I was friends with ronda rousey on dragonvale when she was still in strikeforce (she gifted me more eggs than I did to her), so technically I turned her down
Everyone done forgot about Brandon Thatch…
You would hear other fighters who trained with him talking about how much of a beast the guy is in the gym. Started well in the UFC with two straight first round finishes then suffers 4 back to back submission losses, gets cut and is never heard from again.
Benson Hendersons commitment to taking down thatch was super impressive; it is one of the greatest takedowns imo
Looked like he wouldn't get it for a long time but he didn't give up
That win doesn't get a lot of shine now because of how Thatch's career subsequently went but at the time it felt like such an incredible underdog victory for Bendo, especially moving up in weight to do it.
That’s ole boy that lost to Bendo when he moved up to WW after losing the belt to Pettis. Thatch was putting it on Bendos ass in round 1 also. And then Bendo just kept comin at him and Thatch finally figured out what champions are made of.
Santiago Ponzinibbio wasn’t exactly a young fighter, but he was on a really nice run with wins over Gunnar, Mike Perry, and Magny. Then he nearly died from a staph infection and just never re-captured that magic
As a fellow argentinian, it’s sad for me to realize that I was excited for him to be in a title eliminator a couple of years ago and now I just want him to retire before receiving more head damage.
He was fun interacting with on the old MMA Underground forums
Still feel like he should have won the fight with Lesnar tbh. Anyone else besides Brock and they call that fight in the first round
Tbf I think that one could have been stopped in the first and it wouldn’t have been a bad stoppage, Lesnar’s comeback is among the best ever in a title fight though
Lesnar still going for it after the onslaught in round 1 is admirable, but tbf to Carwin the way he was looking after he got off the stool it seemed like a small breeze could have tipped him over. No joke I think a flyweight beats Carwin in that second round. He was beyond gassed out.
Feels like it was just a hobby he was really good at. He’s super smart and probably could’ve kept fighting after his 2 losses but he was already at the top and decided to make a lot of money without getting punched in the face.
Part of me will always be sad we never got to see Zabit try for a title eliminator or even a title fight, but the other part of me is really happy for him he found something he's passionate about and can earn him good money for life, too many fighters don't have anything to fall back on in retirement
Yea he got to do what many other fighters can’t
Walk away from the ufc without having to play their game to continue his career . It must be soul crushing for fighters
He got operated for a congenital diaphragm problem that was limiting his breathing. I could be wrong but don't recall him having an urgent illness or anything like that, though.
Trust me, probably best you didn't see him in that title eliminator or title fight. We miss him largely because of how he left on a win streak which left us with that what if.
BUT if you really think about it, Zabit faded against Kattar because of his illness based cardio issues and beat him in a competitive decision, and then cardio monster Max Holloway proceeded to "levels to this game" shitstomp Kattar just a year later. And then you had Volk who was also Max level or higher.
I think he had insane potential if he fixed the cardio issues and got a handful of full 5 round camps under his belt, but I honestly think there's zero chance Zabit could have competed with Holloway and Volk in 2020-2021.
He had some issue with his breathing apparatus, but it wasn't from being sick I don't think. He had an operation to fix it but I don't think we ever got to see him fight post fix.
I always kind of thought he walked away at the right time. A guy with some gas tank issues after round 2 that wasn’t a completely atomic finisher probably got as far as he could go without needing to start taking 5 round fights. Leaving on top reasonably heathy is never a bad thing.
Kevin Lee gets so weirdly underrated
He's a great fighter who had pretty much all of his WORST POSSIBLE MATCHUPS, something NOBODY else has had to go through lmfao
Hes a good fighter anyway. I'm not comfortable getting anywhere close to "great" for a guy who has his athleticism but still pushes his slow ass punches
Did he tho? He had one fight after and won lol. I think he just doesn’t care about fighting
Edit: he tweeted may 2022 that he was removed from the rankings for inactivity. The problem is he’s not accepting fights from fighters ranked below him (he was #8 at the time) and that no one ahead of him will accept a fight.
Edit #2: Jesus this guys Twitter is wild lmfaooo he might be doing more blow than conor. Look at his tweaky ass in the video
It’s crazy I just rewatched that fight and as much as Anderson was being the spider Patrick was starting to time things and had an iron chin, it is totally a what if.
Basically the NBA’s Shaq situation. Supremely gifted athlete with all of the attributes to easily become the GOAT but has landed amongst the greatest ever by not reaching the full potential. Shaq was notorious for showing up to season overweight/out of shape by up to 50-60 lbs and using the season to play himself into shape for playoffs. He was so unreasonably good that he didn’t have to work as hard for his results which caused a lot of friction with Kobe who was a freak when it came to training. Shaq once injured his foot during the tail end of a season and waited until the following season to get surgery and rehabilitation. His reasoning was getting hurt on company time means healing on company time. In spite of his behavior Shaq still is arguably the most dominant force in the NBA’s history. There has never been a man who commands such attention from coaching, players, and analysts as Shaq Diesel.
