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Becoming a superstar in the world of the UFC is never simple and often requires a lot more than simply being a great fighter inside the octagon.
Over the years, we’ve seen a number of UFC fighters who became big stars despite not having an exciting style – and others who routinely produced classics in the octagon, yet struggled to catch on with the fans.
Of course, we’ve also seen fighters who have been able to meld everything together – the likes of Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey – and it’s no surprise that they became the biggest stars in the promotion’s history.
Here, then, are five fighters who became big stars despite a less than exciting style – and five who struggled to catch on despite being great to watch.
#5. Randy Couture – former UFC heavyweight champion
Despite being considered persona non grata these days thanks to his feud with Dana White and the UFC’s management, there’s no denying that Randy Couture remains one of the biggest stars ever produced by the promotion.
‘The Natural’ held the heavyweight title on three occasions and the light heavyweight title twice, and achieved things that most fighters could only dream of during his lengthy tenure in the octagon, which spanned nearly 15 years. He also became one of the promotion’s top drawing cards.
However, it’s probably fair to say that Couture never became a star with the fans due to his exciting fighting style. In fact, the style he deployed inside the octagon, which was mainly centered on his clinch work, trademark ‘dirty boxing’, and his takedowns, was often dull to watch at times.
So given that he was never a big trash-talker either, what made Couture such a big star? Firstly, not all of his fights were dull. His 2007 brawl with Gabriel Gonzaga, for instance, was a wild and dramatic bout to watch.
Secondly, and more importantly, though, Couture’s advanced age always meant that whenever he pulled off a big victory, particularly towards the end of his career, it felt more inspirational than a win for a younger fighter would’ve done.
When ‘The Natural’ beat Tim Sylvia for the heavyweight title in 2007, for instance, the fight itself was hardly something special to watch, but the fact that Couture was 43 years old at the time made it mind-blowing.
Taking this into account, then, it’s easy to see why Couture became a star despite not having the most exciting style to watch.
#4. Holly Holm – former UFC bantamweight champion
While former bantamweight champion Holly Holm has never been a Conor McGregor-level draw, and in fact never reached the levels of stardom enjoyed by her predecessor Ronda Rousey, she’s definitely been one of the UFC’s more bankable female stars over the years.
Holm has headlined multiple shows, including various pay-per-views, and has always been pushed as a big deal by the promotion itself. For the most part, the fans have brought into this.
However, it’s probably not unfair to say that ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ often isn’t the most exciting fighter to watch. Sure, she can produce wild knockouts like her finish of Rousey and her head kick KO of Bethe Correia, but they only tend to happen when opponents come to her, allowing her to counter.
Otherwise, Holm seems simply content to sit back and pick at her foes from distance, usually resulting in fights that go the distance and aren’t all that entertaining. Of her seven octagon wins, in fact, five have gone to the judges.
Overall, though, this hasn’t affected ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’, who stands as one of the few examples of a fighter in the UFC who was able to gain star power by beating a bigger name – something that doesn’t usually happen.
#3. Georges St-Pierre – former UFC welterweight champion
Although he’s widely recognized as being the greatest fighter in UFC and MMA history, the one criticism that tended to be levied against former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre was that his fights weren’t all that entertaining.
While this wasn’t always true, it’s probably fair to say that the Canadian’s wins over fighters like Jake Shields, Josh Koscheck and Dan Hardy weren’t considered classics by any means, and he did have a run of seven fights that went the distance between 2009 and 2013.
Despite this, ‘GSP’ became one of the UFC’s biggest ever stars as well as one of their highest-drawing on pay-per-view, too. So how did he manage to achieve this despite not fighting in a wild manner in the octagon?
Firstly, St-Pierre had the entire country of Canada behind him at all times, instantly amping up his star power to a level it may not have reached otherwise. Secondly, his personality made him the ultimate “good guy”, meaning that his rivalries with villainous characters like B.J. Penn and Nick Diaz were easy to embrace.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it was never a doubt that when St-Pierre competed, greatness would be on show. This made his fights into a “big event” like few others, meaning that he became a mega-star despite a less-than-thrilling style.
#2. Chael Sonnen – former UFC middleweight contender
While it’s arguably the most effective style to use in MMA, fighters who deploy a wrestling-heavy attack tend to be criticized more than any others for putting on dull fights, with the insulting term ‘lay and pray’ often levied at them.
