Fighters that failed to hold on to their superstar status?

Mayhem Miller is another guy who like lost his entire fan base and was pretty damn popular. Main evented Strikeforce and UFC shows, coached TUF, fued with Diaz and brawl, etc.
 
91 seconds said:
Those guys were never superstars
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You must not have been around back then. Filho was the #1 MW back when I first became a hardcore fan of the sport. Kang was top five. Aurelio was #1 after he beat Gomi. Vera was highly touted. Houston was for real. And Swick was quick.

I would say they were even bigger than Conor is now. The first three were superstars in Japan. PPVs were selling more back with the rest, and a lot more mainstream people were talking about the sport back then.
 
I liked the Miller and JDS suggestions

I'd say, Overeem, Bendo, Miguel Torres...... he wasn't quite a super star but Pat Barry fell hardddd.
 
George Sotiropoulos was getting a ton of hype before he started losing. Won TUF, won his first 7 fights in the UFC, 5 by stoppage, then lost everything since. Diego might be the best answer for a guy who's remained in the UFC though.
 
Karo Parisyan
Brock Lesnar
Wanderlei Silva
Ricco Rodriguez
Heath Herring
 
Steve Cantwell -- not sure if he really ever hit SuperStar status but was a rising star with tons of potential.


Also, none other then the man who knocked out Lil Nog and Arona in back to back wins in Pride. Then came out as this in his UFC debut.

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Barao. He was p4p #1 to some and now he is garbage according to most sherdoggers.
 
Donny White said:
You must not have been around back then. Filho was the #1 MW back when I first became a hardcore fan of the sport. Kang was top five. Aurelio was #1 after he beat Gomi. Vera was highly touted. Houston was for real. And Swick was quick.

I would say they were even bigger than Conor is now. The first three were superstars in Japan. PPVs were selling more back with the rest, and a lot more mainstream people were talking about the sport back then.
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I was around back then. I guess we have different criteria on what superstar status is. I even have trouble calling Conor one but with the constant media and UFC push I guess he is in it as far as the UFC bubble is concerned.
 
These pages were BLOWING up when Uriah Hall was KOing dudes on tuff.
 
Exemplar said:
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.
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What does having muscles have anything to do with popularity in mma?

Anyway, to elaborate on Alves, although you are right that he had the right fighting style. He still lacked two things Conor posses:

1. Character/backstory, Alves came from a humble background and he was a typical muaythai/bjj practioner who favored towards muay thai as his main martial arts

2. Marketing, Conor knows how to run his mouth and take advantage of his irish background and he lets people know where he comes from and is in your face about it.


Also, Alves failed to make weight against Hughes and Koscheck which made his marketability more difficult.
 
Man, I miss Huerta.

He will always be one of my favorite fighters to watch.
 
E. Silva

Still stings a little. Let's hope he go on a more than 3 W streak this time.
 
Sosuke Aizen said:
What does having muscles have anything to do with popularity in mma?

Anyway, to elaborate on Alves, although you are right that he had the right fighting style. He still lacked two things Conor posses:

1. Character/backstory, Alves came from a humble background and he was a typical muaythai/bjj practioner who favored towards muay thai as his main martial arts

2. Marketing, Conor knows how to run his mouth and take advantage of his irish background and he lets people know where he comes from and is in your face about it.


Also, Alves failed to make weight against Hughes and Koscheck which made his marketability more difficult.
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Muscles shouldn't factor at all. BUT... if you think that a large number of fans don't get goo-goo over physiques, you're not reading enough of the stupid comments on this site or you're simply being deceiving.

As to the point, all this or that aside, with the surging popuarity at the time of UFC100, a win would have made Alves huge.
 
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