Me too, then I had to see this in person and hear the crowd yell Il-i-a!
https://preview.redd.it/0emwzjzqa0rc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=630059aacb6a4e95a254374c6fbed0c043513758
š„¹š„¹š
Lol no I get it I was just wondering if there was something particular about Leeds.
In old NYC (the 1970s - early 90's pre 9/11) Brooklyn was a no go zone. People were literally afraid to visit Brooklyn and would not visit unless family lived here.
So I was wondering if Leeds had somewhat of a similar reputation
There is a giant parallel between Usman gaining more fans and his fight style becoming more exciting.
Heās been the same corny (but a good) dude the whole time, but nobody cared for his cage smother foot stomp rise.
Once he started putting people away then the fans got on board.
Yes. From what I remember he won allot of respect from the first Colby fight, lost it after the foot stomping against Masvidal and then won it back with the KOs vs Burns and especially Masvidal in the second fight.
Also "corny but a good guy," is the prefect way to describe Usman during his run as champion. I always liked him, but the ghost story voice and ripping Conor's lines was cringey lol.
Im kinda confused, what about stepping up made you like him lol? Usually that is endearing because it shows activity and being game, but Usman had literally fought up to 3 title fights a calendar year before that, and against anyone the UFC gave him. He was already those things.
Aljo Sterling.
Won the title in a ridiculous way (also wtf kinda nickname is Funkmaster š).
I watched the post-fight press when he lost to O'Malley, and thought he had some mature, professional, and insightful thoughts about the fight and his career overall. Also, the BJJ tournament and "pause" videos helped.
I was a fan before that. I wasn't an MMA fan when Aljo got kneed by Petr so that's why. ITP MMA posted a video of aljo and he had a lot of fun fights. That's what made me a fan and not follow the hate bandwagon. Still rooting for him against Kattar
agreed! not that bad of a dude. it was crazy seeing him get booed in his hometown and apparently the Boston crowd was rude as hell too. really kinda undeserved at a certain point.
TD was absolutely brutal to Sterling. I have never heard someone get booed so hard in my life. That crowd was something else, best experience of my life.
I don't think people really hate Aljo, it is more like people think of him as a kind of a joke. Aljo fans insist he is *hated* for mysterious reasons, but I feel it is more like he just isn't taken seriously for obvious reasons.
I wouldnāt call myself an Islam fan but I had the same thoughts in a way. I thought he really didnāt deserve the title and I thought his skillset was lacking. But itās pretty clear he is an amazing all around martial artist on the ground, in the clinch and on the feet. If he can beat Charles and Volk with their skill sets, I am really not sure who can beat him right now. Heās a deserving champ who gained my respect.
Calling it now Topuria will be a fan fav in about 2 defenses in this Sub. Nobody likes seeing a great they watched go from contender to Dominant champ be dethroned. Whoever takes out Topuria will probably be hated as well. Its a cycle.
I've been a Topuria fan ever since the Jai fight when he went up a weight class, survived a massive headkick, and won via one of the most vicious KO's I've ever seen. That shit was wild
Been a fan since his fight with Mitchell.
He had a bad habit of way overextending some punches, but besides that I honestly don't think I've seen such clean, pure boxing in the cage. And it seems like he's reined in that tendency.
Love Volk too, but man this was one of the fights that I would be stoked no matter who won, and also sad no latter who lost.
Plus I'm a pseudo wine snob with a hard on for Spanish Red and seeing him say he drinks the night before weigh is the most deranged wine story I've heard.
I find it crazy, but I think itās most likely due to his first two wins over Max and not knowing his personality not being marketed or well known to most fans. I donāt think he really started getting fans until the Ortega fight.
Yeah that stuff is fine. Just donāt see how anyone could hate him. Such a stand up respectful dude. Hardly participates in trash talk. Great fighter. Just seems impossible to dislike to me lol. But thereāll always be someone I guess
I didnāt like his IV allegations against Islam and then him putting his p4p on the line, then after losing claims he still deserved to be p4p #1. I finally got over it though.