One fighter who focused almost purely on that style, but became a big star in the UFC regardless, was Chael Sonnen. It might’ve taken ‘The American Gangster’ a few years to catch on, but at his peak, Sonnen was definitely one of the biggest names in the promotion.
Of course, the reason Sonnen became a star had very little to do with what he did inside the octagon – although to be fair, as he climbed nearer to the top of the middleweight division, the pace he pushed made his fights more exciting than they’d previously been.
Instead, ‘The American Gangster’ rose to fame by becoming an expert trash-talker on the microphone. Suddenly, his ability to talk a good game more than outshone his actual fighting skills. His feuds with the likes of Anderson Silva, Jon Jones and Wanderlei Silva quickly became amongst the biggest that the UFC had ever seen.
If anything, it was unfortunate for Sonnen that his new-found abilities on the microphone came at what was basically the tail-end of his career with the promotion, as his run at the top only lasted just over three years.
However, his trash-talk probably earned him more money than he’d ever made prior during his career – despite his less-than-exciting fighting style.
#1. Tito Ortiz – former UFC light heavyweight champion
Perhaps the greatest example of a UFC fighter who became a genuine superstar despite a less-than-thrilling fighting style remains former poster-boy and light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. Simply put, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was the right man at the right time.
Ortiz was already considered somewhat of a star when the UFC was bought out by the Fertitta brothers in late 2000. He’d claimed the promotion’s light heavyweight title earlier that year and had embarked on a renowned feud with the Shamrock brothers.
However, given that the promotion was in the midst of its ‘Dark Ages’ at the time, it would’ve been hard to claim he was a mainstream superstar. That largely changed under the new owners.
From that point on, despite a fighting style that generally involved little more than takedowns and a ground-and-pound attack, Ortiz was pushed as not only the promotion’s poster-boy, but as a wildly exciting fighter, too. Suddenly, any fight he was involved in became a huge event.
Sure, some of Ortiz’s bouts were wild and featured thrilling finishes, but even dull affairs against the likes of Vladimir Matyushenko and Patrick Cote piqued the interest of the fans more than basically anything else the promotion produced at the time.
However, to say that Ortiz became a star simply because the UFC willed it would be slightly unfair. While he wasn’t the best on the microphone, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ did possess tons of charisma, and that enabled him to catch on and become a big name with the fans – even if his fights didn’t always excite.
While the previous fighters all caught on with fans despite not possessing the most exciting fighting styles, the following five suffered the opposite, as they simply didn’t become major stars despite thrilling crowds in the octagon.
#5. Demetrious Johnson – former UFC flyweight champion
It seems strange now, but for a long time, former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson had the reputation of a boring fighter. Quite how ‘Mighty Mouse’ gained this status is anyone’s guess really, as he rarely failed to excite inside the octagon.
However, one thing is for certain – despite the best efforts of the promotion, Johnson simply never caught on as a superstar, even if his accomplishments stack up with the greatest fighters of all time.
‘Mighty Mouse’ captured the flyweight title in late 2012 by defeating Joseph Benavidez in the inaugural title bout, and then went onto defend it successfully on a UFC record 11 occasions before being unseated by Henry Cejudo in 2018.
Along the way, he finished seven of his 11 challengers, and produced some memorable moments, including the latest submission in the promotion’s history against Kyoji Horiguchi, as well as a unique armbar variant against Ray Borg.
However, it was often hard to make casual fans in particular care about his title defenses. On more than one occasion, despite being in the headline bout, Johnson was overshadowed by other fighters.
Understanding why this was the case is still tricky, as it wasn’t like ‘Mighty Mouse’ lacked charisma, either. Regardless, the fact that the pay-per-views he headlined were rarely big sellers shows that he struggled to catch on with the fans – and may have contributed to the UFC being willing to let him depart for ONE FC in 2018.
#4. Stipe Miocic – former UFC heavyweight champion
While Stipe Miocic is widely recognized as one of the best heavyweights in UFC history – if not the best, point blank, based on his accomplishments – it’s probably fair to say that he never quite caught on as the major superstar he should’ve been.
Miocic’s rise caught many fans by surprise, as after suffering a controversial loss to Junior dos Santos in late 2014, he cut a swath through the rest of the heavyweight division before knocking out Fabricio Werdum to claim the title in 2016.
From there, he made three successful defenses of the gold before losing it to Daniel Cormier, only to regain it from ‘DC’ and defeat him in their trilogy bout, too. Miocic would eventually be dethroned by Francis Ngannou in 2021.
