What happened to Paulo Thiago?

Didn't see the fights today. Did he look bad in his loss? He really looked promising when he first came to the UFC, knocked out Koscheck, got Fitched (no shame in that), and then looked really good against Volkmann and Swick. Granted, his losses were against some really good fighters, but I expected him to beat Diego, Siyar, Thatch and Umalatov.

 

I just don't think he has the heart to do it anymore. If you don't have the motivation, then your ceiling can only be so high. And he has plenty of other things to worry about outside of MMA

 

Could be. Especially after the rough streak he's been on. Too many setbacks could definitely kill your motivation, plus he has a career outside of MMA. I hope he can get back on track somehow though, although in all likelihood this was his final fight in the UFC. I really liked watching his BJJ in action.

 

He really like to planking

 

he's made a 5 year career off of a single punch.

 

Probably this.

 

No full time training, no world class gym, police stress (guy has gray hair already), getting older.

 

2 wins and 6 losses in his last 8 fights. He reminds me of Brandon Vera - knocks out one decent fighter ages ago in his career and thought he was a world destroyer.

 

What?

No one thought he was a world destroyer after Kos. He got hype from bitch slapping Mike Swick, who was one fight removed from a #1 contender match.

 

1. He got old. Hell, just look at him. His hair is damn near fully gray.
2. He forgot that his ground game is his strength. Like many grapplers, he scored an unexpected KO and then all of a sudden fancied himself as a striker and knockout artist.

 

Maybe you didnt think that, but 11-0 after knocking out Kos in his UFC debut, this guy was touted as the next big thing, his hype was derailed after getting grinded by Fitch(i cant remember if that fight was even televised). Iirc Swick win wasnt that impressive after Hardy already stole the contender spot.

 

That's crazy about his hair, i'll try to check out today's fight sometime. I didn't notice gray hair in his last fight (it could have been there and I just probably didn't notice though)

I don't think #2 is particularly true though. If I remember correctly, he grapplefucked both Volkmann and Mitchell, beat Swick by sub and grappled with Diego and won the first round before Diego took over the remainder of the fight. I could be totally wrong though.

 

No he wasn't.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/4/UFC-100-Preview-The-Main-Card-18406

Even Sherdog predicted he was going to catch a beatdown from Fitch. No one was calling him the next big thing. Especially since Kos had won the entire fight up until getting KO'd.

No idea where you are getting that idea. He got hype for beating Swick because he kicked his ass a lot worse than Hardy did and Hardy was getting a title shot. And that was back when people talked about Hardy as a premier striker at WW due to his power and at the time, impressive boxing technique (compared to the other WW strikers).

 

I think you're both right. He definitely made some noise after knocking out Koscheck, and gained a lot of hype after the Swick fight as well. (I don't think anyone ever considered him to be a 'world destroyer' though)

As a side note, the only people who were touting Hardy as the premier striker at WW were the UFC to hype up his title fight. Some people fell for it I guess, but most people knew that there are better strikers at WW, GSP included (I guess he fell for the hype too, though)

 

1.Family
2.Full Time Fucking Badass Protector of People (which has probably involved a lot of killing, bloodshed and stress)
3.Wear and Tear of years of training
4.Natural age.

 

I've always said GSP was the best striker at WW, perhaps not now, but back then definitely.

And it wasn't too hard to believe. Condit hadn't quite made his name yet and there wern't any other big name strikers in the wrestling heavy WW division. Alves is the only other well-known striker from back then.

His striking was no doubt overrated, but compared to the people around him, he was one of the better WW strikers.

 

Dude is rocking a ton of gray.

 

Meh. One of the better strikers yes, he was pretty technically sound but I liked GSP, Alves, Kampmann and Condit over him back then easily. Was never very impressed by him though

Wow, was this from today's fight or his last one? It's not just his hair either, he aged a lot and I didn't even realize it. Guy's only like 33 too.

 

I almost bet on this fight. Phew, glad I didn't.

Anybody think Paulo will get cut? I hope not. I still think he is a decent, journeyman fighter.

 

I don't like seeing him fight anymore, not because of his performances but I really feel like he could get hurt very bad. He's washed up, not in fighting but just a glimpse at him and you can see he's been through a lot, more than any person should. He looks at least 10 to 15 years older than he really is and it shows when he's fighting that his body is not following anymore.

After the fight he was already taking a plane to assist special forces, what he needs is plenty, PLENTY of rest