Why do Fighters tank after title shot?

S

sauser

Blue Belt
@Blue
Joined
Mar 2, 2011
Messages
698
Reaction score
0
Is it a mental thing and who are some good examples of this? Off the top of my head Dan Hardy lost his next 3 and same with Mark Hominick, Thiago Alves tanked as well. Just curious as to why the huge drop off.
 
Probably just lack of motivation after getting "the big one" and coming in second.
 
Maybe the dump of having to start over again
 
It's a mental thing. I think the UFC throws guys to the wolves too fast. It's not good for their confidence. They start losing 2 and 3 fights in a row it starts to make you doubt yourself even though you're fighting the very top guys. I think when a guy loses like that they need to give him an easier fight for a comeback. That's why these instant rematches are not a good idea. That guy is still in your head and you need a couple wins to get you completely believing in yourself again.
 
To make a jump to title contention, most of the time a fighter only needs to go on a win streak against lesser competition and then win against one top guy. After the title fight they have to keep fighting elite guys.
 
sauser said:
Is it a mental thing and who are some good examples of this? Off the top of my head Dan Hardy lost his next 3 and same with Mark Hominick, Thiago Alves tanked as well. Just curious as to why the huge drop off.
Click to expand...

You could say Condit as well.

Probably once you're established as a contender, your competition remains high, generally basically as high as the fight that earned you a shot.

That's certainly the case in stacked divisions like WW and LW.

Combined with natural and mental decline (a TS being a peak of course for many guys)
 
Steve08 said:
Probably just lack of motivation after getting "the big one" and coming in second.
Click to expand...

agree with this.

it would be a huge investment of their time and training and mentally and emotionally they would feel so defeated at what they think would have been their greatest effort.

they are just bummed and some do get back on track but others would lack motivation to do it all over again.
 
I think in case of many welterweights and middleweights, they lost their spirit in those defeats. You ride this momentum to the top and believe you are the guy who will take out the champ, only to realize you will never be as good as him no matter how many hours you put in the gym. That shatters a fighters confidence and at that point the rest of the division just preys on them.
 
Imagine working at dunkin donuts for 10 years for a shot at a better job, you train by scrubbing the floors, dealing with complaints and the homeless guy who the manager is friends with and that gets free food and orders you around and with the shitty coworkers and then imagine you have a shot at a better job. You don't get the job but you get alittle more money at dunkin donuts but longer shifts. That's essentially the mental frame of a fighter who loses title shot. Back to work with more work. Yes I work at dunkin donuts.
 
grinderman said:
agree with this.

it would be a huge investment of their time and training and mentally and emotionally they would feel so defeated at what they think would have been their greatest effort.

they are just bummed and some do get back on track but others would lack motivation to do it all over again.
Click to expand...

Yeah.

I think they just admit defeat. They try their hardest, put in 110% for their training camp, and still got demolished by GSP or Anderson.

Many of the championship fights aren't even close, and it's extremely demoralizing when the challenger discovers that literally none of tactics they'd planned even remotely work.
 
There are various reasons, mental & physical.

It's a tough ride to the top & a lot of fighters will put off surgeries if they are on a streak.
 
fightdonttweet said:
To make a jump to title contention, most of the time a fighter only needs to go on a win streak against lesser competition and then win against one top guy. After the title fight they have to keep fighting elite guys.
Click to expand...

This more than anything...

In division with established Champions. Anderson, Jones, GSP era. You only have to win against one high-ranked opponent to get a title shot. Sometimes, not even top 5.

After you fight for the title, you are "established" and will fight nothing but top 10 opponents, fight in, fight out. If you aren't on that "next level" that champions are, it's not unreasonable to be 50/50 in those fights. Especially since SOMEONE has to lose in each and every one of those fights. That means at any given time, 2-3 fighters in the top-10 are about to be on a 2-fight losing streak.

The UFC also like to match fighters up based on their last fight. Losers vs. losers and winners vs. winners of similar ranking. So, someone that is highly ranked in those "loser" matchups will end up on a two-fight losing streak.
 
Well a big part of it is many guys get title shots with maybe 1-2 big win. Maybe it was a good match up for them or they got a lil lucky. After they lose the title fight though they usually fight the rest of the guys in the top 5 who aren't good match ups for them etc. So many end up losing a couple of those fights and tanking.
 
BruceLeeOnTRT said:
I think in case of many welterweights and middleweights, they lost their spirit in those defeats. You ride this momentum to the top and believe you are the guy who will take out the champ, only to realize you will never be as good as him no matter how many hours you put in the gym. That shatters a fighters confidence and at that point the rest of the division just preys on them.
Click to expand...

Ya realizing you had nothing for the champ has got to be ego shattering
 
fightdonttweet said:
To make a jump to title contention, most of the time a fighter only needs to go on a win streak against lesser competition and then win against one top guy. After the title fight they have to keep fighting elite guys.
Click to expand...

Yea this.
 
It really does separate the mentally strong from the weak.IMO. Fighters like Faber, Mendes and GSP went straight back to winning after losing title fights. Fuck, Faber has never lost a non title fight. But yeah, Hardy and Hominick were big time drop offs. Chuck's decline after losing the title was tragic.
 
I hear what your saying and I always thought about this as well and yet I don't understand how Badri Hari and Alister Overeems don't tank despite the fact that their fighting records aren't perfect and they don't seem punch drunk

Yet mma fighters and boxers usualy thank and after one loss they kind of lose their luster. Zab Judah is the perfect example as is James Kirkland when it comes to boxing.
 
A lot of guys fall of mentally that's why. You are mentally prepared for the biggest event of your life to fail miserably, it really drains a fighter mentally to have his dream crushed like that.
 
sauser said:
Is it a mental thing and who are some good examples of this? Off the top of my head Dan Hardy lost his next 3 and same with Mark Hominick, Thiago Alves tanked as well. Just curious as to why the huge drop off.
Click to expand...

They usually get matched up against up and comers, guys close to a title shot but need to beat a former challenger to get the last push. Some of it might be that they weren't really championship material anyway, and their earning the title was a bit of good luck, anyway. Some of it could be a mental drop off after falling short as well, though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,263,475
Messages
57,229,524
Members
175,595
Latest member
riazud

Share this page

Back
Top