Fighters that failed to hold on to their superstar status?

I know that Conor is a super star without a doubt! But if he loses, his hype is going to fizzle out really badly.

I am curious to know if there was a fighter that was on the same spot as Conor in popularity and how did a loss effect them?

 

Huerta is the first person to come to mind.

 

Wasn't Vera supposed to be the next GOAT superstar who would crush all in his path?

 

Mark Kerr could have had GOAT status

Cyborg imo

Erik Koch could have been something

Stephan Bonnar

 

And be a two divisional champion.

 

Both of you are right! I forgot about Roger completely!

He was undefeated in the ufc and he was dating one of the ring girls and he fought Kenny Florian as well as Gray Maynard and lost a decision against both.

Later he decided to become an actor if I am not mistaken but that never worked out and his career kind of fizzled out after few back to back loses outside the ufc.

I just don't understand how losing a decision to Kenny and Gray (top fighters at a time) could ruin his confidence that he ends up on a 4 fight losing streak outside the ufc and getting KOed badly in his last loss...

 

I'll probably be debated on this, but Thiago Alves was immensely popular on this site, considered a world-beater, but his superstardom was deflatedby his loss to GSP at UFC100.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a fighter with this much level of hype behind him die. You had Huerta but it's still not really comparable. I don't think there has ever been a crash and burn like this in UFC history if Conor actually lost. You're going to see a lot of delusional people in disbelief if he fights Aldo and loses. That's the level of madness we're at.

 

You mean thiago alves! Never mind you corrected before i got to it.

 

There's been a ton:

Marcus Aurelio, Denis Kang, Paulo Filho, Houston Alexander, Brandon Vera, Mike Swick...

 

Thiago Silva is a light heavyweight, I assume you mean Alves and if so, I disagree. He was popular because of his fighting style. But he didn't have any particular image or character that made him stand out.

 

from here



to here

 

I think my edit beat your correction.

 

Good call. I had high hopes for Aurelio. Filho just lost his mind.

 

I remember Huerta but that might be the closest case. He was still not on the level of this McGregor hype. Conor had the personality to go with the UFC push and that brought him into uncharted territory.

 

It did.... good day sir!

 

Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida used to be immensely popular, now it seems like everyone hates them lol.

 

Daniel Cormier

 

Those guys were never superstars

 

I made the correction, but thanks. As for your comment, I'm not sure I understand your perspective... are you going to tell us that McGregor's fighting style is not directly related to his popularity? McGregor = fighting style + mouth/ego OR Alves = fighting style + muscles. Either way, he was on the verge on superstardom if he beat GSP at UFC100, then going 3/6 afterwards.