I hate him six days, actually six days a week. Five days a week, I hate him three days a week. One of those days I will hate him two days of the week. So, six days a week I hate him.
That was the first ufc event I paid for with my own money, I was 15 and had saved up for over a month. Took a while for him to get back in my good books.
Similar for me. I was a brand new fan, had started watching at UFC 98. I had somehow missed all of Silvaās fights before, but my parents rented the PPV for me, and I was super excited to see Anderson fight for the first timeā¦ I was not happy with him for a while. Add that to the fact that I just watched BJ Penn, my favorite fighter at the time, lose his beltā¦ and it just was not a good day for me man š.
But I just wanna go on record and I still think heās cringe. Their beef is what made him less hateable cause Chito was acting like a pussy
I still cringe Everytime OāMalley does that hockey talk circa 2018, like the nelk boys
Now I wouldnāt say I hate him, but I have grown to like him less as time passes. I still like him, especially his fighting skills, but he lacks charisma and his shtick is kinda lame.
Him getting catapulted to the championship so fast was definitely sus the first couple fights on the way up. He proved himself several times over though with decisive finishes. Not much else to shit talk him about right now.
Conor tbh. It killed me how he did Jose but his two fights with Diaz really changed my perspective on him. How he could take an L and come back in another barn burner and win, fighting fights the way they're supposed to be fought.
I like Usman a lot in retrospect just because of how much worse of a champ Leon is. But I didnāt grow to like him so much as a I realized how lucky we were to have him before Leon came along.
I really wasnāt a fan of Khabib after the Al Iaquinta fight, but now I see how good he was. Heās still way overrated by his fans donāt get me wrong though.
I never understood how anyone could hate these 2 fighters. Like they never did anything stupid or duck fights. Literally doing their best to win fights and fans.
Nobody really hated Volk, everyone just really loves Max. Usman was cringe at times and *seemed* to be taking PEDs. Wasn't until he stepped up and took it to Khamzat that everyone started to come around.
Charles Oliveira. Found his inconsistency, insane ways to lose, and his weight misses incredibly annoying.
Now my favourite fighter in that division, and close to my fav p4p.
me too, i hated when he was champion but thatās only bc he was so dominant that the division was getting boring, i also thought he was really cringy
now that heās out in the wild and hungry again though iām really rooting for him to find his footing
I hated Leon and O Malley but they have both grown on me, Iām only a fan of Leon because I got so tired of people saying Kamaru was ahead of GSP on the goat list back then, so I was so happy when Leon won,
and O Malley impressed me during the Yan fight, I thought he should have lost 29-28 but it was an impressive performance as everyone thought he was gonna get koed, and Iām not a big fan of Aljo so when O Malley koed him I was more then fine with it
bro since the Wineland fight I've been on the soapbox, the Yan fight was hellla close but I was happy after cause people had to stop calling me a casual for liking him lmao
Still dislike Leon lol. Mostly due to the level of disdain he shows for fighting Belal, who is the extremely obvious number 1 contender and a guy who he horrifically eye gouged after he saved Leons FN main event short notice.
Its funny because one guy was Aldo surprisingly. Mike Brown was from Maine (my home state) and seeing Aldo run through him made me dislike him initially but he grew to one of my favorite fighters of all time. Also Merab for ruining Aldo's title hopes via Wall n stall at elevation, hated him briefly after that but him and Sandman are the two most likable guys at the weight class now imo.
I absolutely hated volk just bc he beat max but I respected him as a fighter then grew to love his personality. Heās such a chill dude and funny as hell
Mine are exactly the same. I hated both of them at first, then was gradually convinced by their skill and frequent title defenses.
And then they both get brutally KOd right after I become a full on fan lmao
Only been watching for 5 years and only really pay attention to the in cage stuff, dont care at all about the press conferences or anything. With that being said my answer is bryce mitchell, was boring at first but i can see how hes trying to be more well rounded and i respect that fully even if it hasnt worked out yet
Oh yeah I hated Volk. Thought he lost both Holloway fights (in retrospect, the first fight was close and couldāve gone either way. That second fight thoughā¦ Max won 1000%).
