Bigger fall??? Huerta or Guillard???

Lionheart7167

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Huerta was supposed to be the face of the UFC at one point, but let his ego get in the way, and he started losing. Now he has a chance to redeem himself against Henderson.

Guillard was once talked about as a contender but has looked horrible recently
 
As a life long Huerta fan, watching his fall hurt me.

I’d say that Melvin had a worse fall. Huerta is at least on a 2 fight win streak. Last win was a dq win,but he was winning the fight in my eyes.
 
Melvin, by far.

Huerta's peak was in 2007 but he was a top-10 fighter, and the genuine feeling was he had more potential than proven "future champion" prowess. Nobody watched his fight with Clay Guida and thought, "THIS is gonna be the guy that's gonna defeat BJ Penn!" It was one of the only FOTY-contender fights Clay Guida was in where he was actually winning (he was clearly up two rounds going into the third).
Melvin's peak was in 2011, and the genuine feeling was "This guy's going to be a champion SOON, and he'll dominate the division for YEARS!" and "I think the top-10 would probably win, but Melvin can definitely surprise 'em."

For more specific details on their declines...
Huerta's losses were against Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard, then Pat Curran (future Bellator champion) and Eddie Alvarez, then War Machine during one of War Machine's rare pinnacle performances [War Machine might have a lot of personal issues, but as a fighter, when he was on point, he had so much heart and power that it was really a sight to behold], and a Jiu-Jitsu world champion who was about 5 inches taller than him, had developed a very strong Muay Thai game training with Lumpinee and Rajadamnern champions, and was fighting at welterweight in Zorobabel Moreira. His last two losses have also been very competitive fights, even though he handily lost 'em both, and they were against a former Legend FC champion with an extremely effective basic-boxing game (I've never seen a fighter who's striking arsenal is built entirely around the 1-2-3 combo who's so effective with it) and high-level Judo in Koji Ando, and an athletic Jiu-Jitsu champion who has a very hard-hitting, unorthodox and idiosyncratic striking style in Ariel Sexton.
In all of his losses, though, he was very competitive, and you can't say in one of those fights that he was truly dominated. And they were all against very good fighters. It wasn't like Huerta shit the bed with his performances, he was doing good in 'em, and he's been evolving as a martial artist continually over the years, so the fact that these guys were able to beat him says something good. He's also currently on a two-fight winning streak, his first such streak since 2007, and they've both been wins against very good fighters in another former Legend FC champion in Adrian Pang (who I think was something like 22-9 going into the fight) and a TUF runner-up. He's gone 5-8 since 2008, but he's 3-2 since 2014.

Guillards losses were giant upsets, mainly once you take into account how rabid his fanbase was about how sure they were he was gonna dominate the division, and many of them were very brutal. Joe Luazon knocking him down with a counter-jab (I think it was) and finishing him with a choke less than a minute in, derailing his peak hype horribly; Jim Miller submitting him again, rebounding with that horribly lackadaisical performance against Fabricio Camoes, getting knocked out in a minute by Donald Cerrone and losing a way-more-one-sided-than-the-scorecards-read split-decision against Jamie Varner. Getting dominated by Michael Johnson, losing in more one-sided split decisions against Justin Gaethje and Brandon Girtz, getting KO'd by Derek Campos, moving up to welterweight and then middleweight just cuz' he doesn't wanna dehydrate anymore and still losing...
Guillard's losses are against very good fighters, too, but, even including the David Rickels fight as a win, he's gone 4-12 since he fought Joe Lauzon, and he's currently on a four-fight losing streak and 1-7 over his last 8. Not only that, but his last three victories are guys that are like stylistic gifts for Melvin. Two slow boxers in Mac Danzig and JZ Cavalcante (especially given how JZ at his peak was a grappler and his knees were so shot he couldn't shoot for takedowns anymore, like Ken Shamrock before him), and the once-iron-chinned-but-by-then-glass-chinned David Rickels. And now there are rumors that he barely trains.
 
Even at his best Melvin could be pretty inconsistent.
 
Huerta

Guillard got close to being THE next big thing
Huerta WAS THE next big thing

does this make sense? sounded better in my head
 
Huerta made it back to Bellator.
Guillard got fired from Bellator.

Draw your own assumptions from that. Huerta may have been in a similar place, but he never resorted to taking bare knuckle fights.
 
Melvin, by far.

Huerta's peak was in 2007 but he was a top-10 fighter, and the genuine feeling was he had more potential than proven "future champion" prowess. Nobody watched his fight with Clay Guida and thought, "THIS is gonna be the guy that's gonna defeat BJ Penn!" It was one of the only FOTY-contender fights Clay Guida was in where he was actually winning (he was clearly up two rounds going into the third).
Melvin's peak was in 2011, and the genuine feeling was "This guy's going to be a champion SOON, and he'll dominate the division for YEARS!" and "I think the top-10 would probably win, but Melvin can definitely surprise 'em."

