Was Thomas Almeida the Worst Prospect Call in the History of the UFC?

[Titan1980]

I'm going with Todd Duffy. 7 second KO in his debut. Sherdog poster. Was being talked about as the new breed of both MMA and Heavyweight. Then got hammer fists of doom memed into ko'd by Ubereem in under 30 seconds into the single most sloppily thrown puncher countered by Mir.

 

[560ti]

Jumped all on the Tarec Saffiedine wagon when he got signed and unfortunately he was one of the top 5 biggest bust/waste of talent in modern UFC

He came into the UFC at age 26 already the strikeforce champ, BJJ blackbelt, well rounded striking, good wrestling, and he trained at multiple high level camps. He had the making of at least a solid contender.

Most of his performances he was super gun shy and half the time he didn't even look like he even wanted to be in the octagon in his fights. Was under UFC contract for 6 years and only had 2 decision wins both of against non-top 25 guys

 

[MrJPayne]

Good list. Add Hector Lombard as well. Bellator champ with heavy hands, judo olympian, marketable physique, and trained at an elite gym.

Nobody would believe that he would only win 3 out of 12 UFC fights.

He was a much hotter prospect than Almeida and did worst

Hector Lombard was most def not a prospect by the time he came over

 

[StewDogg11]

Shitty. How?

Where do I ever say he was a shitty person?

 

[textwarrior]

Are you joking?

Sage went 6-2 in the UFC and left because another promotion offered him more money.

He was so young, only 26 right now, has not fought since 2019. He could have developed much better but it seem like a combination of things killed his will to fight.

 

[StewDogg11]

Reading this thread I don’t think many people actually know what a “prospect” is. A guy in his mid 30s coming from another relatively big promotion he was a champion in isn’t a “prospect”.

 

[markantony20]

Houston Alexander never really reached the levels he was expected to.

 

[BluntForceTrama]

Where do I ever say he was a shitty person?

Dude. He meant shitty situation. How did he die?

LOL

 

[H41ph_84k3d]

He was good at wearing sunglasses and taking a beating.

 

[ncboy]

Are you joking?

Sage went 6-2 in the UFC and left because another promotion offered him more money.

still overhyped but yeah nowhere near the worst

 

[DestinedAussie]

i could wiki this guy but just from memory the guy was super hyped and I honestly dont remember him winning one fight

Anyone else take the cake?

How can you go past CM Punk? (people lol now, but because of Brock many ppl at the time genuinely expected him to win)

Sage northcut also came to mind, but much to my surprise he actually left UFC on a 3 fight win streak.

Manny Gamburyan also comes to mind as a huge disappointment, however it was more to with his body breaking down.

 

[Vogg]

well yeah it's arguable, but he never fought in a big league so....but yeah...unfortunate...

He was the king of shooto before ufc had a 145 division you fucking boob

 

[HavokHarmon]

Sokoudjou

todd duffee

houston alexander

theres a few more but these are some older ones some of you may not remember.

Houston Alexander was for real. He answered all the questions.

 

[TCE]

He never beat a legit contender and hasn't fought since getting knocked out. People had high expectations of him and so far he hasn't been able to really live up to them. If he didn't retire he still has an opportunity to do so, but him not fighting ever since he got knocked out years ago it could be a mental or injury issue with him as to why he isn't fighting. It's been years so I'm leaning more towards a mental issue. He broke his jaw in the fight and that only takes a couple of months to heal.

He had a bit more than a broken jaw, pal. 8 facial fractures that required a 9 hour surgery.

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2019...ial-fractures-knockout-one-championship-debut

 

[BluntForceTrama]

How can you go past CM Punk? (people lol now, but because of Brock many ppl at the time genuinely expected him to win)

Sage northcut also came to mind, but much to my surprise he actually left UFC on a 3 fight win streak.

Manny Gamburyan also comes to mind as a huge disappointment, however it was more to with his body breaking down.

When I think about all the prowrestling fans who got literally crushed by the weight of the CM Punk disappoimtment i get a little emotional

 

[MGS]

Tom Breeze? been super hot and cold since his first lost In the UFC

 

[DestinedAussie]

When I think about all the prowrestling fans who got literally crushed by the weight of the CM Punk disappoimtment i get a little emotional

Yeah I was sad for him. He was actually worse than anybody predicted, even the haters.

Another prospect that comes to mind is Mike Perry, for a while the guy was riding a wave and viciously KO'ing people plus had the whole platinum princess show on the side. He very quickly became pretty average, grinding out fights to decision.

 

[filthynumber1]

Where do I ever say he was a shitty person?

Shitty as in that's too bad he passed away
How as in how did he die?

 

[Lax617]

Brandon Vera
Comes In undefeated, blasts Frank Mir in minutes, and is deemed the next UFC Heavyweight AND Light Heavyweight Champ

I think Vera is the p4p most hyped prospect that fell. Then Erick Silva.

I had to scroll too far to see Vera's name.

 

[EndlessCritic]

He never beat a legit contender and hasn't fought since getting knocked out. People had high expectations of him and so far he hasn't been able to really live up to them. If he didn't retire he still has an opportunity to do so, but him not fighting ever since he got knocked out years ago it could be a mental or injury issue with him as to why he isn't fighting. It's been years so I'm leaning more towards a mental issue. He broke his jaw in the fight and that only takes a couple of months to heal.

Sage Northcutt had his face fractured in 8 different places in his last fight, and had to undergo a 9 hour surgery. "A couple months to heal" lmfao.

https://www.mmaweekly.com/sage-nort...s-in-29-second-loss-in-one-championship-debut

He was scheduled to fight Shinya Aoki in 2021 but had to pull out due to something called COVID-19.

https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id...ship-bout-vs-shinya-aoki-due-covid-19-effects