Fighters with the toughest opening fights in UFC history (Yuji Nagata Award)

Seen similar threads I believe.

Good to see Brock get his props here.
 
Pawel Nastula had it pretty damn rough ..... again in Pride.
Loss 1–3 Josh Barnett Submission (toe hold) Pride 32 - The Real Deal October 21, 2006 2 3:04 Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Nastula tested positive for steroids.
Win 1–2 Edson Claas Vieira Submission (armbar) Pride FC - Critical Countdown Absolute July 1, 2006 1 4:33 Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Loss 0–2 Alexander Emelianenko Submission (rear-naked choke) Pride Shockwave 2005 December 31, 2005 1 8:45 Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Loss 0–1 Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira TKO (punches) Pride Critical Countdown 2005 June 26, 2005 1 8:38 Saitama, Saitama, Japan
 
Clementine said:
How about Patrick Cummins facing
DC as his first fight in the UFC!!! :eek:
Daniel_Cormier_vs._Pat_Cummins_2.gif
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Should have given the man his extra sprinkles like he asked lol
 
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There have been better ones so far, but I'll add Max vs Poirier.
 
Qays Stetkevich said:
Pawel Nastula had it pretty damn rough ..... again in Pride.
Loss 1–3 Josh Barnett Submission (toe hold) Pride 32 - The Real Deal October 21, 2006 2 3:04 Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Nastula tested positive for steroids.
Win 1–2 Edson Claas Vieira Submission (armbar) Pride FC - Critical Countdown Absolute July 1, 2006 1 4:33 Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Loss 0–2 Alexander Emelianenko Submission (rear-naked choke) Pride Shockwave 2005 December 31, 2005 1 8:45 Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Loss 0–1 Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira TKO (punches) Pride Critical Countdown 2005 June 26, 2005 1 8:38 Saitama, Saitama, Japan
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Immediately thought of Pawel when I saw this thread lol.
 
JustOnce said:
Ware's have to be toughest, because when it comes to toughest, you have to take into relative abilities too.

I think Ware has a good argument for the toughest opening fights as is, but if you take into consideration what Ware was as a fighter, and the level of his opponents, that HAS to be the toughest stretches of four fights into your UFC career.
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Not seeing it personally. Very tough slate of tough and interesting young guys but no top ten guys at the time I am guessing.
 
Shaddows said:
While people can try to dismiss, Anderson SIlva started his UFC career against Leben, followed by Rich Franklin, who was on an 8 fight win streak, with 22-1 record at the time...

Yeah, it's Silva and he won, but that doesn't mean it was an easy start...
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Clear very tough, and then he was champ so it didn’t get any better. Caveat is that Anderson came in as neatly the finished article and had a lot of experience in a comparable organization.

Alvarez, Melendez, Gaethje and Chandler have rough resumes as well but they came in as ready-made contenders.
 
Mr Fahrenheit said:
Clear very tough, and then he was champ so it didn’t get any better. Caveat is that Anderson came in as neatly the finished article and had a lot of experience in a comparable organization.

Alvarez, Melendez, Gaethje and Chandler have rough resumes as well but they came in as ready-made contenders.
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Well, SIlva was not really a contender nor a finished product.
I mean, his fight before that was a win over...Tony Fryklund
<FookIsThatGuy>
And not only that, Tony was coming off 2 losses... (more of a gimme fight than anything else).
Now why would they give him a gimme fight? (so nice of you to ask!!)
That's because he had just lost to Okami, and that made him 2-2 in his last 4.
<6>
what's the other loss? well that was that amazing flying scissor heel hook from Chonan...which was as amazing as the ones Silva provided us throughout his career.
ZkcWeD.gif

<{CMPALM}>
Mind boggling, right?
No wonder why the Spider was thinking of quitting MMA alltogether!
Thanks to the Nog brothers who convinced Silva otherwise!!
<{silvanormal}>
 
Took a look at the early day at lightweight (redux).

Tyson Griffin is a pretty good one, after a meh debut he lined up:

•Edgar
•Guida
•Tibau
•Tavares
•Aurelio
•Sherk
•RDA

3 LW champions, 2 top longtime gatekeepers, a very solid veteran and Tavares, who was 12-0 and looked great until his wrestling and chin got exposed.
 
Black Paladin said:
If I remember correctly, he didn't back up his trash talk at all.
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Yea turns out he had nothing but grit and a gas tank. Basically what it would look like if a poor man’s Matt Hughes started a welterweight career tomorrow.

Oh well, talked himself into a UFC tenure.
 
Wonder what guy who never got a title fight has the toughest handful of opponents.

Off the top of my head might be Tibau:

Khabib
Ferguson
RDA
Nick Diaz
Islam

Not to mention the who’s who of solid lightweights from the era, Stephens, Miller, Varner, Griffin, Dunham, Stevenson, Trinaldo, Neer, Guillard, Uno, Pellegrino, and even managed to draw Rory, Thiago Alves and Will Brooks in other orgs.
 
JustOnce said:
Terrion Ware betting odds for those four fights

+190, +235, +250, +250

closed at

+195, +180, +260, +345

his opponents betting odds

-270, -315, -350, -350

their odds closed at

-305, -273, -430, -600

That has to be the TOUGHEST stretches of the UFC career.

Let me close this thread.

You're welcome.
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It’s not. He just isn’t that good. There’s no question that someone had worse aggregate odds (nobody is gonna do the legwork) and it isn’t relevant anyway since the opponent is only half the equation in a betting line.
 
JDS had Werdum in his first UFC fight I think. Albeit an overweight Werdum.
 
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