With that kind of resume, as well as a hard-hitting style of fighting that saw him knock out the majority of his opponents in exciting fashion, many fans would’ve expected Miocic to become a huge star, but that wasn’t really the case.
In fact, even his biggest fights didn’t quite capture the imagination of the audience quite like the biggest clashes involving the likes of Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez.
In this case, Miocic’s exciting fighting style, as well as his incredible skills, simply didn’t make up for his more stoic persona and his lack of trash-talking ability on the microphone, meaning that the former champ never really received the fanfare he deserved.
#3. Junior dos Santos – former UFC heavyweight champion
Another hard-hitting former UFC heavyweight champion who never truly caught on with the fans in the way some might’ve expected is Junior dos Santos. At his peak, the Brazilian was arguably the most exciting heavyweight in the entire promotion, as well as the best.
Dos Santos debuted in the octagon in 2008, and made waves by knocking out Fabricio Werdum in what was a major upset at the time. From there, ‘JDS’ took out the likes of Mirko Cro Cop, Gilbert Yvel and Roy Nelson – usually dispatching them via KO – before claiming the heavyweight title from Cain Velasquez in 2011.
Despite possessing ruthless knockout power and plenty of charisma, though, it never quite felt like dos Santos caught on with the fans as a superstar. This was probably down to a couple of simple reasons.
Firstly, ‘JDS’ never quite perfected his English skills, limiting his ability on the microphone. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, while he defeated Velasquez in their first meeting, he lost their later two bouts, badly.
This meant that he never truly felt like the dominant heavyweight of his era. While his bouts were arguably more fun to watch than those of his rivals and his wheel-kick KO of Mark Hunt remains an all-time classic moment, he never quite ascended to the level of stardom that he deserved.
#2. Jose Aldo – former UFC featherweight champion
While it’s safe to say that former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo remains a huge star in his home country of Brazil, it’s probably also fair to argue that his star never quite ascended that highly in the US and around the world.
With a total of seven successful defenses of his title, Aldo should probably still be recognized as the greatest 145lber of all time, with respect to current champ Alexander Volkanovski.
More to the point, with a style based around his brutal striking, particularly his leg kicks, the Brazilian was always exciting to watch, and his title bouts with Mark Hominick and Chad Mendes remain amongst the greatest wars to have taken place at 145lbs.
However, Aldo never truly caught on as a bankable star with the fans. The pay-per-view events he headlined regularly drew lesser numbers in comparison to the promotion’s other champions. When he came up against Conor McGregor in 2015, he felt like the ‘B-side’ in their rivalry despite holding the title.
In this instance, it might be fair to suggest that like another great Brazilian champion, Anderson Silva, Aldo simply needed a viable rival in order to inspire the fans to really invest in him.
Silva found that rival in Chael Sonnen, but Aldo was unable to do the same until McGregor came around. By that point, it was largely too late for him.
#1. Robbie Lawler – former UFC welterweight champion
If the ability to put on exciting fights in the octagon led directly to stardom, then it’s likely that Robbie Lawler, and not Conor McGregor, would be recognized as the greatest drawing card in UFC history.
Put simply, throughout his career with the promotion – but particularly during his reign as welterweight champion between 2014 and 2016 – ‘Ruthless’ put on some of the wildest and most exciting bouts in MMA history.
Lawler was always an exciting fighter right from his 2002 debut in the octagon, as he produced some violent knockouts even then. However, when he returned to the UFC from Strikeforce in 2013, he took things to another level.
His bouts with Matt Brown and Johny Hendricks were great, but after defeating ‘Bigg Rigg’ for the welterweight crown in 2014, he went onto produce two of the most incredible clashes in the promotion’s history in his defenses against Rory MacDonald and Carlos Condit.
Despite this, and despite being positioned as a major star and headliner by the promotion, Lawler never quite became a big drawing card and certainly didn’t ascend to the highest levels of stardom.
What was the reason for this? Put simply, while ‘Ruthless’ was – and still is – a uniquely aggressive and exciting fighter inside the octagon, outside, he was never a trash-talker, and instead remained largely soft-spoken and respectful, particularly during his time as champion.
Had his title reign come a few years earlier – when fighters with similar personalities such as Chuck Liddell caught on as superstars – then perhaps he’d have inspired the interest of the fans a little more.
Unfortunately, in the McGregor-inspired trash-talking era that he ascended to the top during, being soft-spoken and stoic simply wasn’t enough to make ‘Ruthless’ into a superstar, despite his wild fighting style.