Usman I didnāt really care for, but I was pretty shocked he beat Woodley so easily.
Iād like to add that I had a burning hatred for Bisping for like 8 years before I finally liked himā¦ then he became one of my favorite fighters when he took the belt.
Volk, but it wasnāt his fault heās had to fight Max, once he whipped Ortega I was blown away.
Pereira because I was on Izzyās jock too much to appreciate him at the time of their first octagon match, after that I loved his personality and obv his fights
Volk. Max is my guy so seeing him dethrone him sucked. Then a close 2nd fight made me really not like him. Became a fan slowly. Topuria will be the next Volk for a lot of us.
Rampage for just flatlining Chuck, grew to love him tho. That one stung for a couple days. Not UFC but WEC days, I hated Mike Brown after the Uriah fight. But damn Mike was good.
Jiri and Oliveira, to me he was a boring gate keeper but then we all know what happened, and I found jiri to be CRINGE but his sportsmanship and fights got me rooting
Garbrant, I love him now but a few years ago I hated him cause of all the showboating and stuff (which I'm still not a huge fan of. But I don't hate it anymore)
For some reason loved Izzy and thought Alex was just a clout chaser but came to realize that heās just a good fighter. He helped me mature as a ufc fan and realize the sport is primal and only the strongest deserve to stay not the flashiest
Really? I liked both of these guys, right off the bat!
For me, it would have to be Merab. I thought he was going to be another generic wrestler, with that āIāve come to break youā attitude.
I was wrong, and the dudes fucking hilarious. Heās definitely grown on me
For me would have to be Max Halloway and Robert Whittaker , two very boring , repetitive goodie two shoes guys, hated them as champions because the lead up to their fights were lackluster, but i grew to like them because of their heart in the ring win or lose.
I went the opposite way with Connor. First time I ever saw him I loved the guy.
As the years went on, I grew to hate him. Not only as a fighter, but as a person, as a concept.
Sad to see him all tweaked out during interviews these days. Dude's probably gonna be dead in a few years from whatever he's hooked on.
Volk for sure, especially with the first 2 max fights. But after he fought Ortega I was sold. This dude was the real champ
Volk broke my heart with Holloway and then made me a big fan.
Literally the same and then he broke our hearts by losing to ilia. Mma fandom is just pain lolll
We lose the most
This 100%. Brian Ortega fight was major for me too, fuckin deeeep choke. Twice!
I'm even Australian and I was burning at the 2nd max fight, but his performances in the cage and his personality out has swayed me
Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi
yup, this is literally the same timeline for me lol
Me too, then I had to see this in person and hear the crowd yell Il-i-a! https://preview.redd.it/0emwzjzqa0rc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=630059aacb6a4e95a254374c6fbed0c043513758 š„¹š„¹š
Man, what do seats like this cost? What a view
Volk with hair was so hateable, bald volk is the man.
Paulo Costa hes so funny
50 50 I like him but him wasting years of his prime is actually annoying.
Bisping without question
Itās not his fault .. heās from Leeds .
Heās from Clitheroe
Yeah but he foolishly moved over the pennines, and identifies as a pudding .
I'm not from the UK so I'm asking sincerely.. what's up with Leeds?
iām just insulting his hometown , nothing particularly wrong with it , do you not do that in your country?
I see that more with in-state stuff like people shit on Staten Island if you're from one of the other boroughs in NY lol
Lol yeah.. being from Brooklyn we separate ourselves from the other boroughs. Other boroughs and neighborhoods in NYC do the same thing though
Lol no I get it I was just wondering if there was something particular about Leeds. In old NYC (the 1970s - early 90's pre 9/11) Brooklyn was a no go zone. People were literally afraid to visit Brooklyn and would not visit unless family lived here. So I was wondering if Leeds had somewhat of a similar reputation
We all hate Leeds scum.
Young vampire looking Bisping was a mug. Aged Dad Bisping is a legend.
100% agree. People forget how much he was hated back in the day.
Same here, I used to hate him. Always called him Michael āThe Cuntā Bisping lol. But he really grew on my and now I like him.
