who is the most wasted talent in mma history?

[jitzmonkey]

Was looking for a gif; but found this post written by Joe Lauzon:

My serious answer is that I'm guessing Aaron Pico ends up as one of the top all time in this category.

Old schoolers can correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't David Terrell kinda fall into this criteria? Been forever but seems like he had a ton of potential but just kinda left the sport.

This was (as far as I remember) the first "what if" after he seemingly choked.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Tyler Manawaroa

Obviously talented kid who had his career derailed because of social media posts he made when he was a teenager.

'TUF Nations' fighter Tyler Manawaroa won't get UFC contract due to racist Instagram post

Regardless of how he fares on “The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia” reality series, Tyler Manawaroa won’t get a UFC contract.

mmajunkie.usatoday.com

He retired from MMA 9-0 at 19 years old, and beat Nordine Taleb on TUF.

As a teenager, he had wins over top Australians Eugene Bareman (Volkanovski's coach), and Matthew Frincu.

 

[jitzmonkey]

Papy “Chulo” Abedi

Might've been more of a "started too late" scenario.
I'd also argue that family friend Dwight Grant is sort of in the same boat. He's a guy with tons of speed/power that could have gone a lot further had he started earlier and also just focused on his strengths and made a few adjustments.

 

[jeff7b9]

Who was that big fucker that retired undefeated to become a finance guy and probably make way more money?

Pretty accomplished wrestler, HW, Bellator champ.

Cole something. Cole Conrad or something like that..
________________________

TJ Grant

Darren Till

Nick Diaz wasted his prime between suspensions and distractions. That 5 year pot suspension was fucking ridiculous and he was never the same after it (even though it was eventually repealed and shortened)
_____

Lee Murray and BJ Penn were already mentioned, but good picks

Aleks Emelianenko was mentioned, but his natural abilities and striking especially was phenomenal and I am really curious what he would have done with his head screwed on straight.

Kevin Holland has chosen to be a "bonus chaser" but he is clearly quite athletically gifted. If he took his wrestling seriously to use his BJJ... dude could be a contender. As is I don't see him moving beyond a gatekeeper to the top ten, and no Shame in that.

 

[Levi_]

I disagree. Vera was never that good. Just a run of the mill heavyweight who fought a post injury version of Mir. Hall was never that good. Hall had hype from a viral TUF moment against a bum, his actual skills were not enough to get him to top contender status. He certainly was given the opportunity.

Don't you remember- Vera was going to win titles at HW and LHW both.

 

[BJJ4Tone]

zabit

To me, Zabit is more of a what-if than a waste.
BJ Penn and Lee Murray and people of the like that made BAD decisions are a waste. Guys like Zabit and Khabib that chose to retire early arguably made very GOOD decisions.
Splitting hairs, I know.

 

[PrideNverDies]

Rumble Johnson. Would have KO'd Jones if they fought when they were supposed to

 

[Egészségére!]

Sage Northcutt’s ufc run was as if they were trying to tank his career. Dude was a karate phenom & had the looks & personality that should have been any promotions dream. Matching him with Gall & then releasing him on a three fight win streak was bizarre. He could have at least had a Caceres-like career. But hey he’s only 28 so maybe it ain’t over yet.

 

[RichardHarrow]

A few come to mind:

Zabit Magomedsharipov
Lee Murray
Uriah Hall
Paulo Filho
Brandon Vera

Apart from Zabit I disagree with the others. We witnessed their ceiling.

 

[Trabaho]

umm, alex went to prison for rape and he still fights to this day so but he's obviously out of his prime....BJ Penn went on an embarassing losing streak which tainted his legacy to younger fans, Cain's knees are fucked....I could go on for days. Your comment just seems petty and sarcastic for no reason......

It was not about those fightwes but fighting in genenral. I'm an old fan and saw them all in their prime as champions. Alex wasn't champ but a top guy with fast hands.

 

[Streeter]

Khabib if being honest. Other than maybe Fedor had biggest aura of invincibility an also other thsn maybe Fedor probably the most feared.

He never fought. He fought like once a year . Retired still having at least 3 prime years left. - wasted talent

 

[generalyum]

Would've been great if KZ didn't have to take that 3 year break

 

[jx820]

I think Jon Jones is the GOAT, and still had the most wasted potential. Between his time off and his suspensions he spent years of his prime on the shelf.

 

[TheChance]

I disagree. Vera was never that good. Just a run of the mill heavyweight who fought a post injury version of Mir. Hall was never that good. Hall had hype from a viral TUF moment against a bum, his actual skills were not enough to get him to top contender status. He certainly was given the opportunity.

This. I never bought into the hype that he was somehow going to be a 2 division champ. There was nothing of substance to back it up, just him running his mouth.

 

[DoctorTaco]

Pico.

I get that it was hell finding opponents for him but for all his pedigree it feels like he under performed for his career trajectory

 

[Clark Rogers]

Roger Huerta looked super impressive in his original run, then shit just got weird. He probably jumped up in competition too fast. Ended a great run with two decision losses to Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard, got cut (I think because of weird shit outside of the cage), and then vanishes into obscurity.

Resurfaces years later on the receiving end of one of the most brutal soccer kick KOs ever.

I don't remember the opponent, but I'll never forget Huerta's fight where a guy was behind him, and he had the wherewithal to look up at the big screens and used those to aim some backwards elbows.

Thought that showed some good IQ and thinking outside the box in the heat of the moment. He def had potential.

 

[RonDante]

Barboza. He just quit too much

 

[humdizzle]

iirc he's pursuing a career in medicine so good on him.

yeah that is noble.

but many ufc champs have made more than doctors will in terms of lifetime earnings.

 

[TheBulge]

Jon Jones in several ways. He could have been 50-0 right now if his career was stable. And also becaus he wasted the most talent in MMA, as in destroyed the most amount of great careers by beating the shit out of them.

 

[jooohnmatrix]

The ones that scream at me are Alex emelianeko, dude was fedor but bigger. legit had goat potential but chose to pursue the art of being human filth...

BJ Penn is another one, don't get me wrong, he achieved a fuck ton but I feel like he got cucked out of that GSP first fight which would have maybe catalyzed him to remain more motivated and not just fight for the quick buck.

Cain Velasquez, Nick Diaz, and Tony...All of them were held back from different variables but nonetheless none of them were able to reach the heights of mma that they were capable of.

Crazy horse bennet for me was one of the best natural talents but he wasted his youth getting high and drama outside of fighting.