Best journeyman in UFC history?

[Rationality]

A journeyman is someone who never breaks into the top 5 in his division nor fights for a title but who has at least 15 fights in the UFC.
Fair?

 

[quebert]

Barboza never fight for the ufc belt. Cerrone did and got finished by RDA. I’m not pointing these things out to try and bash them. They are both incredible fighters. But debatably are in the journeymen category. Note how this is the second time I’ve used the term “debatably”.

Cowboy's top 3 for number of wins in the UFC. Also he 18 fuckin fight bonuses, he was literally main eventing and getting some sort of fight of the night bonus 18 times. He couldn't be further from a journeyman.

 

[MitMcl]

Jim Miller
Clay Guida

I would say both were above jouneyman at a point in time, but have both been journeymen for quite awhile now.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Jim Miller
Clay Guida

I would say both were above jouneyman at a point in time, but have both been journeymen for quite awhile now.

Yeah I feel like guys like Miller, Guida, Chris Lytle and Joe Lauzon were gatekeepers at one point but some of them later settled into the journeymen role. FWIW I think Lytle deserved the nod over Serra in their split decision and should have fought GSP for the title.

 

[MartinBrowntree]

Who is the greatest journeyman in UFC history? Different people will have different criteria for the label of “journeyman” of course, so try to elaborate.

Also, which journeyman had the best moment?

'Great' and 'journeyman' doesn't fit.

Some journeymen that come to mind that did their job well included:

Clay Guida, Jim Miller, Olenik, Ivanov, Michael Johnson, Rothwell

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

Is a tomato can considered worse than joruneyman? Are they the same or different

 

[NoSmilez]

I don't think NoSmilez knows what journeyman means... He literally thinks it's journey man, like a man who journeys. As in Severn performs an act of traveling from one place to another, or one promotion to another.

Let us help him:

jour·ney·man
noun

1. 1.
   a worker or sports player who is reliable but not outstanding.
   "a solid journeyman professional"

Bro. Why do you think Colby calls Jorge journeyman Jorge. Go look at the journeyman in boxing and what their career looked like.

 

[Flower2dPeople]

I was gonna say that too, but was afraid someone would yell at me and say he's a gatekeeper, rather than a journeyman... But he's done multiple weight classes and, to my knowledge, has never fought for a title. So, to me, that's the definition of a journeyman. And he's been doing that longer than anyone, so he's be a good one too. Him, Joe Lauzon, Clay Guida, Gleison Tibau, Neil Magny, Matt Brown, Michael Johnson. Journeyman, gatekeeper, also-ran, whatever you want to call it.

In Jim's defense, he is the best journeyman.

 

[cheesus]

Probably Jeremy Horn

 

[OldBoy91]

Is a tomato can considered worse than joruneyman? Are they the same or different

Cans are worse.

In boxing a tomato can is the guy a prospect will face for their first through maybe 5th fights. It's basically set up for a guaranteed win and to get them used to the environment of fighting in front of an audience. Cans in boxing will have records like 8-121-5 and shit like that.

A journeyman is someone who is a decent fighter and a much sterner test than a can would be. They are inconsistent and swap wins and losses and never really put runs together, but they are able and adequate all the same. A journeyman is a fighter that will never contend for titles themselves and certainly won't win any belts, but they may snag a win here or there against guys who will go on to contend and win belts.

A perfect example of a journeyman in Boxing is Emmanuel Augustus. He has a very shoddy record on paper but he has fought against some very good boxers and has even beaten a couple. He even gave Floyd Mayweather a tough test early in his career.

 

[CPH]

They are no real journeyman in the UFC. The term doesn't really apply to the UFC because of the structure. Journeyman is a guy that travels from promotion to promotion to fight different people. If you want to use journeyman then you have to pick someone who that darted in and out of the UFC. I think people tend to use journeyman for guys in the promotion that never make it out of the prelims or never crack the top 15.

Journeyman is sort of like Dan Severn's career. It's almost a different promotion every single fight.

That's the very strict definition but I think it's also fair to use the term to describe fighters of a certain skill level; basically guys who are decent but considered card 'filler', used to build others' records, etc (far above can level though).

 

[Psychojoe86]

Chris “Lights Out” Lytle

 

[Cantalope]

Chris fucking Lytle!

 

[DestinedAussie]

Who is the greatest journeyman in UFC history? Different people will have different criteria for the label of “journeyman” of course, so try to elaborate.

Also, which journeyman had the best moment?

Well the definition is sportsman that is reliable but not outstanding.

So it depends where you draw the line for outstanding. People like Serra and Fitch come to mind. But you could argue they were outstanding.

 

[lepsahekim]

Diaz Bros, bring the entertainment pre, during and post fight, also have some decent skills at times and occasionally embarrass someone good

 

[mb23100]

Tim Boetsch.

Stuck around for a long time without sniffing a title shot. Got some good wins in fights he was supposed to lose.

 

[crodor3]

travis fulton

 

[NoSmilez]

That's the very strict definition but I think it's also fair to use the term to describe fighters of a certain skill level; basically guys who are decent but considered card 'filler', used to build others' records, etc (far above can level though).

What you are describing is more like a club fighter. In general you will have contender>gatekeeper>journeyman>clubfighter>can. A lot of the boxing terminology doesn't apply to the UFC because the way it is structured now. UFC keeps everything in house. They also have a huge stable to make fights from. They rarely pull random guys last minute to fill in. UFC is the already the big show. There are guys who we think suck but they aren't really tomato cans either. Guys lose a few in a row then they are pretty much out unless they are Sam Alvey. There aren't many scenarios in the UFC where a champion/contender needs a busy fight or last min replacement and will fight a journeyman. More or less fighters are supposed to fight who they are supposed to fight minus some hick up examples.

It can be seen as a pejorative term when it shouldn't be. I love Mickey Ward and he had a pretty much journeyman like career.

 

[NoSmilez]

What a prick

Don't be mad homie. I was hangry before. I had a roasted chicken leg and some greens. We can now continue to discuss the merits of Rich Ace Franklin!

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Sam Alvey is the only UFC journeyman I could actually come up with.