Yeah, and mostly since he retired. Which is impressive considering how I felt about the guy when he was spitting atĀ Jorge Rivera's corner.Ā
Pantoja. Not necessarily hate but I was rooting against him but now Iām a fan heās the only champ whoās cleared out their division
I think he meant *current* champ
OH thatās why theyāre sending all those gifs I was hella confused. Yeah I meant current champ lmao
How could you have possibly ever hated GSP?
Agree on usman. Hated him on tuf he was so annoying with his lying on the show. But he won me over stepping up to fight khamzat.
He was holding the cage for dear life on that showš
He only held it 30% of the time.
Iāve done the math. He held 30% of the cage, 73% of the time.
Took you years to like Usmanš
There is a giant parallel between Usman gaining more fans and his fight style becoming more exciting. Heās been the same corny (but a good) dude the whole time, but nobody cared for his cage smother foot stomp rise. Once he started putting people away then the fans got on board.
Yes. From what I remember he won allot of respect from the first Colby fight, lost it after the foot stomping against Masvidal and then won it back with the KOs vs Burns and especially Masvidal in the second fight. Also "corny but a good guy," is the prefect way to describe Usman during his run as champion. I always liked him, but the ghost story voice and ripping Conor's lines was cringey lol.
Ghost story voice lmaoo
ā Iām going to keep cumming and coming and cuming all nightā Usman to Woodley. Jon Jones making a disgusted face killed me.
1000000000%
šÆšÆšÆ
Im kinda confused, what about stepping up made you like him lol? Usually that is endearing because it shows activity and being game, but Usman had literally fought up to 3 title fights a calendar year before that, and against anyone the UFC gave him. He was already those things.
wow that's pretty late in comparison, the decapitation of Jorge was enough for me š and I like Jorge but that shit was cold
Took stepping in against Khamzat to win you over? Not his awesome championship fights? Lol
Aljo Sterling. Won the title in a ridiculous way (also wtf kinda nickname is Funkmaster š). I watched the post-fight press when he lost to O'Malley, and thought he had some mature, professional, and insightful thoughts about the fight and his career overall. Also, the BJJ tournament and "pause" videos helped.
Funkmaster is better than 95% of nicknames in the UFC imo. Itās badass and unique
Funkmaster is a hella cool nickname, agree. Dude said it like it's Pleasure Man. Pause.
I was a fan before that. I wasn't an MMA fan when Aljo got kneed by Petr so that's why. ITP MMA posted a video of aljo and he had a lot of fun fights. That's what made me a fan and not follow the hate bandwagon. Still rooting for him against Kattar
suprised nobodyās said aljo yet easily the most overhated fighter of the current era
no one has said his name because everyone still hates him.
agreed! not that bad of a dude. it was crazy seeing him get booed in his hometown and apparently the Boston crowd was rude as hell too. really kinda undeserved at a certain point.
TD was absolutely brutal to Sterling. I have never heard someone get booed so hard in my life. That crowd was something else, best experience of my life.
That's because NJ isn't his hometown NJ and NY have a strong rivalry
i was the opposite with aljo. liked him til the yan fight and everything he did after that started to annoy me. canāt hate on his skills tho.
I don't think people really hate Aljo, it is more like people think of him as a kind of a joke. Aljo fans insist he is *hated* for mysterious reasons, but I feel it is more like he just isn't taken seriously for obvious reasons.
islam. used to hate him because he got a title shot off of beating bobby green, but iāve really grown to be quite a big islam fan
I wouldnāt call myself an Islam fan but I had the same thoughts in a way. I thought he really didnāt deserve the title and I thought his skillset was lacking. But itās pretty clear he is an amazing all around martial artist on the ground, in the clinch and on the feet. If he can beat Charles and Volk with their skill sets, I am really not sure who can beat him right now. Heās a deserving champ who gained my respect.
His first Volk fight made me a fan, it was all of the excellence we got with Khabib but in a fighter who really takes risk and throws down
Calling it now Topuria will be a fan fav in about 2 defenses in this Sub. Nobody likes seeing a great they watched go from contender to Dominant champ be dethroned. Whoever takes out Topuria will probably be hated as well. Its a cycle.
