TOP UFC fighters with wasted potential who LACK PROPER TRAINING...ie management ?

King Crab

King Crab

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These days (and for quite a while) I am constantly seeing untapped champions who just lack dimensions to there game that can be attributed to a lack of direction and attention by those who directly train, manage and oversee said fighters regimen. It's a shame because I can see a few of these people making championship runs or at least making top five in there appropriate division.

Case A] Melvin Guillard - basket case..no one seems able to penetrate his unstable mentality in and out of the octagon. Clear case of excellent physical ability and conditioning but lack of mental training and killer instinct and experience that he should already have developed LONG ago. Trainers...advisors ...hell friends ?

Case B] Rousimar Palhares - another borderline basket case .. possible lack of heart, drive, killer instinct and folds on receiving serious strikes. He has...no stand-up. I can understand relying on the one trick pony but come the fuck on. Look at this guys power and he still looks like he has never thrown a combo against a bag in his life. Trainers...advisors ...hell friends ? What the hell do they do with this guy while he is training for a fight because hell if i know that he shows up with his A game on fight night. Even if one dimensional, he mentality just looks always SHAKY.

Case C] Phil Davis - great fighter but questionable training plans. He has the tools to be a great fighter..speed strength but in my opinion once he breaches top tier he seems to become a deer in the headlights of an oncoming truck. He becomes lethargic, afraid to pull the trigger and lack initiative to snap off stand up combos which could be lethal to anyone in the division if he learned to put steam and heart behind them.
I don't think he's being led in the right direction or stepping up his game to where it should be. I blame his coaches.

Case D] Rampage - Its a shame a man with his talent has wasted valuable time finding himself again, motivating himself, moving to acting. Even at his age it's apparent that if he was exposed to someone with proper leadership skills could have guided him to make better decisions. Someone who could have forced him to put his heart into training because Rampage was not someone I would have dumped into the "needs to retire" bin just yet. Power and aggression was his trademark...if only he could have adapted and continued to grow. Then again who the hell can tell him what he needs to do...no one.

Case E] Pat Barry - wierd but nice guy... I question whether he really wants the belt. He seems to train to just get by and not excel and improve his game so he can make a serious run.

Case F] Carwin - injuries, injuries I know. I always thought he he had an excellent toolset for his division and that he had a good window to grow some gather experience and stay up there.

Anyways I'm bored...mostly curious as to everyone elses favorites who never seem to evolve/adapt and may be doomed for the axe.
 
Bizarrely, considering he's a 2 division champ, but BJ Penn. But the whole "motivated BJ" argument basically comes from issues with his team. He might never have the cardio of a guy like Diaz, but you have to wonder how he would have done if he hadn't simply relied on his talent, and had a training regimen on par with some of the other champs.
 
I don't agree with any of those OP.....
The only ones who can blame the training team are the ones who are not conditioned to fight all the rounds estabilished for that fight. That's it.
 
Rampage has had an admirable career.. This fight against Teixeria will tell us if he still has one more run left in him.. Shane Carwin is too old man, His record was decieving.. When he was ranked top 3 HW I knew the guy was overated. Regardless of injuries his age is his worst enemy.. I agree about Pat Barry... One fight at a time for that guy.. Inconsistent.. More of cheerleader of mma then a fighter
 
WildF said:
Rampage has had an admirable career.. This fight against Teixeria will tell us if he still has one more run left in him.. Shane Carwin is too old man, His record was decieving.. When he was ranked top 3 HW I knew the guy was overated. Regardless of injuries his age is his worst enemy.. I agree about Pat Barry... One fight at a time for that guy.. Inconsistent.. More of cheerleader of mma then a fighter
Click to expand...

How is Pat Barry like a cheerleader for mma....lol. Because he doesn't go in their with some boring ass game plan...its kill or be killed with him. ..everytime. I would rather watch a fighter like him than 99% of the ufc.
 
