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Fighters who were almost great...

Arkridge said:
I remember when everyone thought Brandon Thatch was going to take the welterweight belt within a year then move up to middleweight and take that belt too.
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and before him, Vera was going to own HW, then LHW.

that year off with contract negotiations sure seemed to hurt him.
 
Jayziz said:
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Shane del Rosario. In my mind he's the epitome of everything this thread is about. He was so talented, but so unlucky. He might have become heavyweight champion in the UFC, if he'd escaped that car accident.

He was an enormous power striker with a formidable background in muay thai, where he became world champion, and a solid ground game. He was the first alternate in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix in front of Cormier, with a perfect 11-0 record.

He never seemed to overcome the herniated disc he got in the car accident where he was run into by a drunk woman. There was no development in his game, unfortunately, because of all the rehab, and his cardio was a huge problem from that point on...

It's such a shame, what could have been. He was handling Miocic in the first round of their encounter before his gas tank ran empty and he was stopped on the ground. He lost his second fight in the UFC as well to Barry, a guy who was never on his level.

R.I.P.
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Agreed. Nasty Thai kicks and technique, possibly the best at Heavyweight. Seemed like a genuinely nice guy also, but could never put it together in the octagon.
 
iNoScopedJFK said:
MM clearly took The first 2 rounds and McCall clearly took the 3rd. Outside that last back mounted assault I don't think he dominated the round enough for a 10-8 as MM still got the better of him in the striking. MM had a shit weight cut that fight and we saw who the better fighter was the second time. Shame how McCall turned out. He could have been a a top talent at Flyweight still if he or his opponents managed to make it to fight night.
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Well, it seems our disagreement is the third round. I counted (at least) a 10-8 for Ian... and IMO the fight should have been stopped when he mounted MM.
But yeah, Ian became over-confident and bitter, and lost fair & square the second fight.

But most of the fights that didn't happen was his opponent's fault. and many missed weight as well which pissed me off.

I still think he could have been a lot more if he would have gotten the nod that night.
 
Clay Guida was one of the first fighters I'd seen utilize full-extension knees from side control and he's one of the last

Makes me sad every time I think of his career suffering from lack of proper camps in stand-up. He was extremely promising but IMO his coaching let him fail
 
truthisfreedom said:
My contribution.....for the TUF/ Conor noobs, Goran Reljic was a Croatian fighter who was once being recognized as the 2nd coming of Crocop.
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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 in his recent fights.

Goran fought him, and 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 who's 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?
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Great post! I remember him well, now. I had forgotten about him, but I remember watching him whooping ass, and then like you said, watching him get murked by Wilson. Made me kinda sad. He was good tho, just didn’t end up being great..
 
Gambit MMA said:
Mike swick
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Swick used to be one of my fav fighters, I'll ever forget when he destroyed Ben Saunders, back when Saunders was the next big thing.

Swick seemed to have some kind of perpetual illness that really affected his ability to train.
 
Last edited:
Chael Sonnen.

2 Minutes away from a lopsided decision over Silva.
Extremely close to a TKO(doctor stoppage) over Jones.
 
Yoooo, Goran is fighting Phil Baroni In BKB very soon! Which brings me to my answer.....answer Baroni. This guy looked like he was going to be huge, and there's long list of reasons why he was not.

Also, Karo Parysian.
 
Conor.

Could have been a simultaneous 2-division champ. Retired after holding the FW belt for the same amount of time as GDR.
 
jonathan274 said:
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And 15 years later, Vitor would actually be 10x better (TRT Vitor).

Crazy.
 
haven't read through the thread yet

has Rich Franklin gotten a shout?

very good skills, but couldn't quite keep up with the elite
 
Frank Mir until the motorcycle accident cost him a couple of years. Was still great, but oh how good he could have been.
 
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