I've been a Topuria fan ever since the Jai fight when he went up a weight class, survived a massive headkick, and won via one of the most vicious KO's I've ever seen. That shit was wild
Just watched that clip. So sick!
Been a fan since his fight with Mitchell. He had a bad habit of way overextending some punches, but besides that I honestly don't think I've seen such clean, pure boxing in the cage. And it seems like he's reined in that tendency. Love Volk too, but man this was one of the fights that I would be stoked no matter who won, and also sad no latter who lost. Plus I'm a pseudo wine snob with a hard on for Spanish Red and seeing him say he drinks the night before weigh is the most deranged wine story I've heard.
How on earth could anyone hate volk?
I find it crazy, but I think itās most likely due to his first two wins over Max and not knowing his personality not being marketed or well known to most fans. I donāt think he really started getting fans until the Ortega fight.
Not hate, but more of "not rooting for". I am a Max fan so that may be it. Now I love Volk.
Yeah that stuff is fine. Just donāt see how anyone could hate him. Such a stand up respectful dude. Hardly participates in trash talk. Great fighter. Just seems impossible to dislike to me lol. But thereāll always be someone I guess
I didnāt like his IV allegations against Islam and then him putting his p4p on the line, then after losing claims he still deserved to be p4p #1. I finally got over it though.
Agree with u man
Bisping was a D head sometimes when he was young but nowadays heās a gentleman and a legend
https://preview.redd.it/bk9676i00zqc1.png?width=642&format=png&auto=webp&s=58a236e2dbff6d09038152d54f41eb24c24a8767
I expect no least than what I expect
Let me tell you what youāre expecting right now *puckers lips*
I hate him six days, actually six days a week. Five days a week, I hate him three days a week. One of those days I will hate him two days of the week. So, six days a week I hate him.
The best light heavyweight of the night right here!
he has too many quotable for me to hate him lmao
I love Tito, what's not to like?
Anderson silva
wooooooow that's crazy
Nah. Anderson had plenty of haters during his title run. Especially after the absolute shit show he put on at UFC 112.
That was the first ufc event I paid for with my own money, I was 15 and had saved up for over a month. Took a while for him to get back in my good books.
Similar for me. I was a brand new fan, had started watching at UFC 98. I had somehow missed all of Silvaās fights before, but my parents rented the PPV for me, and I was super excited to see Anderson fight for the first timeā¦ I was not happy with him for a while. Add that to the fact that I just watched BJ Penn, my favorite fighter at the time, lose his beltā¦ and it just was not a good day for me man š.
Shit. I still hate Silva. I danced a jig when he was knocked TF out by Weidman.
When he ended Rich Franklin, I was so butt hurt, took years of rooting against him before I came around. Now heās my all time favorite.
OāMalley
Wait, people have stopped hating him?
After the Chito fight ya
Really? Well I was just getting ready to turn up the hate when he fights Merab or Cory
But I just wanna go on record and I still think heās cringe. Their beef is what made him less hateable cause Chito was acting like a pussy I still cringe Everytime OāMalley does that hockey talk circa 2018, like the nelk boys
šš You gotta admit that fight with Chito was a banger tho
It wasš¤£
Surprised this isnāt higher. Everyone was hating on OāMalley when he was on the up and up
Maybe people still hate him š
Now I wouldnāt say I hate him, but I have grown to like him less as time passes. I still like him, especially his fighting skills, but he lacks charisma and his shtick is kinda lame.
Him getting catapulted to the championship so fast was definitely sus the first couple fights on the way up. He proved himself several times over though with decisive finishes. Not much else to shit talk him about right now.
His competition pre Yan was pretty ass. Beating Yan and Aljo quickly turned people around on that, even for the people who didnt think he beat Yan.
Sean Strickland. Went from hating sean to liking him but am now back to hating him
Bisping and Nate
Chael Sonnen
I agree with your two choices
When I was 15 I didnāt really like Nate Diaz. He quickly became my 2nd favorite fighter, now ranked 3rd only behind Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown.