I'd add Koscheck to that list. He's got phenomenal wrestling, great conditioning, and a fair amount of power. But he's just never evolved much as a fighter, and I wonder if that's him, or it was his conflicts with the trainers at AKA.
 
Dave Herman. Naturally gifted ability and body. He has the tools, but I don't he has the camp or the serious drive to be serious contender in mma.
 
I think Phil Davis shouldn't be on that list. He seems to train with a lot of good fighters.

I'm a fan of his but I think people just expected him to become a great striker overnight. His path I think will just be to improve his overall MMA game so he can implement his takedown/sub game more often.
 
Kampmann. Teach the man some striking defence.
 
Phil Davis... really? He's lost once to one of the best in the division and now he's a deer in headlights?
 
Those same coaches you blame for Davis' development are the same ones that coach UFC BW champion Dominck Cruz, Bellator LW champion Michael Chandler and top LHW Gustafsson
 
Kurisutofu said:
I think Phil Davis shouldn't be on that list. He seems to train with a lot of good fighters.

I'm a fan of his but I think people just expected him to become a great striker overnight. His path I think will just be to improve his overall MMA game so he can implement his takedown/sub game more often.
Click to expand...

This. No way Phil Davis should be on that list. He joined the game pretty late and pretty much only had wrestling when he came in. Now his submission game is coming along, and his striking is making good progress as well. Unfortunately, he's really not the fastest or most powerful guy in the world, so he doesn't have the ability to get away with worse technique like some other, more powerful wrestlers like Johny Hendricks.

BJ should always be at the top of any list like this. People on this forum like to say that conditioning is an "easy" thing, and that it's entirely based on work ethic, but it's not. The truth is that some conditioning problems need to be diagnosed by a good coach and remedied by addressing specific weaknesses within each energy system. This is hard work, and finding coaches who know about the energy systems of MMA is very difficult because the sport is still somewhat young. It's not just a matter of being motivated or not; it's a matter of having good coaching.

Rampage is another guy who just can't get a gameplan together. His coaches are awful. They have the easiest job in MMA: put together a gameplan for one of the most skilled, athletic MMA fighters in the history of the sport so that he can win against guys who he is stylistically suited to beat. The fact that he often ends up confused in fights with guys he should theoretically destroy is almost entirely because his fight camps are so horrible. It's almost like his coaches don't show up to his camps.
 
Shane Del Rosario

his gameplan of taking down Pat Barry and tiring himself out was facepalm worthy
 
King Crab said:
These days (and for quite a while) I am constantly seeing untapped champions who just lack dimensions to there game that can be attributed to a lack of direction and attention by those who directly train, manage and oversee said fighters regimen. It's a shame because I can see a few of these people making championship runs or at least making top five in there appropriate division.

Case C] Phil Davis - great fighter but questionable training plans. He has the tools to be a great fighter..speed strength but in my opinion once he breaches top tier he seems to become a deer in the headlights of an oncoming truck. He becomes lethargic, afraid to pull the trigger and lack initiative to snap off stand up combos which could be lethal to anyone in the division if he learned to put steam and heart behind them.
I don't think he's being led in the right direction or stepping up his game to where it should be. I blame his coaches.

Anyways I'm bored...mostly curious as to everyone elses favorites who never seem to evolve/adapt and may be doomed for the axe.
Click to expand...

The same Phil Davis whose only loss comes from the #2 LHW? I think he has been working his submission game very well and has a lot of potential in the future. He is still relatively young and new to the MMA game. His striking will get better in time, his sub game seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. He will be a top 5 fighter within the next 2-3 years.
 
Joe Riggs? Karo Parysian? These are guys who are way off the scene now, but at one point were highly regarded title contenders. According to trainers, teammates & various witnesses, they both had championship potential. Many accounts say that Riggs always looked like the best thing ever in the gym, but never seemed able to perform on the biggest stage in his biggest fights. Karo, I heard, just hated to train. They say that he would often just show up to perform. I know these names don't mesh with the names being mentioned thus far in the thread, but they still fit the topic.
 
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