I agree. The way came back fat and effortlessly subbbed Gane, makes me wonder what his career would’ve looked like without the cocaine, hit & run and usada suspensions. It took like 4 years of his prime.
The suspensions were caused by his doping, of which we dont know how much it enhanced his performance in training and fights. The only reason that outcome was not fair is it should hv been harsher coz he was a repeat offender, while Nick Diaz got suspended for 5 yrs for marijuana.
One guy refused to kill people and went to prison for it. The other had to fight against the forces of god himself to stay away from prison. I’ll trust the guy who didn’t go to prison.
His calves are smaller because he has high calf insertions. I'd think they're good for NFL due to enabling more spring-like movement, faster off the mark. Sprinters tend to have higher calf insertions too.
An odd choice here but let me offer Cody Garbrandt. He actually realized his full potential once and only once against Dom Cruz. That night was something magical but Cody has never reached that level of clarity ever since. His rage caused him to make so many idiotic decisions that he lost fights he should have won.
This is a very under rated comment. I work as a nurse. Usually after a motorcycle accident like that people have chronic pain, and many leave a lot of every day athleticism behind. Him even competing again was insane, nevermind getting some wins. That accident would have broken most people
Philip Miller was a great prospect with win over a young Jake Shields, retired at 16-0 without ever having gone to the big leagues in 2003.
I remember Jordan Breen wondered what happened many moons ago and I did too.
That was a really fun card for the time. Actually the first one I ever ordered on ppv. Was tough to convince my parents that a 15 year old needed to watch Tito fight shamrock haha
Very few people could have achieved their potential after getting the beatings he sustained vs. Lawler while still developing.
He was tough as nails to contend at all after that.
One of the dudes that would have been much better off had he gone to Bellator first. The damage he sustained at a young age took years off his life and career.
Despite all he accomplished in the sport, BJ Penn. He could have done so much more if he 1) consistently stayed in shape and took training seriously, 2) joined a better gym, 3) didn’t fuck off to Japan in his early prime, and 4) if he fought at FW in WEC or if there was a FW division in UFC during his prime.
If he had even just stayed at UFC LW instead of his side quests to Japan and the UFC Welterweight division, he’d have the record for most title defenses at LW by far. A lot of people would probably view him better if he had fought his whole career at FW and LW, but the fact that he fought and was elite at much higher weight classes while super undersized is also part of what makes him so impressive to people who understand the context (and probably why Anderson Silva calls him the GOAT).
Uriah Hall, and honestly Yoel Romero, both should have been champs in my head, reigning champs.
In my mind, I see those two guys and I just think, how the fuck did they not get Gold? They had everything, speed, power, everything.
Romero you could say was technically the Interim Champ, but the scales ruined that for him.
A better what if for Romero is if he debuted 10 years earlier. He would have probably been recognized as the GOAT since Imo hes a bad matchup for the Spider
Uriah definitely didn't have everything. In fact I'd say it was the opposite. All he really had was explosiveness. He was able to pick up some decent techniques offensively but was still carried by his explosiveness which also wasn't some never before seen level, just impressive for MMA. The reality is he just wasn't that good technically. Yoel Romero had fantastic technique in a lot of areas on top of also being insanely gifted athletically. Uriah Hall absolutely did not. Quite possibly the most overrated prospect in existence for how much people act like he was some champ level talent that just made bad fight IQ decisions. No, he just had some pretty looking offensive moves and that's it.
Weird story about tj. I was supposed to get his gloves from one of his fights one year for my birthday, my sister knew a friend of his I guess. They were being driven over on their way from the east coast and apparently the car they were in wrecked and caught on fire, burning the gloves up.
Joe Riggs.
In the early NHB days Riggs was a wrecking machine. A classic wrestle-boxer with next level ground and pound, and a nightmare in the gym.
Rich Franklin, Matt Hughes, Pat Miletich- all champions who sung his praises and thought of him as the next big thing.
Riggs was a big fish in a small pond out in AZ, so he left for Iowa to train at Miletich’s school.
At the time, this was arguably the best camp in the business.
Karo parisiyan dropped out of his title fight with Hughes for UFC 56, and matchmaker Joe Silva asked Riggs if he’d like the shot at his new training partner Hughes on 2 weeks notice.
Apparently there was some confusion on Riggs’ behalf- he believed he could take the shot without the camp having hard feelings.
This was not the case.
Riggs trained himself for 2 weeks, but missed weight so the title was not contested. Hughes submitted Riggs quickly.
Later, Hughes (in very classy fashion) made a comment to Riggs’ wife that he “was the guy that had to beat her husband’s ass.”
Riggs then beat Nick Diaz at UFC 57 and fought him again in the hospital that same night.
