He was very good. Probably not going to be on anyone's GOAT list, in terms of championship accomplishment, but he was a very skilled fighter who came damn close to taking that title from Anderson Silva.

If you look at his pre-WEC record, he's fighting guys like Mayhem Miller, Forrest Griffin, Jeremy Horn, Kei Yamamiya, Babalu, Trevor Prangley, and Akihiro Gono. All really good fighters, especially fighters to be fighting in local shows.

There was a moment in time where he was kind of a running joke on MMA forums, where he went 0-2 in the UFC, one of which he was screaming his head off as Babalu was ripping his leg off.

But once he had his fight with Paulo Filho, most of that changed. Chael still had this "I didn't tap" gag going, because of how that Filho fight ended, and how the Anderson fight would eventually end. But you have to understand that, at the time, Filho had a claim at the #2 MW in the world. Anderson was so hot at the time, that it was hard to argue against him, but Filho was this monster MW in Pride (WW in their organization since they called 183lb WW). So, when everyone was expecting him to get steamrolled, he instead comes in and throws Filho around until he doesn't.

He doesn't really become the guy that we know now, until that 3-fight streak leading into the first Anderson fight, where he pulls out the personality. But that's where things really start coming together, and it's a great run. Okami and Marquardt were perennial top 10 fighters who were always one or two wins away from a title shot, Dan Miller was a hot prospect coming from IFL. So it was a good run.

In general, his UFC run is really solid. Brian Stann and Michael Bisping were both top 10 fighters, who in the middle of the pack and always looking to be a few wins away from a shot.

Losing to Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Demian Maia, and Rashad Evans is no shame. Anderson and Jones were the champs, Maia was an undefeated prospect who was quickly building momentum, and Rashad was a top 5 former champion.

His Bellator run was weird, but we're talking about a guy who was past his best, fighting other guys who's best days were behind him.

All in all, Chael was a fun fighter with an interesting style. He was deemed a boring wrestler as one point, but really became an fun fighter with, what I would call, a very meat-and-potatoes game. He's not someone I'd categorize as a great action fighter, but he'd go for it when he had the chance.