The biggest underachiever in the History of MMA is?

[Kilogram of meat]

Apparently Mike Pyle was the GOAT gym fighter, but could never transfer it to the cage

 

[Franklin U.]

Denis Kang
Brandon Vera,
come to mind as true meaning of that thought.

 

[Elysianwing]

I don't know about Tanner. I think he gave it a good shot, with the level of ability he had

He barely trained, was troubled badly by alcoholism(fought drunk sometimes supposedly), and stopped fighting for a few years while he did his soul-searching(but sadly let the game pass him up along the way).

He got where he got, via toughness, natural athleticism, and heart. I think he could've had a much more successful career if he had less of those troubles and more interest in training properly.

On the same note, I could also make the argument for him being a fighter that over-achieved given all of those points.

 

[FistSkullBrain]

Uriah Hall

 

[gono btw]

Uriah Hall?
Melvin Guillard?
Brendan Thatch?
Brandon Vera?
Roger Huerta?
Todd Duffee?
Michael McDonald?
Phillip Nover?
Cro Crop? (Strictly his UFC run. Don’t go crazy PRIDE fans)
Shane Carwin? ( Did well. But didn’t stick around too long)
Abu Schaubi ( remember the Souless one had a lot of hype before the Nog KO)
Jake Ellenberger?
TJ Grant?


Edit: My pick is McDonald. I thought he would be a long term Bantamweight champion even after the Barao loss. He looked good enough in that fight at such a young age that I thought in a few yrs he would be dominating everyone.

Somone else?

Kharitonov.

Nuff´Said.

 

[Bamboozled]

Its Cro Cop, because he was a top guy who had an easy run at the UFC HW title and got his confidence shot. If it's not him than it might be Mach Sakurai, because of the car crash he went from being a top guy in the world to being very good but never the best. Mach coulda been the GOAT.

 

[Source]

Evan Dunham, started out on fire. He never seemed the same after the lost to Sherk. Rick Story was another guy that showed flashes but you never knew which one you were going to get.

 

[FrodoFraggins]

BJ and Rory

 

[613]

If Penn worked with the Marinovich brothers for the rest of his career after he hired them, he would've done huge things. He stopped working with them because they were working him too hard. Very sad. He could've gone down as the best to ever do it, but lacked the work ethic.

I hate when people say this. Penn didn't look any better under the Marinovich brothers then he did before them. Penn looked just as good against Sean Sherk, Jens, and Stevenson as he did against Kenny and Diego. In his prime Penn ALWAYS looked really good at LW. It was when he moved up to WW that we saw the fat guy that would gas

 

[Sweater of AV]

Agree with Penn. He had a great career obviously but with his talent if he had been as disciplined as someone like Georges the sky would have been the limit. Arona as well is someone that could have done some amazing things.

 

[podsox]

Overseem.. still can’t get over the gassed out losses to Travis Browne and big foot

 

[ryun253]

Brock Lesnar, had he been in the UFC early 2000's he would've been GOAT. The mans build & athleticism is just insane.

 

[Guffman]

Why would TJ Grant be on such a list? He was due for a title shot until complications from concussions ended his career.

Probably more should follow his lead instead of risking their long term mental health for relative peanuts.

 

[POWER2]

Uriah Hall?
Melvin Guillard?
Brendan Thatch?
Brandon Vera?
Roger Huerta?
Todd Duffee?
Michael McDonald?
Phillip Nover?
Cro Crop? (Strictly his UFC run. Don’t go crazy PRIDE fans)
Shane Carwin? ( Did well. But didn’t stick around too long)
Abu Schaubi ( remember the Souless one had a lot of hype before the Nog KO)
Jake Ellenberger?
TJ Grant?


Edit: My pick is McDonald. I thought he would be a long term Bantamweight champion even after the Barao loss. He looked good enough in that fight at such a young age that I thought in a few yrs he would be dominating everyone.

Somone else?

Everybody was convinced that Brandon was the next great thing. Everyone.

I'd venture to say that when Brandon made his debut the greater consenus on his future than BJ's. The hype and the money was unbelievable. I wouldn't be surprised to find out he was one of the highest paid fighters at the time. This was before disclosed payouts.

 

[POWER2]

Brock Lesnar, had he been in the UFC early 2000's he would've been GOAT. The mans build & athleticism is just insane.

He would have just gotten beat by Overeem sooner.

 

[Horriblehim]

Donald Cerrone

 

[Dyson350]

Gotta go with Mark Kerr

 

[VERBAL-FEDOR]

Uriah Hall?
Melvin Guillard?
Brendan Thatch?
Brandon Vera?
Roger Huerta?
Todd Duffee?
Michael McDonald?
Phillip Nover?
Cro Crop? (Strictly his UFC run. Don’t go crazy PRIDE fans)
Shane Carwin? ( Did well. But didn’t stick around too long)
Abu Schaubi ( remember the Souless one had a lot of hype before the Nog KO)
Jake Ellenberger?
TJ Grant?


Edit: My pick is McDonald. I thought he would be a long term Bantamweight champion even after the Barao loss. He looked good enough in that fight at such a young age that I thought in a few yrs he would be dominating everyone.

Somone else?

Erick Silva

 

[ryun253]

He would have just gotten beat by Overeem sooner.

Talking around 2002 if he didn't join the WWE.

 

[marvinparsons]

Uriah Hall?
Melvin Guillard?
Brendan Thatch?
Brandon Vera?
Roger Huerta?
Todd Duffee?
Michael McDonald?
Phillip Nover?
Cro Crop? (Strictly his UFC run. Don’t go crazy PRIDE fans)
Shane Carwin? ( Did well. But didn’t stick around too long)
Abu Schaubi ( remember the Souless one had a lot of hype before the Nog KO)
Jake Ellenberger?
TJ Grant?


Edit: My pick is McDonald. I thought he would be a long term Bantamweight champion even after the Barao loss. He looked good enough in that fight at such a young age that I thought in a few yrs he would be dominating everyone.

Somone else?

Guillard.