Honoring the Workhorses of the UFC and MMA
by Correspondent Written on June 23, 2009 
I'd like to offer up some respect and gratitude to "working-class" fighters of MMA.
Has anyone else noticed that there are certain fighters who emerge in each division who are the unofficial "Welcome to the UFC, I'm going to kick your butt" or "Let's see how good you really are" fighter? They are used to test new fighters, and old fighters alike. They are used to prove up and coming fighters as well as revitalized legends of the sport. These fighters are workhorses. With too many losses and too few wins to get a title shot, they continue to gut it out and go back into the Octagon/Ring. They fight on and on. Some divisions may have a few of them, while other divisions have just one. These guys can lose and lose, but as long as they keep stacking the surprise wins in between their losses, the UFC (and other MMA promos) keep them onboard. Having a living measuring stick for MMA talent is just way to valuable to let go. You can spot most of these guys because generally they have a TON of fights and an usually high number of losses – the kind of numbers of losses that would usually get you kicked out of the UFC. But fight after fight, these guys bring it and they're always dangerous to virtually any level of fighter. They are always a good test for any fighter.
Please pardon me if I focus this on the UFC, but all other significant promotions have a very short history, so picking out their blue collar fighters isn't very clear yet. Those promotions with a bit of history keep losing their fighters to other promotions and quite often that's the UFC.
Heavyweight Division = Heath Herring(28-14-1). Heath Herring is the very definition of “MMA Workhorse.” He’s a tough guy with well rounded skills, but Herring has consistently lost to top contenders and a title shot seems to be perpetually out of reach for the “Texas Crazy Horse.” Yet he is repeatedly used as a litmus test to see if Fighter X deserves a title shot in the near future or if Fighter Y can make it in the UFC or if Fighter Z is still as good as they used to be. Up and coming fighters and aging veterans alike are pitted against him regularly. This guy was PRIDE's workhorse too. In his 43 MMA fights, Herring has never been in a championship bout, yet his list of opponents is a list of “who’s who in MMA.”
Light Heavyweight Division = Keith Jardine(14-6-1). Keith keeps doing the most bizarre thing imaginable: He wins the fights he should lose. He loses the fights he should win. How do you give a title shot to a guy who loses in the first round to Wanderlei Silva when nobody is losing to Silva these days. He lost to Houston Alexander. He had a very impressive fight against Quinton Jackson. He beat Chuck Liddell. He completely beat the crap out of Brandon Vera and Forrest Griffin. What do you do with such a fighter? Keith Jardine is absolutely NOT resigned to be the LHW workhorse, but he fits so perfectly into the job that it's hard to argue with. One thing remains certain, despite his many losses in the UFC, Keith Jardine is a solid test for anyone in the Light Heavyweight division of the UFC.
Middleweight Division = Chris Leben(18-5). Leben has an iron chin, powerful strikes and he's no slouch on the ground. Leben may be one of the few "Workhorse" fighters that might not mind the job. He's beaten a lot of fighters he wasn't supposed to. In his losses, he only been KO'd once (Anderson Silva) and submitted once (Jason MacDonald). He can take a lot of punishment and it looks like he'll keep going for a long time to come. When Anderson Silva signed with the UFC, who did they send to welcome him? Chris Leben. When Michael Bisping dropped down to 185, who welcomed him to the division? Chris Leben. The "Crippler" has a lot of those.
Welterweight Division = Marcus Davis (16-5) & Chris Lytle (27-17-5). Davis is a tough guy, well rounded and hits like a truck. He can take punishment and he can give it out. But when you talk of title shots at the Welterweight level, Marcus Davis' name never comes up. And when you're trying to imagine who can beat George St Pierre, Marcus Davis just doesn't come to mind. Marcus Davis has a growing string of "welcome fight" and "talent check" fights. Chris Lytle, on the other hand, is even more your stereotypical Workhorse fighter. Iron chinned brawler with 16 fights in the UFC and 49 MMA fights overall. He is a perfect test for fighters to prove themselves against. He's not looking at any chances of a title shot anytime soon, but that doesn't seem to phase him. And his toughness and resilience continues to impress. Chris has 4 "Fight of the Night" honors to his credit. If you doubt how tough he is, just ask his last two opponents, Marcus Davis and Kevin Burns.
Lightweight = Clay Guida (25-10). Always up against the best, but never quite getting a title shot, Clay Guida is tough as nails. With 3 Fight of the Night honors to his credit, there's no doubt that he's one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC. Clay just keeps surprising me by making a war of it against guys that I figured would have him for breakfast. He's also fought the majority of his UFC fights on free broadcasts -- small wonder he's one of the most popular fighters in the UFC! Clay has been up against some incredible strikers, but he's never been knocked out. He's been up against some incredible grapplers, but has only been subbed once in the UFC. Honorable mention for Lightweight workhorse goes out to Joe Stevenson.
I would like to give a big, "Thank you" to these warriors and recognize how much they mean to MMA. They deserve our respect and gratitude.
If you can think of an MMA Workhorse you feel deserves props, please put it in a comment and tell us all about it.
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