It's crazy how both Weidman and Rockhold fell off immediatly after their fight. Who had the worse downfall?

[Question]

Weidman, all of Luke's losses were against top guys who were in their primes
His was also mainly people finding flaws in his style while Weidman's seem more of a physical decline

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

The Chris might have more losses.

But Rockhold was emasculated over and over. Bisping "you got knocked out round, STFU b*tch!"
Yoel held him against the cage and sexually assaulted him.
"I don't lose to guys like Jan" and sent to the shadow realm

 

[HHJ]

Anybody who doesn't believe in karma.. watch Weidmans bone break

Fuck off. It's a fight.

He should have tickled him instead.

 

[Harlekin]

You noobs forgot that Rockhold got his tooth knocked out by Mike Perry in bareknuckle.
That he had a terrible karate match against Joe Schilling. Schillig was just worse, gassed and got knocked out weirdly.
Then Rockhold lost to Patrick Downey a grappling match, no shame in that though.

 

[DoctorStoppage]

Luke ruined Weidman with the beating he gave him in that fight. Blame Herb Dean for not stopping it way earlier

 

[michi972]

Luke went 1-4 after their fight. His only win was David Branch and Luke looked great. He fought once per year from 2016-2019 and then 3 years off coming back for his last fight with Costa. Ironically he looked "Good" or at least made Costa look "Bad" relatively speaking.

The Chris went 3-7 with wins over Gastelum where he looked great, Akhmedov where both looked like dogshit and his "Win" over Bruno Silva. Finished in 6 of his 7 losses with his leg break being "Fluky", 2 TKO's and 4 brutal KOs. Getting the wierd KO from a punch to the forehead by Jacare showed he was done.

I think it has to go to The Chris. Luke's decline was as much low fight IQ as it was anything else. Chris seems to have lost his abilities due to wear and tear. I even think his 1-2 to the eyes of Bruno Silva was likely more his own body not doing what his brain is trying to tell it to do. The UFC gloves I have heard keep your hands open and it gives resistance when you make a fist. I think his brain said "make fist and throw a 1-2" and his hands just threw a 1-2 eye pokey.

Rockhold looked quite good against Romero. Romero just beat him, but Rockhold was doing alright against hum

 

[VAfan]

they were both pretty brutal. i almost feel like luke's was even more extreme, getting flatlined over and over and then getting beat up in bare knuckle fighting. was pretty disturbing to watch.

 

[13Seconds]

Who you fight matters.

There isn't a version of Chris Weidman that ever walked the earth that was going to easily beat Yoel Romero. Styles make fights and that was a really difficult matchup.

Rockhold - Romero - Moose in a row is a really difficult strength of schedule. He took unnecessary damage in the fight with Luke, then had neck surgery, and comes right back to fight Romero. That is honestly career mismanagement.

He's been over the hill with a shot body for years, so not much to make of those fights. This is just to explain his 'extremely fast' decline.

This is a great point actually. I remember picking Romero and Mousasi against Chris at the time of the fights. Not because Weidman indicated a decline, but because they were on absolute tears. The MW division in 2016-2018 was insane

 

[Tweak896]

If you look beyond the strange way the fight went, just tried to look at champs after they lose the belt. You see many reached the top mentally and don't have the same drive coming down. Or the injuries have stacked up. There is typically a steep decline after losing the belt or winning streaks.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Luke should have stuck to modeling to keep his dignity intact. Chris Weidman is a broken Man who has to keep fighting to feed his family. It's either getting his ass kicked for $200-300k or becoming a teacher for like $30,000. Its the reality of the sport. You keep fighting until they kick you out

 

[13Seconds]

If you look beyond the strange way the fight went, just tried to look at champs after they lose the belt. You see many reached the top mentally and don't have the same drive coming down. Or the injuries have stacked up. There is typically a steep decline after losing the belt or winning streaks.

Is it though? I see how there's usually a fall of after losing the belt, but not after win streaks. Atleast not as steep as you're making it out to be.

Declines of top fighters usually are at a slower burn.

 

[Hog-train]

Weidman immediately declined as soon as USADA and no IV's came in.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Luke was arguably 5 years into his prime when he got caught by Bisping, add in his lifestyle and his post prime career was never going to be pretty.

If he didn't run into the spinning heel kick throwing, Jesus Juice drinking, mohawked mullet wearing, screaming he's Tiger, fuel injected Vitor. There's a fair chance he would have had a solid championship run.

 

[Rorschachxx]

Weidman for sure, as dumb as Rockhold is he was smart enough to not kill his body and legacy by taking so many fights at his end.

Don't know if its Rockholds smarts or rather his inability to stay healthy. He's had so many pull-outs since losing the title, his injuries more or less saved his brain.

 

[HHJ]

You noobs forgot that Rockhold got his tooth knocked out by Mike Perry in bareknuckle.
That he had a terrible karate match against Joe Schilling. Schillig was just worse, gassed and got knocked out weirdly.
Then Rockhold lost to Patrick Downey a grappling match, no shame in that though.

Weidman had really competitive losses when he was on his losing streak. He was close to possibly winning the Jacare and Romero fights

 

[Preston broadus]

Teh chris snapped his shin bone and embarrassed himself as a man repeatedly. Faking injury against musashi then crying about it, winning by eye poking a guy then acting like he didn't cheat.

Luke went on a losing streak but his manhood is still in tact.

Luke is better off.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Chris needs to go to the junior leagues, pick up two straight wins and some money then retire.

 

[JPOMMA]

Honestly I think it is a bit of coincidence that they both started to decline after 2015. It's also the same year USADA got on board. It's probably IV rehydration or something.

Isn’t that around the same time that Big Rig dramatically fell off? Maybe something to do with weight-manipulation shenanigans that wrestlers use? Very curious.

 

[Plissken]

Machida also fell off the wagon. The UFC had a paradigm shift.

Rogan proclaimed It's the Machida era!
Ended one fight later.

Huh? Machida was (imo robbed) in a split decision loss to Rampage after that then subsequently beat Couture (then lost to Jones), Henderson, Bader, Munoz, Mousasi, and Dollaway (with a controversial decision loss to Phil Davis in there as well) before actually falling off with a three fight losing streak at middleweight, but finished his UFC career winning two in a row, then won his first two in Bellator before ending his career with four losses (two split decisions to Phil Davis and Mousasi, a decision loss to Bader, and finished by Fabian Edwards). Most fighters would kill to have wins over the same guys Machida did.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

I mean Weidman broke his leg in half