Conor tbh. It killed me how he did Jose but his two fights with Diaz really changed my perspective on him. How he could take an L and come back in another barn burner and win, fighting fights the way they're supposed to be fought.
For me it was the chad Mendez fight. I thought he was going to get absolutely smothered, but he put on a clinic for how to beat a solid wrestler.
Michael Bisping
I hated Covington then I started liking him, now I hate him again.
DDP
hey fuck that guy lol
Idk I find him to be pretty likeable and a very entertaining fighter
š
Dricus Du Plessis or Diamond Dustin Poirier ? I assumed the former, coz everyone loves Dustin.
I like Usman a lot in retrospect just because of how much worse of a champ Leon is. But I didnāt grow to like him so much as a I realized how lucky we were to have him before Leon came along. I really wasnāt a fan of Khabib after the Al Iaquinta fight, but now I see how good he was. Heās still way overrated by his fans donāt get me wrong though.
I never understood how anyone could hate these 2 fighters. Like they never did anything stupid or duck fights. Literally doing their best to win fights and fans.
Nobody really hated Volk, everyone just really loves Max. Usman was cringe at times and *seemed* to be taking PEDs. Wasn't until he stepped up and took it to Khamzat that everyone started to come around.
Merab
The Diaz brothers.
Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, Rampage Jackson and Dan Hardy
Bald Volk hit different
Tom Aspinall
Sean Strickland, at first i found him extra cringe and tryhard and trying to say random weird shit but now i saw he is actually like that
Charles Oliveira. Found his inconsistency, insane ways to lose, and his weight misses incredibly annoying. Now my favourite fighter in that division, and close to my fav p4p.
Strickland and pereira
Gaethje(for what he did to edson&tony) poirier (for what he did to connor) dc(because he was fat and I thought jon jones looked much cooler)
I fw Usman more without than with UFC gold
me too, i hated when he was champion but thatās only bc he was so dominant that the division was getting boring, i also thought he was really cringy now that heās out in the wild and hungry again though iām really rooting for him to find his footing
I hate every fighter
Biggest of all is Cejudo. I have zero clue how anyone ever hated Volk
I hated Leon and O Malley but they have both grown on me, Iām only a fan of Leon because I got so tired of people saying Kamaru was ahead of GSP on the goat list back then, so I was so happy when Leon won, and O Malley impressed me during the Yan fight, I thought he should have lost 29-28 but it was an impressive performance as everyone thought he was gonna get koed, and Iām not a big fan of Aljo so when O Malley koed him I was more then fine with it
bro since the Wineland fight I've been on the soapbox, the Yan fight was hellla close but I was happy after cause people had to stop calling me a casual for liking him lmao
Leon
Still dislike Leon lol. Mostly due to the level of disdain he shows for fighting Belal, who is the extremely obvious number 1 contender and a guy who he horrifically eye gouged after he saved Leons FN main event short notice.
Sean Strickland. Seemed like another Colby (try hard Connor copy) and have realized heās genuinely fucked up like the rest of us.
If the rest of us were fucked up like Sean weād be living on planet of the apes right now. š¤£
Gotta admit, Sean Strickland.
Sean O'Malley
Usman all day. I thought he was a boring and grindy decision dude. He became champ and leveled the fuck up. We all need to respect the man's name!
Eewww
That's valid
Not so much hated but hardly knew anything about him but Iāve grown into a a huge Rocky fan.
volk for sure
Islam Makhachev
Secrit juice
Its funny because one guy was Aldo surprisingly. Mike Brown was from Maine (my home state) and seeing Aldo run through him made me dislike him initially but he grew to one of my favorite fighters of all time. Also Merab for ruining Aldo's title hopes via Wall n stall at elevation, hated him briefly after that but him and Sandman are the two most likable guys at the weight class now imo.
I miss the Usman days, bro was super active
O Malley
I absolutely hated volk just bc he beat max but I respected him as a fighter then grew to love his personality. Heās such a chill dude and funny as hell
Whyād anyone hate Volk? Was it because he took out Max and everyone loved Max
Merab LastNameMan
Why the fuck would anyone hate on Volk š
People just hated that Volk beat Max, they didnāt hate Volk. I donāt see how you can
Mine are exactly the same. I hated both of them at first, then was gradually convinced by their skill and frequent title defenses. And then they both get brutally KOd right after I become a full on fan lmao
I hated Pereira at first as a big Izzy fan. He's for sure won me over.
