Is Hatsu Hioki one of the bigger UFC disapointments?

VanMMA

VanMMA

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He was seen as the guy to challenge Aldo for the FW belt and possibly take it. He declined the title shot because he felt he wasn't ready, only to lose to Lamas and start a 1-5 stretch where he was both submitted and KO'd for the first time in his career.

Then he gets cut which was the right decision. Perhaps he could regroup and work his way back to the big show. But now he's been KO'd cold in his last 2 Panrcase fights. His chin seems to be completely gone.

Not trying to bag on the guy. He's had a long, distinguished career and is a top 10 FW all-time. Just want to get some opinions.
 
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Yeah, me and a bunch of Weaboos were saying that he was going to come over and smack Aldo up for that strap. Like 3 fights in to this run we were like

<puh-lease75>
 
I wouldn't say one of the biggest but a big one for sure, I really liked Hioki too was sad to see him fizzle out.
 
i never thought he would beat aldo but i thought he'd at least be a successful ufc fighter
 
Yes - talented but just couldn't seem to get a run... I don't know just couldn't deliver. The Oliveira fight was sick though
 
He got a taste of Merican muscle just like many foreign fighters, some of um then just hype. Went back to Japan where the competition is easier.
 
Yeah, it was disappointing. I expected him to do much better than he did.
 
I had high hopes for many Asian fighters when they were signed by UFC, but sadly when they came it was just a huge disappointment, tons of them. It doesn't end good for any of them in general.
 
He had all the talent in the world, but Hioki loses when he abandons a game plan that's working. You'll see it in almost all of his fights. Against Takaya he was standing and reaching on strikes then moving into range and Takaya who is one of the hardest hitters in the weight class 135 or 145 fucking starched him. Hioki imo had a ridiculous run, one of the best considering the time he did it.
 
Not one of the biggest imo. Did people really think he would beat Aldo?
 
UFC is a a huge step up for him & he was out of his depth.
 
Yeah. I thought he should have gotten the nod against Guida though and he also almost finished Darren Elkins with a body kick. He just never put it all together.

Also his fight with Charles Oliveira was actually a pretty good fight. Good grappling contest iirc.
 
I'd say book Hioki vs Grispi, but I seem to remember hearing a story that Grispi went the War Machine route.
 
Hioki was one of the first, and one of the few, Japanese fighters that was brought over to the States and wasn't a shot fighter before he even got here. Gomi, Gono, Akiyama, Kawajiri, etc had all been fighting for 10+ years already, and most of those guys were already showing massive decline in Japan. Hatsu was the first Japanese guy where I thought "hey, maybe the UFC doesn't only bring in busted old guys for 20 year old Americans to throw around and makes names for themselves". I was pretty excited about Hatsu.

.... I have no idea what happened there. Super disappointing. The guy was even training properly, unlike most of his Japanese predecessors.
 
No one should have thought he would beat Aldo. He had no big wins and looked bad his first two UFC wins. It's easy to look good against lesser competition.

His striking was never up to par and his wrestling not good enough against guys with TDD.
 
Well, overall I feel Iishi was the biggest let down from Japan. Hioki on paper was a let down but only the hardcores knew of him. Akiyama was the biggest let down for the UFC considering his international fame outside of fighting.

Biggest let down in MMA has to be Jon Jones.
 
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