Who is the last fighter to improve dramatically?

[MMAMidwit]

Examples from the past are guys like Robert Whittaker and Max Holloway. Whitaker went from losing multiple times at welterweight to a crazy run at middleweight culminating in a championhip. Max Holloway had a split-decision against Leonard Garcia and lost to Dennis Bermudez and then a few years later beat the shit out of prime or near-prime Aldo twice for the belt. Both guys are future hall-of-famers.

The only guy I can think of that is a candidate is Fluffy Hernandez who seems still be flying under the radar a bit but is possibly Khamzat's biggest challenge. He's been on a tear since getting quickly beat by Holland.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Merab lost his first 2 UFC fights... now he's an unstoppable force at 135.

 

[Elvis.]

If you had told me the night that Carpenter fucked up Rda and broke his jaw that he had a title run in him I wouldn’t have believed you

 

[MMAMidwit]

Merab lost his first 2 UFC fights... now he's an unstoppable force at 135.

Damn. That is a fantastic example.

 

[Neck&Neck]

Dominick “Solar” Reyes

 

[BigTruck]

Merab lost his first 2 UFC fights... now he's an unstoppable force at 135.

This probably if you want the most recent but several fighters went from meh to wtf like olivera who was known to have no heart and wilt then became a ridiculous terror.

 

[andgonsil]

Belal before losing the belt

 

[Neck&Neck]

Carmouche in PFL

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

CoGar shot up and back down like a junior varsity shot putt

 

[JBJ was here]

It's really hard to say when a fighter actually improves dramatically. Fighting, when not booked like professional boxing, is high variance for most fighters who aren't total scrubs or tippy-top-level elites. Plus, there are lots and lots of MMA fighters out there and fighting 2-3 times a year is reasonably active, so you end up with .500 fighters on five or six fight win (or loss!) streaks over two or three years all the time even without lots of variance.

Someone like Charles Oliveira was never as mediocre as his worst stretch would make you think but also was never as good as his best stretch would make you think. He's pretty much always been the same fighter, a strong fighter with a fun selection of finishing skills and a high-variance style. Tai Tuivasa is just a .500 fighter who happened into some streaks.

 

[bng]

Tony Ferguson improved his boxing dramatically, switched to boxing, remains undefeated and made PFP boxing list look like frauds

 

[markg171]

Nobody's going to want to hear that the real answer is Paddy.

 

[Luthien]

Nobody's going to want to hear that the real answer is Paddy.

I don't get the Paddy hate

 

[markg171]

I don't get the Paddy hate

He's a loud goofball and that's always turned away lots of Sherdoggers, but the improvements since the Gordon fight when afterwards 90% of Sherdog said he'd amount to nothing have been undeniable. He's levelled up hard since then.

Continue to hate his personality all you want, but he's legitimately one of the best LWs right now, who could get a title shot without TOO much grumbling (yes it should be Arman, Max, or Justin first IMO).

I look forward to seeing his continued improvements.

 

[PeterGriffin]

Nobody's going to want to hear that the real answer is Paddy.

Merab and Paddy were the immediate first two that came to mind. Merab's in beast mode, and if he has a granite chin, it's going to give a few BW's something to think about. Sticking around in a weight class where you have no title chances? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you have other options and I think we see other fighters move either up or down from 135.

IDGAF what Paddy's like on the mic, he is a legitimate top LW, and he's a big dude for that weight class. He'll dwarf Topuria in the octagon, and if Topuria can't crack Paddy's chin fast, I think Paddy will overpower him fairly easily from Round 2 onwards. If Paddy gets on top and can fight heavy, Ilia could end up in big trouble. Paddy handled Chandler physically and looked almost effortless doing it.

If the UFC gave the title shot to Paddy, I wouldn't be the least bit upset.

 

[Deltron 6060]

GSP didn't grow up wrestling and became the best mma wrestler in a wrestling heavy division.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Examples from the past are guys like Robert Whittaker and Max Holloway. Whitaker went from losing multiple times at welterweight to a crazy run at middleweight culminating in a championhip. Max Holloway had a split-decision against Leonard Garcia and lost to Dennis Bermudez and then a few years later beat the shit out of prime or near-prime Aldo twice for the belt. Both guys are future hall-of-famers.

The only guy I can think of that is a candidate is Fluffy Hernandez who seems still be flying under the radar a bit but is possibly Khamzat's biggest challenge. He's been on a tear since getting quickly beat by Holland.

Well there's Rose for the women.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Brock went from a green pro wrestler to a defending UFC champion. I picked Carwin to take his head off, respected Brock ever since that fight.

 

[bobafett]

Reem. Multiple times, too

 

[Vegeta12]

Charles Olivera fought a few guys who weren't the best in the world to go on his win streak before the title shot/win and in that string of wins you can see a ton of improvement and confidence built up; he is probably the best modern example I can think of