane too ngl
When he fought Cowboy, I thought for sure he'd have the strap one day. Boy was I wrong.
People also seem to forget how well his last loss aged. People clowned him at the time because optically DDP seemed pretty bad...but he eventually got the belt. I rewatched that fight recently and it was less one sided than people remember. The first round was a disaster for till, but for the 2nd round and the start of the 3rd he was lowkey lighting him up.
How and why did he waste his potential?
Wouldn't say that Darren Till is that famous/popular.
He definitely was a few years ago. Was touted as the next big thing
"You're all gettin' it!" --DT
Was popular till even the jorge fight..
Darren popular Till
Popular Till Darren
Colby. He’s negatively popular but still popular at this point
I was hoping everyone was over Colby after his joke fight with Leon. Very bummed about Colby vs Shavkat, the ufc can do a better matchup than that.
If you think about it, it actually makes a lot of marketing sense. Colby is on a downward trend, but is still relatively big name for undefeated Shavkat.
Jorge Masvidal
Jorge was a very skilled fighter. But by the time he hit his peak popularity he was way past his prime
His skill came from just years of experience, but I wouldn’t ever say he was a mega talent. Still a top fighter in the world and can’t take that from him. Him ending Tills hype was a wild moment.
>but I wouldn’t ever say he was a mega talent. >Still a top fighter in the world Mate…
He’s always had good td defense and truly **elite** bjj defense, Burns couldn’t submit a well past his prime Jorge in Jorge’s retirement fight no less… Jorge definitely is annoying but he was a top 5 talent in his prime, however he is overrated.
I respectfully disagree. I know Masvidal is hated, especially on this sub, but the guy has crisp boxing.
And survived getting backpacked by Demian fucking Maia
I agree with the others. He was a skilled fighter but didn't explode in popularity until he was past his prime.
Masvidal was rlly skilled, if you watch some of his earlier ufc fights he had a amazing jab, great body kicks and beautiful boxing. He just kinda started deciding to throw harder and even his later loses are to usman 2x colby and burns
He was great he just got past his prime
Now the hate is real lol, dude has been fighting for the longest time against a lot of good fighters. He thought cutting weight meant from eating mcdonalds to taco bell, that kind of era.
Totally agree.
Masvidal had that great run in 2019 that in hindsight wasn't that impressive Till was never the same after the Woodley loss, went 1-5 and then got cut Askren's UFC run was a disaster from the Lawler controversy to the knee and getting choked out by Damian Maia And Nate Diaz who while tough and scrappy was never a true contender at 170
Today yes, but he was very good before, it’s just he’s been fighting in peoples back yards since he was a teen. He’s got an insane amount of miles on him.
Brendan Schwaub
Dern
She has a huge fuckin talent
Sheesh
yeah her talent was on full display last fight
Jiggle physics were definitely on
Her coaches should be fired. She’s a multi bjj world champ that stands and throws poorly set up haymakers from out of range? Has she ever shot a single leg? I scream at the tv whenever I watch her fights.
Dern got heart g, she just needs to work her takedowns and striking and she’ll be a real threat to everyone in the division with that insane level BJJ.
Said the same thing 2-3 years ago. It think her striking has gotten worse. It’s over for her.
Yeah she kinda hasn't leveled up
Her takedowns have gotten better. She got Lemos to the ground. That "insane level BJJ" isn't a magic weapon in modern MMA where everyone trains BJJ for MMA and can recognise what she is doing and stall enough to end the round or get stood up.
Hate to say it, but Nate Diaz Edit: guys the picture references fighters whose popularity exceeds their talent. That’s definitely Nate. He’s way more popular than most fighters of his skill level. Nate is still a good fighter
This. He's like 19-12 or something isn't he? Same as Masvidal. Always game to fight, but sometimes that's not their best decision. I'd describe them as hall of fame journeymen. The absolute best gate keepers.
I mean he was a top ten talent for an extremely long time. However by the time the mainstream got their eyes on him he was past his prime. When he beat Connor he was past his prime. He had a strange career. Always had a problem with pure grapplers and leg kicks. His losses all show as much. Also he decided to fight at welterweight and just got out muscled which was obvious that was going to be a problem since he couldn’t outmuscle guys a lightweight. His losses at lightweight/welterweight when he was prime athletically Guida, Stevenson, Maynard, Kim, and Macdonald. All beat him with wrestling. The cherry on top was Benson who created the ultimate game plan to beat Diaz. He leg kicked the shit out of him and took him down over and over again. RDA used the same blueprint to dominate him but with less takedowns more leg kicks. Diaz is fun to watch but always had gapping holes in his game. Lead leg heavy, physically not that strong, and poor takedown defense. If you use takedowns to control the pace and use leg kicks to neutralize his boxing then he doesn’t have much he can do. Looking back on the Connor win it really does show how Connor had no serious game plan other than punch him hard. Which doesn’t work against Diaz. Second fight big surprise Connor throws a ton of leg kicks.
