Who had the worst end to a great career?

[felmmando]

Renan Barao, Frankie Edgar, and A Silva's mma career ended horribly.

I disagree about A. Silva. He declined, for certain, but was still competitive at the end against high level fighters.

 

[Goutfather]

i don’t think you’ll ever find a worse fall than bj. i personally thought he was always pretty overrated (not bad, but not commensurate with his hype), so imo that makes the fall back to reality even worse.

 

[felmmando]

I nominate L'il Evil.

Or, in a different way, Cain Velasquez.

 

[Royce's Gi]

Crocop got KO:d by Schaub...

 

[Skarsgard]

Marlon Moraes
View attachment 980284

Especially with the consideration that the Aldo win was very controversial.

 

[Skarsgard]

Though those fights probably made him a lot of money, getting face planted by Jake Paul is definitely not a good look.

Just saw him a week or two back with Mama Woodley. Dude is still friendlier than most people I've met.

 

[pick999]

Woodley and silva both lost to a Disney personality

 

[Noveltymortar]

Crocop got KO:d by Schaub...

I hate to say it but I think Cro Cop just got exposed when he came to the UFC.

 

[MrFreeze]

Especially with the consideration that the Aldo win was very controversial.

I thought aldo won too

 

[Crash Lance]

Chuck got KO'ed by Tito but BJ got KO'ed by a random fat guy...

Liddell is 2-1 against Ortiz.

 

[jooohnmatrix]

Rumble standing in the cage like a lost child looking for his team mates who had fled in anger at him was heartbreaking. He deserved better than that.

 

[NoSmilez]

It’s probably Fedor.

 

[andgonsil]

Woodley, Rockhold

 

[kingofthecans]

There's great mentions in here, but I disagree with BJ Penn. Dude's career didn't just end. It wasn't like he failed hard then stopped. Half his career is basically a turd.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

BJ Penn and Barao come to mind the most.

 

[Oz.Pride]

Rumble. RIP

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Chuck without a doubt.

honorable mention Jacare, because being stiffened by a fist from the bottom is pretty rough

 

[Striker33]

Frankie Edgar comes to mind, ko badly in his last 3 fights

 

[Shroud of turinabol]

Rashad lost to Sam fucking Alvey

And for context Sam Alvey won 2 of his next 12 fights

 

[Shilajit]

Mma Fighters almost never go out on top. Khabib and gsp are a rare case.

so who had a great career but then just went downhill bad? My top 2 picks are. Bj and chuck.

BJ Penn -was regarded as a lw goat at the time. A p4p savage prodigy. after beating diego and defended his lw belt. He went 1-9-1 in a span of 9 years. Getting ko’d 2 times and subbed once. Lost a lot of decisions in those 9 losses. Also getting ko’d in street fights. Yikes.

chuck liddell - the iceman, ko’d people and looked like a legit badass. After losing his belt go rampage by KO, he went 1-6 in a span of 9 years getting knocked out bad in 5 of the 6 losses including 4 kos in a row before he retired.

Has anyone had a worst end to a great career than these 2?

Chuck's was probably worse.

He took a lot of damage and probably reduced his life expectancy by a decade.

Penn lost many times but he didn't take all that much damage. So, he'll be fine. And his peak years were still all time great status.