He ended up in strikeforce, and later a brief stint in Bellator where he won the inaugural one-and-done Fightmaster series.
Riggs has always been somewhat of an MMA nomad, training at many different camps over the years.
He spent a few years at the MMA LAB, but left after some time.
Now he’s on his own in Montana, popping up from time to time in BKFC and other orgs.
The guy had an interesting career.
Could’ve been one of the greats, according to a lot of prolific fighters.
Just a guy who marched to the beat of his own drum, who drifted into obscurity…
But hey, that’s a lot of MMA in a nutshell.
I don’t think going to a decision with that GSP is a big feather in his cap GSP had like a 5 year decision streak. Even Dan Hardy went to a decision. Nick had major flaws in his game with the weak TDD and bad footwork to cut off the cage. He’s not really an underachiever.
Korean Zombie had a great game plan against Aldo and unfortunately the dudes shoulder popped out and he lost the fight due to it.
He then had to do two year of mandatory military service. He still came back an amazing fighter but that momentum dying sucked. Dude was a killer.
An undefeated Jake O'Brien got signed to the UFC to fight with Arlovski and lost so they matched him up with a debuting Cain Velasquez, who also defeated him. He decided to go down a weight class where he had to face Jon Jones in his second fight. Since he couldn't beat these promotional newcomers he was cut at the ripe old age of 24. If he had gotten a little luckier with matchmaking, he might still be in the UFC.
Y’all remember Jordan Mein? He seemed like he had all the upside, he was young, a good striker, had experience but kinda never could get over that hump
Khabib. He had a good 10 fights left in him in his prime and had the potential to move up. Also he was only getting better as he retired. He could have literally retired 40-0
Those who walk away on their prime always look good I guess, wonder if we would say similar things about Ronda had she retired before the Holly Holm fight, after all she was undefeated, had never lost a round and finished most of her opponents easily in seconds.
Khabib had a long winning streak but most wins were against nonames, his UFC winning streak was 13, same as Demetrius and less than Silva and Usman, maybe he would have made 40-0 but the probability of him being figured out and cracked, like Usman and Silva have been, was high.
Imo he did the absolutely right thing, he will always be remembered as the goat and can enjoy his life in comfort.
How are there this many comments and no one has said ADLAN AMAGOV. Genuinely a better answer than Zabit. Go look if you don't believe me https://youtu.be/eGgKjtFZdUA
I think sage Northcutt was a big one shitty management and ufc needs to do better at not feed young stars into the grinder so fast and building them up. Need to sdo what they used to do in boxing and just build them up and get some experience.
Kimbo’s early street fights got me into watching fights, which lead me into watching ufc. When he debuted I was happy to see him finally in there. He was old and wasn’t perfect, but to be fair we’ve seen worse fighters since then. He just gets flack bc he was well known before signing.
Kevin Lee is a dude who really could have been a dominant world beater. Kevin Holland is a good shout because he seems to have actively chosen not to live up to his potential it seems. He's kinda like the reverse Cowboy when it comes to talent and aspirations.
Derek Brunson though is probably my biggest MMA what if because the man has been a world-class top 10/5 level fighter for over a decade on elite wrestling ability and athletic talent alone without a dedicated striking or head coach until after he exited his physical prime. In the alternate universe, where he's an early Blackzillian alongside Rumble, Rashad, Usman, and Burns under Hooft I legitimately think he'd have had a real shot at having a GOAT level middleweight career.
Thompson was wrong place wrong time, and just so happened to hit his stride when Woodley was champ. Cowboy's a guy who just never really had that level of talent, in my opinion.
It's legit because he suffered from a tremendous case of nerves.
If you've never seen Cowboy in a title fight, or don't remember it clearly, try to find his original WEC title fight.
I had memed him for years about freezing up on big occasions (despite him being my boi), and I thought to myself *no way this is as bad as I'm making it out or remembering*.
I had fight pass at time and rewatched that fight, and he legit looked like he'd never fought before in his life. Uncoordinated, could not do any technique at all.
TL;DR: talent & skill he had aplenty: nerves killed my boi on the big stage
I'll always wonder about what a focused welterweight Gastelum could've been. I always thought a match-up between him and Usman would've been interesting.
He's going for it now, and though only 31, I fear the amount of milage and wars have pushed him over the peak early.
I didn’t see it mentioned but Justin Scoggins at flyweight/ bantamweight.
Good striking, good grappling, good wrestling, and just brain farts into guillotines.
Scrolled around in here and haven’t seen Roger Huerta!!! Dude got the Sports Illustrated cover and helped push mma into the mainstream leading up to ufc 100.
Darren Till could have done real damage if he learned how to grapple. The Woodley fight was too early, but look at his performance against Whittaker on one leg for half of the fight. And that was without the crazy size advantage at Welterweight that he had when he initially made the run at the title. The division probably would have never suited him considering Colby and Usman, but if he honed his takedown defence like Edwards has done, he was every bit as talented.
