who is the most wasted talent in mma history?

[Violent Violin]

Knew a guy that wrestled Karelin back in the day. Not only was he a technical monster, but he says that his strength simply wasn't human. You could find the physically strongest guy in any tournament and be sure that karelin was about twice as strong, it just didn't make sense.
Imagining him learning to throw a punch is a horrifying mental excercise.
Even his two losses were controversial and on points, but even with them, having a career where you go 887-2, doubling Ricksons larping fanfic, that's a beast right there.

Aleksandr Karelin

Ok, nm, that fight looks fake af

 

[Violent Violin]

He was special unfortunately his run took place before the sport took off.

Why should that matter?

 

[OLD RED]

Why should that matter?

It doesn't.

 

[Rationality]

IF Rory Mac hadn't been destroyed for our pleasure by Lawler he could've been champ.

 

[mkt]

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.

Vera was a puzzle. He was briefly a D1 wrestler, was basically self-taught in BJJ originally and entering Grappler's Quest and was clearly a good technical striker. He looked really good and fought with bad intentions through the Mir fight. After that, he had a contact dispute with the UFC, came back and fought Tim Sylvia (a tough opponent due to the size difference) and was never the same. He was too scrawny for HW (until he did One and mysteriously put on mass) but usually too drained to fight well at LHW. He seemed to lack toughness and lost to guys who were less technical than he was (Jardine, Rothwell, Thiago Silva) because they were able to bully him.

I'm not sure if it was a mental/mindset thing or if he just lacked grit, but he was better on paper than he was in the cage most of the time.

 

[Rationality]

If Karelin's chin was as durable as it looks and with decent striking defence he would have been an absolute monster in MMA. Dont think any Judo or BJJ could submit him. Maybe aikido. Sensei Seagal would have been the first one to stop him.

Sensei Seagal also belongs in this category. Karelin and Seagal, most wasted talent in history.

I'll see your Steven Segal and raise you a Frank Dux.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Is being a "Natural" BW and killing yourself to make Fly W really an example of having the balls to look for larger dudes? Pretty sure the only guys he fought his size or larger were Aljo and Merab and they both beat him easily.

He talked about fighting max several times you know he’s smaller than guys like Aljo merab and sandhagen by quite a bit

 

[Dr Guildo]

I'll see your Steven Segal and raise you a Frank Dux.

I'll raise with Chance Boudreaux

 

[ChessJitsu]

Tatiana Suarez had the makings of a WMMA GOAT but her injuries took away her best years.

 

[TITS]

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

WTF do you mean "cucked"? It was a fight, not a wife-swap you fucking idiot.

 

[613]

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..
________________________



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)
_____

He was never the same after because he actually fought top raked fighters. He spent years fighting unranked opponents and avoiding wrestlers and it got people thinking he was way better than he was. Nick always lost when he fought top guys

 

[613]

word on the street is that he would do blow and party a week before his fights. maybe the coke made him better?

By the streets do you mean from Jones? He said to DC he beat hm after a week of cocaine

 

[IDGETKTFO]

Frank Shamrock. You literally couldn't have posted this thread at a better time.

 

[drbolony]

For me it's Zabit because I always have to hear about how he's the uncrowned GOAT. I wish his health would've allowed him to prove it.

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

Zabit could've been something special imo.

 

[HavokHarmon]

Pains me to say it, but Conor could be on the list.
- He got rich vs. Aldo in 2015 -> less training
- No cardio anymore since his ACL injury, couldn't run, just bike, which ain't as good
- Drugs and alcohol for years
- After 2016 he only trained boxing for a while and after Floyd 2017 he was rich and only a part time fighter anymore.

It's no wonder that Poirier got better and better, while McGregor got worse and lost

Those are good points but I don’t know. Don’t think he was ever going back to 145 after Aldo, the cut was too much for him so I think the idea of him posting a bunch of defenses is probably out of the question. And he was always going to have big problems with the top guys at 155, especially high level grapplers like Khabib Islam and Oli. He probably could have done more in that span than he ended up doing if he had stayed active but I think he would have dropped some fights in there also so maybe he’d look better historically but I don’t think he’d make the push to goat talks.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Sam Alvey.

Dude lost one fight and wasn't given any chances to get back into the win column.

Thought he was cut far too soon for an electric striker.

Sam Alvey is the current HW Karate Kombat champion and he's announcing a fight soon, as told to me by Sam himself.

Guy was a meme for the losing streak (which he ended with his HW MMA debut!), but genuinely one of the nicest human beings if you ever interact with him, so much so that I actually felt bad for dunking on him for so long on here.

Worst part? I was actually high on Alvey when he first came to the UFC, had KO power, especially at WW where he started. He's had some good wins over the years against Meerschart, Rashad, Pranchino, Marquardt, but had some mental block there for a few years. Glad to see him doing better!

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

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..

Guy had the most Wisconsin dream imaginable and retired to day trade cheese lol

 

[GNRXI]

I think Francis may have been on course to be the best HW in UFC history. I also believe he would have beaten Jon Jones.

 

[Dirty Frank]

Zabit.

Man I miss that sonofagun.