Championship level Fighters who hold themselves back

[MetaIIica]

Who are some fighters that are championship level, but hold themselves back by not using certain techniques?
To name a few:
Justin Gaethje was D1 college wrestler, refuses to wrestle. Yoel Romero had olympic wrestling backround, didn't even try to utilize it like for example against Adesanya, probably cuz of neck fusion. Jose Aldo stopped throwing leg kicks, which was 50% of his game.

These are all fighters I think could have done better, but either from injury or stupidity were unable to live up to their full potential.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Jon Jones by refusing to fight

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

GSP refusing to go for the finish 95% of the time

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Who are some fighters that are championship level, but hold themselves back by not using certain techniques?
To name a few:
Justin Gaethje was D1 college wrestler, refuses to wrestle. Yoel Romero had olympic wrestling backround, didn't even try to utilize it like for example against Adesanya, probably cuz of neck fusion. Jose Aldo stopped throwing leg kicks, which was 50% of his game.

These are all fighters I think could have done better, but either from injury or stupidity were unable to live up to their full potential.

I mean they're fighting the way the UFC want them to, go and fight like it's a pub brawl and you can drop 5 in a row and still be on the roster.

 

[MySDName]

Jose Aldo stopped throwing leg kicks, which was 50% of his game.

These are all fighters I think could have done better, but either from injury or stupidity were unable to live up to their full potential.

Does the motorcycle accident go under injury or stupidity?

 

[Slapjit]

James "Iron Chin" Siekmann was going to be the one to dethrone Power Slap Fedor, but then he had the bright idea of dropping from 255 to 214 by training only cardio, then signed up for more HW fights. His only claim to fame now will be when I reverse this to make an "In" gif.

 

[Dr. Rose]

Mir after the crash. And this one is digging deep into the vaults, but Ken Shamrock. Early on he had heavy hands but was primarily a wrestler with submissions, goes to the WWF and has a shit ton of injuries, goes back to fighting and becomes a quasi-striker because he cannot shoot effectively anymore, which limited his ability to go for subs unless he could get a knockdown or score a trip in the clinch. The Ken we got in UFC 40 was an injury laden facsimile of the Ken in UFC 5 through 8.

 

[Dorkman]

Jose had the best kicking base too. Pro Soccer. That guy was designed to savage legs.

 

[Uber_Noober]

James "Iron Chin" Siekmann was going to be the one to dethrone Power Slap Fedor, but then he had the bright idea of dropping from 255 to 214 by training only cardio, then signed up for more HW fights. His only claim to fame now will be when I reverse this to make an "In" gif.

Homeboy looked like he was walking in a room full of marbles.

 

[jeskola]

Jorge Gurgel could have BJJ'd his way to the top but always wanted to engage in a striking war.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

yoel was robbed that first time 100%

 

[maximus__]

Who are some fighters that are championship level, but hold themselves back by not using certain techniques?
To name a few:
Justin Gaethje was D1 college wrestler, refuses to wrestle. Yoel Romero had olympic wrestling backround, didn't even try to utilize it like for example against Adesanya, probably cuz of neck fusion. Jose Aldo stopped throwing leg kicks, which was 50% of his game.

These are all fighters I think could have done better, but either from injury or stupidity were unable to live up to their full potential.

I agree on Gaethje in that he should have wrestled a bit more, but Yoel wresteled throughout his career at points and didn't have the style to keep people down.
Aldo had about as good of a career as you can have, regaining his belt initially and then only dropping fights to future defending champs until his last fight or two.

Aldo left at nearly 40 years old with rumours that he was actually older than his reported age. Dude is one of the best to do it. He just hung around that top 5 for 5 moire years than he should of.

 

[Trabaho]

Aldo injured his leg so no stupidity. Yoel did wrestle in most fights. Justin really never shoots for takedowns. Maybe cause his striking is strong, least he can use it defensively.

 

[Get To Da Choppa]

Who are some fighters that are championship level, but hold themselves back by not using certain techniques?
To name a few:
Justin Gaethje was D1 college wrestler, refuses to wrestle. Yoel Romero had olympic wrestling backround, didn't even try to utilize it like for example against Adesanya, probably cuz of neck fusion. Jose Aldo stopped throwing leg kicks, which was 50% of his game.

These are all fighters I think could have done better, but either from injury or stupidity were unable to live up to their full potential.

Uriah Hall

He has all the physical tools and skill set to be better than that his career turned out, but that highlight knockout of Adam Cella on TUF really made him hesitant to pull the trigger. He was too kind to excel in the fight game

 

[MerAndre DvalishFili]

I think Gaethje is on record saying that wrestling is too tiring for him and that’s why he leaves it out of his game. Also he’s insane and addicted to violence so there’s also that

 

[maximus__]

Uriah Hall

He has all the physical tools and skill set to be better than that his career turned out, but that highlight knockout of Adam Cella on TUF really made him hesitant to pull the trigger. He was too kind to excel in the fight game

Nah people just worked out that they could get inside and pressure him. He didn't react to well to being pressured like most kickers.

If you push him outside of a nice, methodical technical sparring style match, he didn't do well.

 

[MetaIIica]

I think Gaethje is on record saying that wrestling is too tiring for him and that’s why he leaves it out of his game. Also he’s insane and addicted to violence so there’s also that

He also said wrestling was boring for him and he wanted exciting fights …

guess that’s why Khabib got him in a double submission

 

[Koya]

Who are some fighters that are championship level, but hold themselves back by not using certain techniques?
To name a few:
Justin Gaethje was D1 college wrestler, refuses to wrestle. Yoel Romero had olympic wrestling backround, didn't even try to utilize it like for example against Adesanya, probably cuz of neck fusion. Jose Aldo stopped throwing leg kicks, which was 50% of his game.

These are all fighters I think could have done better, but either from injury or stupidity were unable to live up to their full potential.

Jose Aldo's knees were messed up because of all the kicking, that's why he changed his style to a boxer

 

[Hotora86]

Uriah Hall

He has all the physical tools and skill set to be better than that his career turned out, but that highlight knockout of Adam Cella on TUF really made him hesitant to pull the trigger. He was too kind to excel in the fight game

real nice guy
glad to see he's winning in Karate Combat now