Fighters who were almost great...

[truthisfreedom]

My contribution.....for the TUF/ Conor noobs, Goran Reljic was a Croatian fighter who was once being recognized as the 2nd coming of Crocop.




He came to the UFC with a 7 - 0 record, 6 finishes, and was looking absolutely invincible. His first fight in the UFC was against Wilson Gouveia, who was on a 4 fight win streak and was looking on form.

Goran absolutely destroyed him. He won the fight via 2nd rnd TKO, but the fight was hard to watch...one of the most vicious one-sided beatings I've witnessed in the UFC. For a bit, it was looking like it was only a matter of time before Goran had the LHW belt.

Then while training for his next opponent, he suffered a severe back injury, that kept him out of action for 2 YEARS. During this time, he actually saved 2 peoples lives whose car had run off the road and into the ocean. Goran lived near by, heard the crash, left his house and jumped into the ocean, where he kicked and punched the windshield out, and pulled the 2 men to safety.

He returned to MMA after extensive rehabilitation, but sadly never looked the same. It's ashamed because this guy definitely would have held the strap.







Any other examples of guys who were on the verge of greatness, but derailed by fate?

 

[Your Account]

Goethje ? Nganous ?

 

[Chad W]

Erick Silva is still on the way to greatness

 

[ortizgnp]

Houston Alexander.

 

[tenniswhiz]

George Sotiropoulos

 

[SammyPops]

Karo

 

[pick999]

sanchez till he got dominanted by kos

 

[SammyPops]

Carlos Newton!!!! He had total top position looking for an arm on AS and damn near choked out Hughes.

 

[Which Doctor]

Bill Gates. Rumour has it that if he hadn't succumbed to his childish hobby, computers, that he would have been better than Hickson.

 

[Pascal Bergeron]

Tj grant

 

[Shaddows]

AJ and his comeback to the LHW division.

If he was to beat DC, he would probably be lauded one of the greats.

Uncle Creepy. Arguably, he WON the first match against MM, and was robbed.
That loss took a huge toll on him.

The rematch came, and he was way too over-confident.
Mighty Mouse, on the other hand, knowing he lost the first match, came back better prepared and won. That made him into what he is now.

Had Uncle Creepy gotten the nod, I feel MM would never had panned out the way he did, and UC would have been the Champion.

 

[90 50]

Carlos Newton!!!! He had total top position looking for an arm on AS and damn near choked out Hughes.

He did choke out Hughes, Hughes went to sleep and fell. Newton was knocked out on the landing. M

They woke Hughes up to tell him he won, worst reffing mistake ever

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Aleks E

 

[Kaiokenrye24]

If Jimi Manuwa had a chin and was a little younger, he could of been great

 

[SammyPops]

He did choke out Hughes, Hughes went to sleep and fell. Newton was knocked out on the landing. M

They woke Hughes up to tell him he won, worst reffing mistake ever

Fair enough. I should have stated he damn near beat Hughes. I have argued here before that if the ref was looking at Hughes and not Newton during the 'slam/fall', Newton woudl have won.

I said this to Newton once years ago at Revolution in Toronto, and he just shook his head at me.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Paulo Fihlo.

 

[ZOD66]

Nikita Krylov

 

[Lint]

Pettis before he met Dos Anjos, he was indeed the thing. Showtime kick, arm barred Bendo within a minute or so, had he fought RDA 5 victories later people would argue him as a potential GOAT. (Well, people argue for GOAT after any victory, ok..)

 

[90 50]

Fair enough. I should have stated he damn near beat Hughes. I have argued here before that if the ref was looking at Hughes and not Newton during the 'slam/fall', Newton woudl have won.

I said this to Newton once years ago at Revolution in Toronto, and he just shook his head at me.

Yep if you watch the video it’s clear Hughes goes limp there is no muscle twitch like there would Be in a slam.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

David Loiseau