Fighters you thought were really good at one point, but then realized they were never that good?

Davidjacksonjones

Davidjacksonjones

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We always hear people on here say Fighter X was never really that good after a loss or multiple losses, sometimes jokingly.

But which fighters accurately fit the description of never being that good, (but were once viewed as quite good)?

Also if you want to, include the fights from that fighter that made you realize they were never really good.

(inb4 people say BJ Penn)
 
Thought Erick Silva would atleast be top 5 (fuck your kid jokes)

There was a big black dude from Sweden, did well in the regional scene, Papy Abedi. Did horrible in the UFC.

Thought Hector Lombard would amount to more.

Karlos Vemola had som beast like performances but was never that good.

Maiquel Falcao too.

Then we got Gray Maynard. He looked so good in the Edgar fights before he gassed. I believe Maynard is the reason Edgar declined so rapidly.

Then there's like 100 other examples. Mostly fighters who looks great in their UFC debut then falls flat.
 
Hard to gauge. Is it results based, performance based, skill based? Sometimes you have amazing fighters who never come to fruition. Other times you have fighters with a shallow skillset that become champs or legends.

Someone like Stephen Thompson will never be champ despite being very talented.
Then you look at Chuck Liddell and kind of want to look away.
 
angry-gary-oldman.gif
 
CM Punk

Lol jk It's hard to say some fighters have looked good then their next performance they look really bad. Sometimes they show so much promise then never live up to it.

I think the reason for this is many external factors. Such as fighters who are beasts in the gym fail to perform under the lights. Then you have fighters who need the paycheck so fight injured. So it's not that they are not good they just seem that because they are not performing to their potential.
 
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So what tends to happen is someone comes along who clearly hits like a truck, knocks out (or at least knocks the tar out of) a few guys at entry level in the UFC, then the assumption is that they must be skilled enough to land power shots on people who never eat power shots somehow. If they're also physically powerful and have shown improvement, they're a nightmare opponent.

Then Seung Woo Choi loses 3 in a row, despite being heavily favoured against Alex Caceres and Josh Culibao.

There have been a ton of guys that have put the blinkers on MMA fans like this.

Su Mudaerji, as well, being a big favourite against Matt Schnell (!!) - it's not based on the guys they beat, it's based on an assumed trajectory that always seems to ignore levels and skill set in favour of power-hitters with exciting styles.

Adrian Yanez is actually good, but had no business being a -175 favourite against Rob Font, but again, 'hits hard'.
 
Once a fighter loses to someone they don't like and were hoping that they would have defeated that fighter they didn't like.
 
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