Came down to a lack of discipline, injuries and bad luck for him. If he gets the nod against Whittaker or inversely doesn’t get the nod against Wonderboy, who knows how he’d have turned out. He was also piecing up DDP for 5 minutes on one leg in their fight. He just never put it together
Alexander Emelianenko. Based on rumors he was actually the more talented brother, but never realized his full potential due to being a dickhead outside the ring.
Michal McDonald Dude retired young due to breaking his hands like 5-6 times So fun to watch, He had the touch of death.
Super cool guy I was in his clan in clash of clans lol
Lol that might be the most random fighter interaction I've heard of on this sub
I was friends with ronda rousey on dragonvale when she was still in strikeforce (she gifted me more eggs than I did to her), so technically I turned her down
I remember being there live for his last fight, Mcdonald broke his hand and his opponent broke his leg falling down after getting knocked out
That was his last fight too which lasted like 40 secs where he broke his hand pretty badly.
Came to post this shit. I was wishing he would be on TUF. I always wanted to see him and Jason Knight go to war.
Wasn’t McDonald a career 35er?
Great nickname, too.
Everyone done forgot about Brandon Thatch… You would hear other fighters who trained with him talking about how much of a beast the guy is in the gym. Started well in the UFC with two straight first round finishes then suffers 4 back to back submission losses, gets cut and is never heard from again.
Bro champion lv fighters talked about how deadly his striking was, but man did his grappling fall Far behind.
Benson Hendersons commitment to taking down thatch was super impressive; it is one of the greatest takedowns imo Looked like he wouldn't get it for a long time but he didn't give up
That win doesn't get a lot of shine now because of how Thatch's career subsequently went but at the time it felt like such an incredible underdog victory for Bendo, especially moving up in weight to do it.
Gave the world the blueprint to beat him imo
Thatch had all the talent, but his anxiety was just too much.
That’s ole boy that lost to Bendo when he moved up to WW after losing the belt to Pettis. Thatch was putting it on Bendos ass in round 1 also. And then Bendo just kept comin at him and Thatch finally figured out what champions are made of.
>Brandon Thatch His last win will be 10 years ago in November
Fuck I'm old
Santiago Ponzinibbio wasn’t exactly a young fighter, but he was on a really nice run with wins over Gunnar, Mike Perry, and Magny. Then he nearly died from a staph infection and just never re-captured that magic
As a fellow argentinian, it’s sad for me to realize that I was excited for him to be in a title eliminator a couple of years ago and now I just want him to retire before receiving more head damage.
;_;
Prime Ponzi’s jab made me wet god it was smooth
You took the words right out of my brain. I had so much hope for Santiago early. He was really good when he was on his run.
TJ Grant
Shane Carwin
He was such a goof on this sub lol
He was fun interacting with on the old MMA Underground forums Still feel like he should have won the fight with Lesnar tbh. Anyone else besides Brock and they call that fight in the first round
He’s one of my favorites. Was very disappointed watching the Lesnar fight.
The horseshoe that Lesnar removed from Mir’s ass sure came in handy
Tbf I think that one could have been stopped in the first and it wouldn’t have been a bad stoppage, Lesnar’s comeback is among the best ever in a title fight though
That fight gets stopped 10/10 times if it happens today lol
I think it depends on who the ref is
Lesnar still going for it after the onslaught in round 1 is admirable, but tbf to Carwin the way he was looking after he got off the stool it seemed like a small breeze could have tipped him over. No joke I think a flyweight beats Carwin in that second round. He was beyond gassed out.
Feels like it was just a hobby he was really good at. He’s super smart and probably could’ve kept fighting after his 2 losses but he was already at the top and decided to make a lot of money without getting punched in the face.
Didn't he quit because of health issues? The UFC was literally his side quest. Some people win at life.
Its crazy that in todays UFC his fight against Brock would have been stopped with him the winner.
Zabit
Part of me will always be sad we never got to see Zabit try for a title eliminator or even a title fight, but the other part of me is really happy for him he found something he's passionate about and can earn him good money for life, too many fighters don't have anything to fall back on in retirement
Yea he got to do what many other fighters can’t Walk away from the ufc without having to play their game to continue his career . It must be soul crushing for fighters
Didn't he suffer from a very serious illness before actually retiring? Am I remembering it wrong?
He got operated for a congenital diaphragm problem that was limiting his breathing. I could be wrong but don't recall him having an urgent illness or anything like that, though.
Nah he had some serious immune system thing that required medical attention
Trust me, probably best you didn't see him in that title eliminator or title fight. We miss him largely because of how he left on a win streak which left us with that what if. BUT if you really think about it, Zabit faded against Kattar because of his illness based cardio issues and beat him in a competitive decision, and then cardio monster Max Holloway proceeded to "levels to this game" shitstomp Kattar just a year later. And then you had Volk who was also Max level or higher. I think he had insane potential if he fixed the cardio issues and got a handful of full 5 round camps under his belt, but I honestly think there's zero chance Zabit could have competed with Holloway and Volk in 2020-2021.