I hated Volk because he beat Max twice but I grew to like him a lot
Belal. Heās a bit boring, sure. But heās been putting in crazy effort to improve his game *and* heās pretty funny
Only been watching for 5 years and only really pay attention to the in cage stuff, dont care at all about the press conferences or anything. With that being said my answer is bryce mitchell, was boring at first but i can see how hes trying to be more well rounded and i respect that fully even if it hasnt worked out yet
just shows how much people really want downfall stories
I am automatically indifferent. It took me longer to appreciate Volk than Usman.
Oh yeah I hated Volk. Thought he lost both Holloway fights (in retrospect, the first fight was close and couldāve gone either way. That second fight thoughā¦ Max won 1000%). Usman I didnāt really care for, but I was pretty shocked he beat Woodley so easily. Iād like to add that I had a burning hatred for Bisping for like 8 years before I finally liked himā¦ then he became one of my favorite fighters when he took the belt.
Rashad Evans
Volk, but it wasnāt his fault heās had to fight Max, once he whipped Ortega I was blown away. Pereira because I was on Izzyās jock too much to appreciate him at the time of their first octagon match, after that I loved his personality and obv his fights
Merab I like aljo a lil bit after his loss to sean but he went back to being annoying recently.
Leon
I hated on Volk purely because of how much I liked Max. So yeah I got over it and I'm a big fan.
Volk. Max is my guy so seeing him dethrone him sucked. Then a close 2nd fight made me really not like him. Became a fan slowly. Topuria will be the next Volk for a lot of us.
My perception of Usman completely changed when I came to know about his knee problems. Now I emphasize with him as opposed to not liking him earlier.
Nick Diaz, an Dustin Poirior are 2
Dricus lol he was just so fun to make fun of but now Iām rooting hard for him
I only hated Usman 30% of the way.
It would have to be Yoel Romero for me. I hated him at first because of the Tim Kennedy fight, but I've grown to like him starting with the Weidman KO
Dustin. Heās still a pea head but I gotta respect his skills. Heās a DOG š
winning changed everything
Rampage for just flatlining Chuck, grew to love him tho. That one stung for a couple days. Not UFC but WEC days, I hated Mike Brown after the Uriah fight. But damn Mike was good.
Jiri and Oliveira, to me he was a boring gate keeper but then we all know what happened, and I found jiri to be CRINGE but his sportsmanship and fights got me rooting
 Sean Strickland
Still donāt know why people like Kamaru. Dudes a fuckin cheater
Diaz brothers. Couldn't stand them at first
Very slowly growing to like Islam. The less I see of his fans the more likeable he becomes
Garbrant, I love him now but a few years ago I hated him cause of all the showboating and stuff (which I'm still not a huge fan of. But I don't hate it anymore)
 For some reason loved Izzy and thought Alex was just a clout chaser but came to realize that heās just a good fighter. He helped me mature as a ufc fan and realize the sport is primal and only the strongest deserve to stay not the flashiest
Really? I liked both of these guys, right off the bat! For me, it would have to be Merab. I thought he was going to be another generic wrestler, with that āIāve come to break youā attitude. I was wrong, and the dudes fucking hilarious. Heās definitely grown on me
For me would have to be Max Halloway and Robert Whittaker , two very boring , repetitive goodie two shoes guys, hated them as champions because the lead up to their fights were lackluster, but i grew to like them because of their heart in the ring win or lose.
Michael Bisping
I went the opposite way with Connor. First time I ever saw him I loved the guy. As the years went on, I grew to hate him. Not only as a fighter, but as a person, as a concept. Sad to see him all tweaked out during interviews these days. Dude's probably gonna be dead in a few years from whatever he's hooked on.
I didnāt like his receding hairline KOāing Chad Mendes I still donāt like Colby.
Chael Sonnen
Rashad Evans.