Quote:
Originally Posted by Flea Man
Munoz was horribly overrated if he was 'top 3' and the no.1 contender.
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But he was. The middleweight division has always been one of the weakest. Stann lost to Bisping, Bisping lost to Sonnen, Sonnen had just lost to Silva, Belfort and Okami (1-3) had lost to Silva in '11, Shields was at 170, Palhares lost to Belcher, Belcher was making noise but had just two fights since returning from his eye injury, Boetsch was unimpressive against Lombard (as was Lombard), Rockhold was in Strikeforce, and Weidman was about to shed his
prospect label against Munoz.
Munoz hadn't lost decisively since 2009 and that was against Hamill at 205lbs and had won 7 of his last 8 (the loss being a close split decision to Okami). There was huge speculation that Munoz was to receive a title shot if he beat Leben (over a year before he even met Weidman). Leben, who was still a hot commodity (had won 4 out of his last 5 - including desolating Wanderlei and pulling out 2 wins in 2 weeks (Simpson, Akiyama)).
Not to mention, at the time, Munoz's Donkey Kong power and (overrated) wrestling was thought to be a big stylistic matchup for Anderson Silva.