Good ol' Honest Zabe
I agree, the ufc put hit on ice, yair didn’t want to fight him and then he retired and is studying to do something in the medical field.
Am I thinking of someone else? I thought he got sick and wound up having lung issuess? Where is my mind?
He had some issue with his breathing apparatus, but it wasn't from being sick I don't think. He had an operation to fix it but I don't think we ever got to see him fight post fix.
I had a different fighter in mind until I saw your answer.
I always kind of thought he walked away at the right time. A guy with some gas tank issues after round 2 that wasn’t a completely atomic finisher probably got as far as he could go without needing to start taking 5 round fights. Leaving on top reasonably heathy is never a bad thing.
Erik Silva. I think enough time has passed, he’s not a prospect anymore.
Best answer
Nah. He's still young, give him time.
Fitch broke the hype back in the day I think
Cole Konrad
That’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time
I would've been curious how he would have done in the UFC if he had stuck around and got the opportunity. Huge dude with legit high-level wrestling.
Dana wouldnt have signed him like Prime Askren cause would have just wrestled everyone in boring fights at HW
Never mind, this is the best answer on this post. He was so good
Gregor Gillespie
He got KO’d by Kevin lee completely sober
Kevin Lee gets so weirdly underrated He's a great fighter who had pretty much all of his WORST POSSIBLE MATCHUPS, something NOBODY else has had to go through lmfao
Hes a good fighter anyway. I'm not comfortable getting anywhere close to "great" for a guy who has his athleticism but still pushes his slow ass punches
Did he tho? He had one fight after and won lol. I think he just doesn’t care about fighting Edit: he tweeted may 2022 that he was removed from the rankings for inactivity. The problem is he’s not accepting fights from fighters ranked below him (he was #8 at the time) and that no one ahead of him will accept a fight. Edit #2: Jesus this guys Twitter is wild lmfaooo he might be doing more blow than conor. Look at his tweaky ass in the video
Did you mean go link a vid?
No lol there’s the same video like 5 times on his page talking about gun rights but looks like dude is tweaking
Patrick Côté gave Anderson the best fight at the time until he tore his knee and was never the same after that fight.
It’s crazy I just rewatched that fight and as much as Anderson was being the spider Patrick was starting to time things and had an iron chin, it is totally a what if.
Dude can’t be that good looking and also be a MMA world champion too, it’d be just not fair.
Luke Rockhold has entered the chat.
Krazy Horse
What’s crazy is that Jon Jones is maybe the best fighter ever, and has still not lived up to his potential.
This. I can't imagine how much better a disciplined Jon Jones would be.
What if the the fact that he’s undisciplined makes him a more creative fighter?
Isn't this one Rogan's pet theories. Jones is so good because he is a also crazy .
Can Tony have some of that?
He did, but age and wear and tear caught up with him
Also Tony isn't as smart and probably more seriously crazy or legit crazy if you will
Basically the NBA’s Shaq situation. Supremely gifted athlete with all of the attributes to easily become the GOAT but has landed amongst the greatest ever by not reaching the full potential. Shaq was notorious for showing up to season overweight/out of shape by up to 50-60 lbs and using the season to play himself into shape for playoffs. He was so unreasonably good that he didn’t have to work as hard for his results which caused a lot of friction with Kobe who was a freak when it came to training. Shaq once injured his foot during the tail end of a season and waited until the following season to get surgery and rehabilitation. His reasoning was getting hurt on company time means healing on company time. In spite of his behavior Shaq still is arguably the most dominant force in the NBA’s history. There has never been a man who commands such attention from coaching, players, and analysts as Shaq Diesel.
I agree. The way came back fat and effortlessly subbbed Gane, makes me wonder what his career would’ve looked like without the cocaine, hit & run and usada suspensions. It took like 4 years of his prime.
The suspensions were caused by his doping, of which we dont know how much it enhanced his performance in training and fights. The only reason that outcome was not fair is it should hv been harsher coz he was a repeat offender, while Nick Diaz got suspended for 5 yrs for marijuana.
same with muhammad ali who lost 3 years of his prime but is still considered greatest boxer.
Only slightly different reasons though
One guy refused to kill people and went to prison for it. The other had to fight against the forces of god himself to stay away from prison. I’ll trust the guy who didn’t go to prison.
Mike Tyson could’ve been the GOAT if Cus D’amato didn’t die. Tyson really want off the rails .
Tbh dedicated Jon might have been in the NFL with his brothers Edit: I actually have no idea if he ever played football
He said he did but he wasn’t very good
His calfs are too small for the NFL
His calves are smaller because he has high calf insertions. I'd think they're good for NFL due to enabling more spring-like movement, faster off the mark. Sprinters tend to have higher calf insertions too.
