Media Whatever happened to Brandon "Rukus" Thatch?

[Prince Nephilim]

He has BFK written all over him

 

[Candy Routure]

You saw the busted prospect thread and decided to make this one? You could have had your answer in there.

 

[MillingMeSoftly]

Haha this made me laugh for some reason. Hahahaha.

Its a chael sonnen quote

 

[StonedLemur]

Seen 'em getting mentioned here recently.

I thought he was gonna be special but that never materialized.

 

[ChimRichalds]

I absolutely loved watching him get dismantled by Bendo.

 

[daltonames]

Lost 4 fights in a row and got cut.

 

[G10]

Bendo who's like half his size thoroughly outclassed him and destroyed his confidence. And Benson did it all with a toothpick in his mouth

Day-umn, I remember this fight well! It was crazy seeing those two guys near each other in the cage; it was almost like a throwback to before weight classes were a thing: one guy a career lightweight moving up and the other guy a middle-weight who was cutting WAY too much to make 170lbs. Kudos to Bendo for beating him the way he did.

To respond to TS, I had very high expectations of Thatch when he started in the UFC. He was wrecking guys in super violent fashion early on. I think his undoing was that he was just too big for the weight-class, which compromised his durability and conditioning. Plus, when guys were able to take him down, it was about over for him. I hope he's doing well wherever he's at now, though. Fun guy to watch.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

His back was absolutely trashed by the time he got to the UFC. He's had numerous back surgeries since he stopped fighting.

Kind of makes sense if you have a messed up back and/or neck to not be training wrestling/grappling because it will definitely aggravate that shit endlessly.

I remember when he looked like he broke Paul Thiago's ribs with that body knee in the clinch (made him insta-tap) he really got some shine, but then it all fell apart when his counter-wrestling game got exposed against Bendo looking like a LW fighting a MW and still managed to repeatedly take him down and sub him after some early issues dealing with the size.

Looking back at his record he fought a guy I used to train BJJ with in his second fight and lost a decision getting out-grappled, so it's not like he didn't know this was a hole in his game he needed to work on. But if your back is trash you are kind of in a bad spot to be fighting in general, looks like he leaned on getting favorable style match-ups instead of working on fixing that.

 

[Dorkman]

One of the long list of one dimensional fighters who never evolved.

 

[potatoReloaded]

He was clearly one of those guys that didn't seem to care that much about winning. He always looked quite indifferent.
Imagine Carlos Condit with even less grit and ground skills, and an average fight IQ.

 

[pick999]

We hangout on the weekends sometimes
He's such a good kisser and smells like flowers

 

[ThaiSexPills]

Surfing in a potash mine with Grant and Arona.

I made 180k (before theft) in one year working at one of those. Grant is probably wealthier than most of the UFC roster, especially if he has a trade or is working towards getting one.

 

[Sticko]

brendan schaub said on a Jre episode the dude had insane natural talent but straight refused to train any kind of bjj/groundwork which i totally understand like you can lay on your back with another man between your legs all you want but im a republican we don’t believe in that shit

Hi, Chael

 

[Sticko]

He was clearly one of those guys that didn't seem to care that much about winning. He always looked quite indifferent.
Imagine Carlos Condit with even less grit and ground skills, and an average fight IQ.

I don't know if you can say a guy with like 10 first-round finishes didn't care about winning. He was just such a bad grappler that if he got taken back down he would get stuck on bottom. He either didn't train the grappling enough, or tried to but just sucked at it, or was hampered by the injuries.

 

[Orochimaru 大蛇丸]

It must suck to have Schaub go on JRE and tell everyone you were really talented, but too lazy to train hard lol.

That was my perception of him too, but I just realized that only comes from Schaub haha.

 

[Viking Power]

He was clearly one of those guys that didn't seem to care that much about winning. He always looked quite indifferent.
Imagine Carlos Condit with even less grit and ground skills, and an average fight IQ.

Implying Condit has little grit. SMH.

 

[rellikoge]

Action fighter. The kine u put on cards to satisfy the just bleed god and worshippers.

 

[cws80us]

Bendo who's like half his size thoroughly outclassed him and destroyed his confidence. And Benson did it all with a toothpick in his mouth

I remember this lol. Thatch was supposed to be this monster WW, and Bendo went up from 155 and finished him. Thatch really hasn't been heard from since.

 

[Michael_Kind]

He was the Fav against Benson Henderson.

 

[sonhow]

He was the Fav against Benson Henderson.

Also vs Siyar, Niko and Gunni. One of those guys who doesnt come back when things get tough.