Biggest Under-Achievers in UFC history.

[LilNicky95]

These are guys that were hyped by The Pink-Goof and Joe Roid-gains and never lived up to much.

Here are a few that come to mind.

Sage Northcutt

Brandon “The Lies” Vera

Erick Silva(obligatory)

Uriah Hall

Felipe “The Nurse” Nover

Your thoughts?

 

[20falarVerdades]

Hector Lombard

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

i think only Uriah Hall is an underachiever of that bunch. most of those guys weren't underachieving, they were just overhyped.

 

[IIIIIIII]

Hector Lombard

that's the first one that came to mind for me. ben askren is another obvious choice. i thought he would do a lot better. holy cow was i wrong.

 

[LilNicky95]

Hector Lombard

This is a very good example that I should have included.

Rogaine was jizzing all over himself talking about Lombard as Mike Tyson with a Judo game.

 

[TheSpider]

David Tarrell

 

[faustian]

Remy Soko. Dude had a 78" reach and probably could've cut to MW

 

[thewilks]

There are so many but these are the ones that always come to mind...

Dennis Kang
Jorge Santiago
David Branch
Sokodjou
Mayhem Miller
Will Brooks
Todd Duffee
Gomi
Yamamoto
Michihiro Omigawa

 

[LilNicky95]

Remy Soko. Dude had a 78" reach and could've cut to MW

Soko blazed thru Arona and Lil Nog and then seemingly lost every fight after.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Colton Smith. Dude looked fantastic on TUF, then got thrown to the absolute wolves: Chiesa, Whittaker, and Ferreira. All 3 of those guys are now ranked.

 

[LilNicky95]

There are so many but these are the ones that always come to mind...

Dennis Kang
Jorge Santiago
David Branch
Sokodjou
Mayhem Miller
Will Brooks
Todd Duffee
Gomi
Yamamoto
Michihiro Omigawa

Kang! Lost to freaking Alan Belcher!

I guess Sexyama could be on the list too.

 

[thewilks]

Kang! Lost to freaking Alan Belcher!

I guess Sexyama could be on the list too.

Kang was basically already the UFC MW champ on Sherdog when he got signed. And yeah good call on Sexyama, I always miss a few. There are probably a few obvious picks that I left out, like Joe Riggs, Karo...

 

[ExitLUPin]

Hioki flopped badly and he wasnt out of purime like other Japanese dudes like Gomi

He was universally a top 5 FW some had him as high as #2 behind Aldo. He shouldve most likely lost to George Roop (lol) in his debut. But he shouldve def gone the Guida decision

Josh Grispi was another one. He was on a tear finishing everyone. Finished Hominick, Micah, Pulver and LC Davis in a combined 6 minutes 30 seconds. He was 14-1, arguably top 5 FW and supposed to fight Aldo for the title. Ended up fighting Poirier in both of their debuts and hed lose every other fight he had in UFC

Will Brooks might be the biggest bust considering where he was at in his career injury wise and mileage/age. On paper he was absolutely a top LW but he flopped badly

 

[TimberGhost]

Uriah Hall for me, I thought he'd be running at the belt in short order.

 

[thewilks]

Hioki flopped badly and he wasnt out of purime like other Japanese dudes like Gomi

He was universally a top 5 FW some had him as high as #2 behind Aldo. He shouldve most likely lost to George Roop (lol) in his debut. But he shouldve def gone the Guida decision

Josh Grispi was another one. He was on a tear finishing everyone. Finished Hominick, Micah, Pulver and LC Davis in a combined 6 minutes 30 seconds. He was 14-1, arguably top 5 FW and supposed to fight Aldo for the title. Ended up fighting Poirier in both of their debuts and hed lose every other fight he had in UFC

Forgot all about Josh Grispi, didn't he end up in jail for something shitty?

 

[faustian]

Soko blazed thru Arona and Lil Nog and then seemingly lost every fight after.

Yup. Those were either two of the biggest flukes in MMA history (which somehow happened back to back) or there was some serious potential there. I'll go with the latter

 

[Wizzlebiz]

Brandon Thatch

Brock: Yes he achieved the top of the mountain and defended the belt but due to health issues his career was stunted. He could have gone down as the best HW ever with a proper striking coach and all his intestines.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Kit Cope

 

[LilNicky95]

Brandon Thatch

Brock: Yes he achieved the top of the mountain and defended the belt but due to health issues his career was stunted. He could have gone down as the best HW ever with a proper striking coach and all his intestines.

Johnny Walker reminds me a lot of Thatch. Hope his career does not end up like Thatch.

And Lesnar need to work on a lot more than his striking and intestinal problems. If anything, Brock OVER-achieved.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

i feel like people are using 2 different definitions to describe "underachieving" being overhyped isn't the same as underachieving. overhyped means the promoter or whatever is saying you're a world beater when really you aren't in that league.

underachieving is different. it means you have talent, but you never fully realize your potential for whatever reason.

that's why i do not count guys like Sage Northcutt as underachievers. they never had the skills to be a world class fighter to begin with. that is different from someone like Uriah Hall who definitely has the skills to beat world class fighters, but his mental problems hold him back from his true potential.

EDIT: as crazy as this pick might sound to some, my pick for underachiever is BJ Penn. he could've ruled LW with an iron fist and racked up a ton of defenses, but he decided to leave UFC and jump multiple weight classes.