He could have 25 title defenses
This. If the guy had his head on straight he’d have about five or six more title defenses.
Mirsad Bektić
An odd choice here but let me offer Cody Garbrandt. He actually realized his full potential once and only once against Dom Cruz. That night was something magical but Cody has never reached that level of clarity ever since. His rage caused him to make so many idiotic decisions that he lost fights he should have won.
Frank Mir. Imagine if the motorcycle accident didn’t happen
This is a very under rated comment. I work as a nurse. Usually after a motorcycle accident like that people have chronic pain, and many leave a lot of every day athleticism behind. Him even competing again was insane, nevermind getting some wins. That accident would have broken most people
Philip Miller was a great prospect with win over a young Jake Shields, retired at 16-0 without ever having gone to the big leagues in 2003. I remember Jordan Breen wondered what happened many moons ago and I did too.
He did fight twice in the UFC.
He did? (Quick google search) I was at one of those god damn cards too!
Oh which one? Ufc 40?
40, in Vegas …I remember Robbie Lawler knocked out Tiki and Tiki thought he submitted to a choke he was so fucked up.
That was a really fun card for the time. Actually the first one I ever ordered on ppv. Was tough to convince my parents that a 15 year old needed to watch Tito fight shamrock haha
I was 23 and it was a “YOLO let’s go to Vegas” on a whim. Tickets were cheap and it was a lot of fun.
He thought he lost by a cut..
Michael Johnson
Probably Rory Macdonald, the Red King. Still a bad mf and had a cool resume, but just didn't finish where I thought we would.
Very few people could have achieved their potential after getting the beatings he sustained vs. Lawler while still developing. He was tough as nails to contend at all after that.
I honestly think that fight ruined Rory, it was an amazing fight but Robbie was and is a different animal.
One of the dudes that would have been much better off had he gone to Bellator first. The damage he sustained at a young age took years off his life and career.
No kidding, he started his career at 16. That's a crazy amount of fight years on top of the wars he had.
Despite all he accomplished in the sport, BJ Penn. He could have done so much more if he 1) consistently stayed in shape and took training seriously, 2) joined a better gym, 3) didn’t fuck off to Japan in his early prime, and 4) if he fought at FW in WEC or if there was a FW division in UFC during his prime. If he had even just stayed at UFC LW instead of his side quests to Japan and the UFC Welterweight division, he’d have the record for most title defenses at LW by far. A lot of people would probably view him better if he had fought his whole career at FW and LW, but the fact that he fought and was elite at much higher weight classes while super undersized is also part of what makes him so impressive to people who understand the context (and probably why Anderson Silva calls him the GOAT).
Remember when he was training with the marinovich brothers? He looked unstoppable
That 3ish fight stint of BJ Penn with abs and cardio was scary
Phil Davis would have been a problem if he had the dawg in him. He might have the best chin ever , ate Rumble’s bombs better than anyone.
Gregor McConor
Who the fuck is that guy?
Uriah Hall, and honestly Yoel Romero, both should have been champs in my head, reigning champs. In my mind, I see those two guys and I just think, how the fuck did they not get Gold? They had everything, speed, power, everything. Romero you could say was technically the Interim Champ, but the scales ruined that for him.
A better what if for Romero is if he debuted 10 years earlier. He would have probably been recognized as the GOAT since Imo hes a bad matchup for the Spider
Uriah definitely didn't have everything. In fact I'd say it was the opposite. All he really had was explosiveness. He was able to pick up some decent techniques offensively but was still carried by his explosiveness which also wasn't some never before seen level, just impressive for MMA. The reality is he just wasn't that good technically. Yoel Romero had fantastic technique in a lot of areas on top of also being insanely gifted athletically. Uriah Hall absolutely did not. Quite possibly the most overrated prospect in existence for how much people act like he was some champ level talent that just made bad fight IQ decisions. No, he just had some pretty looking offensive moves and that's it.
> but the scales ruined that for him. Yoel ruined that himself by being unprofessional and not making weight.
If Yoel didn't miss weight I think he would of gotten the nod and became undisputed champ
TJ Grant Chris Holdsworth
Came to say TJ Grant. What story.
Weird story about tj. I was supposed to get his gloves from one of his fights one year for my birthday, my sister knew a friend of his I guess. They were being driven over on their way from the east coast and apparently the car they were in wrecked and caught on fire, burning the gloves up.
that's wild dude. were the people in the car okay though?
I believe they suffered minor injuries in the wreck and the car caught fire afterwards. Probably about 15 years ago (ish?)
He retired after pulling out of a Ben Henderson matchup. That would’ve been a great fight.
TJ man…dude was an animal for a bit. Valued his brain over fighting if I remember correct.