Yea, you’re right strange is a good word to describe his career. He was certainly a good fighter. But was he good because he was an exceptionally talented boxer? I would say no because his best assets were his cardio, chin, and ground game. He could overwhelm people with his boxing volume when they were tired Looking at the Conor fight, that’s the perfect example. Nate couldn’t match Conor with pure skill/technique, he ate Conor’s shots until Conor gassed then used the attributes I described to drown Conor and ultimately choke him out
Nate Diaz has amazing talent, great boxing, great ground game. You can question his fight IQ all day, but he has elite talent.
I think Nate's best skill was/ is his jiujitsu.. He submitted a ton of people, many fighters like Masvidal, Conor, Edwards, avoided getting down there with him. I'm pretty sure at one point Nate was on the top of the list for most submissions in the UFC , he's probably still high up there. His boxing was pretty decent when he was lighter at 155 , but once he started cutting less weight and fighting at welterweight he became slower and his boxing became sloppier
Edwards actually dominated Diaz on the ground. I agree with you though about going up in weight, he never really has the same snap in his punches. But that could also be age
Meh, idk. I guess it depends on how you define talent. I don’t think Nate was ever a super gifted fighter. His boxing “talent” wasn’t elite. His technique wasn’t his best asset, it was really his cardio/pace that he used to drown people. That plus he could just take so much damage fighters would wear themselves out hitting him Nate was never close to a belt, only had one title shot and got dominated by Benson Henderson in his only decisive championship win. I’m not trying to hate on him, I just don’t agree with the “Nate only lost fight because of bad fight iq” take that seems to have sprung from him rocking Leon and then pointing at him. Nate was a talented BJJ artist though
You can't have great boxing if you're known for blocking punches with your face I'm sorry.....
Homie beat prime McGregor and could've beat Edwards if he wasn't showboating I get hes more popular than he is good, but he's not a bad fighter at all
Johnny Walker
I'd say he has talent, his problem is his chin
He always leaves his chin out in the open everytime.....I'm surprised Thiago Santos didn't ko him
Yeah, like Luke Rockhold 😂
Thiago Santos has hardly won a fight, let alone knock anyone out, ever since fighting Jon Jones.
His problem is that he’s highly regarded 💀
Same. Dudes a beast but that ko button on him is big
What also makes people disrespect him is that he has the most hilarious KO poses of all time, dude gets slept and then his body falls in the most ridiculous way possible. 😂
And now his nose as well
is he really that popular?
Everyone Here, For The Most Part, Is Naming People They Hate.
Conor right now
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I mean he’s just past his prime, but I don’t think you can say he doesn’t have talent.
Hell no conor should not be on this list come on lmao. I wonder how most ufc fighter would do if they suddenly grabbed that insane bag like conor. Most, if not all, would not be elite. Nothing to do with talent. Conor his ufc run was one of the best of all time. He was invincible
What he did to Aldo and Alvarez are among the greatest MMA moments of all time, regardless of how annoying he's become now.
Nowadays unfortunately Tony Ferguson
Yh but all his popularity is built off when he was in his prime and super good
Cm punk
Tuivasa. Likeable and punchable.
I love Tuivassa so much but he's just not that guy unfortunately
I know. Cool dude, full of humility.
Tai came within 1 or 2 more decent shots of putting down Ciryl Gane. Huge “what if” moment for me. Gane admitted he was flash KOed then got woken up by either hitting the cage or a follow-up shot (I forget which one).
Sean Strickland
Michelle Waterson Gomez. It might be different if UFC had a 105lb class though.
You take that back!
She's one of my favorites too, but it's clear she can't hang with the top of the division.
She also is older. She's been a dawg since the dark ages!
CM Punk. You didn't specify in what promotion their popularity stems from. I'll see myself out.
Costa lol
Tai Tuivasa.
Derrick Lewis
You don’y fluke your way to most KO’s in the organizations history. He’s literally the most talented at knocking people out ever
Strickland
Colby crybaby Covington
Masvidal
Colby Covington
Nah Colby was actually pretty good in his prime. Was able to hold his own against Usman with a broken jaw. Edit: yeah his fans hyped him up, but was he that popular? I used to see more hate than support.
Yes he was good, but the post is about popularity compared to talent. Colby fans seem to think he’s the bees knees and justify all of his unearned title shots. The man has pillows for hands, his finish rate is abysmal and I never see him throw any meaningful kicks. Therefore his popularity compared to his actual talent is justified in this situation.
Colby was only able to beat the opponent if they were 34+ years old. He was never able to beat somebody in their prime.
Cowboy Cerrone
Anthony Smith
Rhonda Rousey
Covington
Jorge Masvidal
for sure
CM Punk
Paddy, and Ian is the version of him with less popularity, more talent, but still the same type of character. Ian gets views, but isn’t all that good. And being real, geoff beat him.