Who was your biggest UFC bust?

[STAY GOLD]

Norifiumi (Kid) Yammamoto

This is another good pick, however he was already starting to slow down at that point. He wasn't the same fighter we saw in HERO'S after he lost to Joe Warren in DREAM.

 

[Safton]

Hatsu Hioki

Hatsu Hioki. I remember people actually thought he was the best FW in the world. Little off topic but I wish Marlon Sandro would have been able to get in the UFC at some point

Yeah, came here to say this. I delved into hos career a bit after learning about him while researching Oliveira's old fights.

Hatsu is at least an honorable mention at Featherweight when it comes to UFC busts. When he got signed he was 24-4-2 (with notable wins over UFC vets Mark Hominick & Jeff Curran) and on a four-fight win streak, with his last loss before that being by Split Decision. All of his pre-UFC losses were by Decision, in fact -- most of them Splits. He had never been finished in his career. He was the Featherweight Champ in the Sengoku, Shooto, and TKO promotions. Hioki was also regarded as an absolute grappling wizard and many considered him a de facto Top 5 Featherweight in the world, if not the very best who would dethrone Jose Aldo with ease if he ever made it to the UFC.

Well, he got his chance. The UFC signed him and he promptly got lackluster Decision wins over fairly mediocre opponents in George Roop (who took him to a Split) and Bart Palaszewski, who was at the end of his career. Even so, the UFC was willing to offer him an immediate title shot against Aldo due to his accomplishments and standing from outside the promotion. Many still believed he was the guy to topple Jose... but he turned down the offer. He wanted to get more fights in first and make sure he was ready for the challenge.

Turned out to be a mistake. Hioki immediately went on a three-fight skid, dropping Decisions to Ricardo Lamas, Clay Guida, and Darren Elkins before regaining some of his momentum by Decisioning Ivan Menjivar (another low-level guy on a loss streak of his own and at the end of his career). Hioki then promptly lost all of that momentum by running into a young, surging Do Bronx who outgrappled the supposed grappling phenom -- the man who had never been finished -- escaping his rear naked choke attempt and reversing the position to sink in an anaconda choke of his own, giving him his first and only submission loss. Hatsu went on to face Dan Hooker, getting knocked the fuck out in the second round -- again for the first time ever. At that point the mythical Aldo-Slayer shuffled off quietly to Pancrase. He's gone 2-3 since leaving the UFC, with all three losses in a row by knockout. I guess the Hangman cracked his chin something fierce in addition to giving him his walking papers I do feel for the guy and how things turned out.

 

[ferrisjso]

He wasn't a bust per say and I think a lot of it was the UFC's fault but Phil Davis. And he shares some of that blame because with a striking game he might have been the second best ever behind Jones.

 

[ZipZito]

Lombard is a perfect example. Cro Cop for sure. Barao was huge for me, he went from absolute beast to garbage after TJ.

 

[ZipZito]

Off the top my head....OSP is a huge disappointment. He has all the physical attributes. Looked like he could be one of the best at times, but over time I realized he doesn't really improve, doesn't seem to train (relatively) hard, doesn't seem interested in fighting half the time he's in the cage, and generally doesn't seem to apply himself.

Absolutely, I was very high on him and I still like him of course, but yeah he definitely just stays the same. Now he's piled up a lot of losses and taken some nasty knockouts.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

There has been many fighters that were elite outside of the UFC with tons of hype behind them. Fighters that we thought would absolutely dominate everyone and become champion. Then after waiting years to see how they would do they ended in utter disappointment. There's lots of honorable mentions like Cro Cop, Falcao, Brooks etc but there was always one fighter I never imagined to do so badly in the UFC. Hector Lombard..... Dude was 31-2-2 with 20 KO's crazy fast hands, big power, insane judo and looked like the cuban Mike Tyson. Damn shame how his career ended losing 6 straight with several KO loses. So what fighter is your biggest UFC bust? Let's hear em sherbros.

Hector's problem wasn't his chin. It was his nose. His nose is disproportionately small for his face. You can't win in the big leagues looking like that. It is what it is.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Strong as fuck and all the compassion of a sociopath

 

[mmamxfan]

Wmma and the manlet classes.

 

[uchubaco]

Maiquel Falcao; dude looked like a terrifying killer in the cage. Turns out he might actually be a terrifying killer…complete psycho.

Trained with him once and yeah...he gives a weird vibe. He had like five or six guys following him around at all times.
Appart from his entourage, he seemed like a quiet dude, you can barely hear him speak but at the same time you had the feeling that he could snap at you in an instant and rip your head off.

 

[Ovie]

imagine being into women and seeing that across the cage

Dude... most of us don’t have to imagine being into women. It’s ok. It’s 2021...

 

[danny23]

Nick Diaz. All that hype and talk and he actually ended up quitting and losing every single time like a bitch.

 

[Swarthy]

Super Boy is by fair the most saddening. And then it would be Gus

 

[Rachel Da Bear]

So many great responses, definitely taking me down disappointment lane.

I don't think anyone mentioned Roger Gracie. At the time, he was being touted as one of the best BJJ guys ever, dropped from LHW to MW and couldn't even beat Tim Kennedy,

 

[Pilo]

Maaaan, lots of 'em.

Sokoudjou, Dave Herman, Sexyama, Kid Yamamoto, Takanori Gomi, Akihiro Gono, Rafael Cavalcante, Lil Nog, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Goran Reljic, Chase Gormley, Jon Olav Einemo...there's a ton more

 

[DatSamboKid]

The biggest one for me was Renan Barao. I had a first class VIP ticket on that hype train. I even made a thread about how he was going to be the first 3 division champion in UFC history.

Honorable mentions goes to Brandon Thatch. I was following him since his Impact MMA days. Before joining the UFC he won all his fights in the first round. Continued his first round finishing streak by going 2-0 in the UFC. He lost his next 4 fights against Benson Henderson, Siyar Banahdkaah, Gunnar Nelson and Nike Price. He’s retired and hasn’t competed since.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Manny Bermudez looked like a fucking wizard his first 3 UFC fights.

Still can't believe the UFC cut him for only two losses.

IIRC he missed weight badly both times and one of them was a weight class up, that's more why he got cut.

 

[Choco]

Mike Whitehead, people have short memories but back in the day he was seen as a big prospect and was the main training partner of the current then UFC HW champ Tim Sylvia, Mike has trained with Hughes and Miletech and Horn and Lawler for many years and was one of their top fighters. 3 time All American Wrestler too.

Never bought the hype, not out of smarts but probably becuase back then I mostle wnt for record. And he was meh. He had beaten Ben Rothwell but I didn't know Ben back then.

 

[Eredin]

DOO HO CHOI IS STILL MY SUPER BOI!!!

Jake Ellenberger was looking great than got KO'd by Kampmann and become a frozen man with one last performance with life against Marquardt.

 

[Pepy]

If we're talking recently.
I'm gonna have to go with Johnny Walker.

That dude has all the physical attributes, but can't seem to get out of his own damn way.

got his faints sorted out with Irish Edmond tho

 

[StonedLemur]

got his faints sorted out with Irish Edmond tho

Lmfao @Irish Edmond.
Yeah he's a master now.