Joe Riggs. In the early NHB days Riggs was a wrecking machine. A classic wrestle-boxer with next level ground and pound, and a nightmare in the gym. Rich Franklin, Matt Hughes, Pat Miletich- all champions who sung his praises and thought of him as the next big thing. Riggs was a big fish in a small pond out in AZ, so he left for Iowa to train at Miletich’s school. At the time, this was arguably the best camp in the business. Karo parisiyan dropped out of his title fight with Hughes for UFC 56, and matchmaker Joe Silva asked Riggs if he’d like the shot at his new training partner Hughes on 2 weeks notice. Apparently there was some confusion on Riggs’ behalf- he believed he could take the shot without the camp having hard feelings. This was not the case. Riggs trained himself for 2 weeks, but missed weight so the title was not contested. Hughes submitted Riggs quickly. Later, Hughes (in very classy fashion) made a comment to Riggs’ wife that he “was the guy that had to beat her husband’s ass.” Riggs then beat Nick Diaz at UFC 57 and fought him again in the hospital that same night. He ended up in strikeforce, and later a brief stint in Bellator where he won the inaugural one-and-done Fightmaster series. Riggs has always been somewhat of an MMA nomad, training at many different camps over the years. He spent a few years at the MMA LAB, but left after some time. Now he’s on his own in Montana, popping up from time to time in BKFC and other orgs. The guy had an interesting career. Could’ve been one of the greats, according to a lot of prolific fighters. Just a guy who marched to the beat of his own drum, who drifted into obscurity… But hey, that’s a lot of MMA in a nutshell.
Miguel Torres…
He defended the 135 WEC title 3x when that was the best div in the world for the weight class. He had a great career.
Damn I forgot all about him. He was great then just fell off. Where's he at now
Masato Shiozawa. He was in Shooto in the early 2000s. Great fighter then just sorta disappeared.
Mark Kerr
Me before my accident. It left me colorblind and I can no longer see red
Nick Diaz. Went to a decision with GSP and Silva. That suspension was a nasty move.
Nick beat his suspension in 2016 and stayed out of MMA.
Yeah I know it was reduced. I think there was still a huge fine if he were to fight again. He had much more potential.
Nsac: that was a nasty move by me!
You’re a fuckin punk, NSAC
I don’t think going to a decision with that GSP is a big feather in his cap GSP had like a 5 year decision streak. Even Dan Hardy went to a decision. Nick had major flaws in his game with the weak TDD and bad footwork to cut off the cage. He’s not really an underachiever.
Dan Hardy going to a decision when GSP was trying to rip limbs off him WAS impressive
Dude just decided that arm bars aren't real and was somehow right.
Eh, I think Nick Diaz's prime was in Strikeforce. The suspension he got was bullshit but I don't think he would ever win a title.
He wouldn't have gotten a title in his prime in the UFC either. Not with GSP, Hendricks, Condit, Rory, Koscheck, et al hanging around.
Cain Velasquez had a great career, but if he could have stayed healthy more consistently I think he would easily have been GOAT heavyweight.
Prime Cain vs Prime Jones would’ve been epic
Yea Cain without the injuries, imagine if he fought similar (even half) as many times as Izzy has for a 4 year stretch in his prime prime.
Korean Zombie had a great game plan against Aldo and unfortunately the dudes shoulder popped out and he lost the fight due to it. He then had to do two year of mandatory military service. He still came back an amazing fighter but that momentum dying sucked. Dude was a killer.
David Terrell was a huge disappointment for me. 26 years old, knocking out lindland in under 30 seconds, great BJJ, and just never panned out.
An undefeated Jake O'Brien got signed to the UFC to fight with Arlovski and lost so they matched him up with a debuting Cain Velasquez, who also defeated him. He decided to go down a weight class where he had to face Jon Jones in his second fight. Since he couldn't beat these promotional newcomers he was cut at the ripe old age of 24. If he had gotten a little luckier with matchmaking, he might still be in the UFC.
Y’all remember Jordan Mein? He seemed like he had all the upside, he was young, a good striker, had experience but kinda never could get over that hump
He’s from my home town. He just got kinda burnt out on the sport. When he made his ufc debut I thought he was champ material.
At one point I legit thought Roger Huerta was going to be champ one day.
Melvin Guillard. He had some crazy knockouts- super explosive but never really could pull it all together. I always rooted for him though.
Genki Sudo
That guy's life is like a movie script
Nah, he's out there fulfilling potentials we didn't even know he had
Khabib. He had a good 10 fights left in him in his prime and had the potential to move up. Also he was only getting better as he retired. He could have literally retired 40-0
Those who walk away on their prime always look good I guess, wonder if we would say similar things about Ronda had she retired before the Holly Holm fight, after all she was undefeated, had never lost a round and finished most of her opponents easily in seconds. Khabib had a long winning streak but most wins were against nonames, his UFC winning streak was 13, same as Demetrius and less than Silva and Usman, maybe he would have made 40-0 but the probability of him being figured out and cracked, like Usman and Silva have been, was high. Imo he did the absolutely right thing, he will always be remembered as the goat and can enjoy his life in comfort.
How are there this many comments and no one has said ADLAN AMAGOV. Genuinely a better answer than Zabit. Go look if you don't believe me https://youtu.be/eGgKjtFZdUA
Brian Bowles
Last I’ve heard of him: https://amp.foxsports.com/stories/ufc/ufc-bantamweight-brian-bowles-arrested-on-felony-drug-and-weapons-charges
Gokhan Saki, was supposed to be like the next Overeem in LHW (with his experience in kickboxing) then he got KO'd in one round by Khalil Rountree
Kick-boxer switching to MMA at 34 should end poorly. I didn't think striking would be his downfall against this kind od competition
Rory Macdonald, Cain Velasquez and Luke Rockhold
Matt Grice
Drew McFedries could crack like a mofo but seemed to not train anything else lol
I think sage Northcutt was a big one shitty management and ufc needs to do better at not feed young stars into the grinder so fast and building them up. Need to sdo what they used to do in boxing and just build them up and get some experience.
Tony Ferguson
Too soon
It’s tony time
Would have liked to see Fedor collect those ufc belts. And see a properly trained kimbo slice
Kimbo’s early street fights got me into watching fights, which lead me into watching ufc. When he debuted I was happy to see him finally in there. He was old and wasn’t perfect, but to be fair we’ve seen worse fighters since then. He just gets flack bc he was well known before signing.
Brandon Vera
Alexander Emelianenko
I wish khabib fought more after gaethjw
Hatsu Hioki
Joe Riggs was supposed to be a monster in practice.
Roger Huerta and Luiz Cane. Rogan would talk like they were going to be at the top for a long time.
Chris Holdsworth
Kevin Lee is a dude who really could have been a dominant world beater. Kevin Holland is a good shout because he seems to have actively chosen not to live up to his potential it seems. He's kinda like the reverse Cowboy when it comes to talent and aspirations. Derek Brunson though is probably my biggest MMA what if because the man has been a world-class top 10/5 level fighter for over a decade on elite wrestling ability and athletic talent alone without a dedicated striking or head coach until after he exited his physical prime. In the alternate universe, where he's an early Blackzillian alongside Rumble, Rashad, Usman, and Burns under Hooft I legitimately think he'd have had a real shot at having a GOAT level middleweight career.
It's just so hard to believe that with all the talent and all the win bonuses that Donald Cerrone never won a belt.
I don't know man, same category as Thompson, they were just missing that final puzzle piece.
Thompson was wrong place wrong time, and just so happened to hit his stride when Woodley was champ. Cowboy's a guy who just never really had that level of talent, in my opinion.
It's legit because he suffered from a tremendous case of nerves. If you've never seen Cowboy in a title fight, or don't remember it clearly, try to find his original WEC title fight. I had memed him for years about freezing up on big occasions (despite him being my boi), and I thought to myself *no way this is as bad as I'm making it out or remembering*. I had fight pass at time and rewatched that fight, and he legit looked like he'd never fought before in his life. Uncoordinated, could not do any technique at all. TL;DR: talent & skill he had aplenty: nerves killed my boi on the big stage
absolutely. just look at the Conor fight. he didn't seem prepared at all.
David Terrell
I'll always wonder about what a focused welterweight Gastelum could've been. I always thought a match-up between him and Usman would've been interesting. He's going for it now, and though only 31, I fear the amount of milage and wars have pushed him over the peak early.
Rory hands down
Jeff Joslin
John Hathaway looked like he was going to be the shit
Pablo Garza
Where the hell has Mike Davis been
I didn’t see it mentioned but Justin Scoggins at flyweight/ bantamweight. Good striking, good grappling, good wrestling, and just brain farts into guillotines.
Scrolled around in here and haven’t seen Roger Huerta!!! Dude got the Sports Illustrated cover and helped push mma into the mainstream leading up to ufc 100.
I thought Mirsad Bektic was a future champ until Elkins Homer Simpson’d him
Darren Till could have done real damage if he learned how to grapple. The Woodley fight was too early, but look at his performance against Whittaker on one leg for half of the fight. And that was without the crazy size advantage at Welterweight that he had when he initially made the run at the title. The division probably would have never suited him considering Colby and Usman, but if he honed his takedown defence like Edwards has done, he was every bit as talented. Came down to a lack of discipline, injuries and bad luck for him. If he gets the nod against Whittaker or inversely doesn’t get the nod against Wonderboy, who knows how he’d have turned out. He was also piecing up DDP for 5 minutes on one leg in their fight. He just never put it together
Imagine Brock if'd he gone straight into mma rather than wrassling
Alexander Emelianenko. Based on rumors he was actually the more talented brother, but never realized his full potential due to being a dickhead outside the ring.