For more specific details on their declines...
Huerta's losses were against Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard, then Pat Curran (future Bellator champion) and Eddie Alvarez, then War Machine during one of War Machine's rare pinnacle performances [War Machine might have a lot of personal issues, but as a fighter, when he was on point, he had so much heart and power that it was really a sight to behold], and a Jiu-Jitsu world champion who was about 5 inches taller than him, had developed a very strong Muay Thai game training with Lumpinee and Rajadamnern champions, and was fighting at welterweight in Zorobabel Moreira. His last two losses have also been very competitive fights, even though he handily lost 'em both, and they were against a former Legend FC champion with an extremely effective basic-boxing game (I've never seen a fighter who's striking arsenal is built entirely around the 1-2-3 combo who's so effective with it) and high-level Judo in Koji Ando, and an athletic Jiu-Jitsu champion who has a very hard-hitting, unorthodox and idiosyncratic striking style in Ariel Sexton.
In all of his losses, though, he was very competitive, and you can't say in one of those fights that he was truly dominated. And they were all against very good fighters. It wasn't like Huerta shit the bed with his performances, he was doing good in 'em, and he's been evolving as a martial artist continually over the years, so the fact that these guys were able to beat him says something good. He's also currently on a two-fight winning streak, his first such streak since 2007, and they've both been wins against very good fighters in another former Legend FC champion in Adrian Pang (who I think was something like 22-9 going into the fight) and a TUF runner-up. He's gone 5-8 since 2008, but he's 3-2 since 2014.

Guillards losses were giant upsets, mainly once you take into account how rabid his fanbase was about how sure they were he was gonna dominate the division, and many of them were very brutal. Joe Luazon knocking him down with a counter-jab (I think it was) and finishing him with a choke less than a minute in, derailing his peak hype horribly; Jim Miller submitting him again, rebounding with that horribly lackadaisical performance against Fabricio Camoes, getting knocked out in a minute by Donald Cerrone and losing a way-more-one-sided-than-the-scorecards-read split-decision against Jamie Varner. Getting dominated by Michael Johnson, losing in more one-sided split decisions against Justin Gaethje and Brandon Girtz, getting KO'd by Derek Campos, moving up to welterweight and then middleweight just cuz' he doesn't wanna dehydrate anymore and still losing...
Guillard's losses are against very good fighters, too, but, even including the David Rickels fight as a win, he's gone 4-12 since he fought Joe Lauzon, and he's currently on a four-fight losing streak and 1-7 over his last 8. Not only that, but his last three victories are guys that are like stylistic gifts for Melvin. Two slow boxers in Mac Danzig and JZ Cavalcante (especially given how JZ at his peak was a grappler and his knees were so shot he couldn't shoot for takedowns anymore, like Ken Shamrock before him), and the once-iron-chinned-but-by-then-glass-chinned David Rickels. And now there are rumors that he barely trains.
Lol no one thought Melvin thought Melvin would rule for years. He had very clear holes in his game. He went on one good streak against a few decent LWs and lost in hindsight to a someone who had the perfect style for beating him.
 
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Huerta with SI cover and Mexican market if he was champion talent he could have been huge. He was being groomed to be a star, he never lived up to it.

Melvin had talent and never lived up to it but nobody thought Melvin was a star in the making like Huerta.
 
I recon Roger's hair suffered the biggest decline.
 
Melvin's peak was in 2011, and the genuine feeling was "This guy's going to be a champion SOON, and he'll dominate the division for YEARS!"

No dude. Just no. Anyone who thought that was a moron.
 
Wow, I haven’t thought about Guillard in forever. What an exciting fighter to watch!

Also....I don’t know the answer to your question, TS. I just wanted to make the above statement.
 
Hmmm...tough call but I would say huerta though Melvin was knocking on the door to a title shot at one point.
 
Benson Henderson trumps both in the disappointment dept. But between the two, I personally would say Huerta because I was a fan of his, though Guillard was a more touted prospect.. Plus he had more "fanfare" then Huerta.
 
id say guillard beat better fighters so melvin
 
Benson Henderson trumps both in the disappointment dept. But between the two, I personally would say Huerta because I was a fan of his, though Guillard was a more touted prospect.. Plus he had more "fanfare" then Huerta.
Bendo was a WEC and UFC champ. Regardless of his drop off he's had a great career.
 
No dude. Just no. Anyone who thought that was a moron.

Lol no one thought Melvin thought Melvin would rule for years. He had very clear holes in his game. He went on one good streak against a few decent LWs and lost in hindsight to a someone who had the perfect style for beating him.

That's the whole thing. There were a lot of people who thought that. His hype-train was 95% filled with those people. That's undeniable.
I'm not saying I agreed with them, but it's what the general school of thought was at the time.
This's about who flubbed more, and the rhetoric of their fanbase's hype factors into that.
Melvin was also a -600 favorite going into the Lauzon fight. If Lauzon, in hindsight, had the perfect style to beat him, that just shows how rabid his fanbase and hype was at the time.
 
That's the whole thing. There were a lot of people who thought that. His hype-train was 95% filled with those people. That's undeniable.
I'm not saying I agreed with them, but it's what the general school of thought was at the time.
This's about who flubbed more, and the rhetoric of their fanbase's hype factors into that.
Melvin was also a -600 favorite going into the Lauzon fight. If Lauzon, in hindsight, had the perfect style to beat him, that just shows how rabid his fanbase and hype was at the time.
I remember people thinking he would fight for the title but i dont remember one person claiming he would rule the division for years. Also source for the Guillard vs Lauzon odds? I highly doubt the odds where that much in his favor.
 
I thought both were overhyped pretty early on. Huerta I thought maybe there was a small chance, but Guillard had so many holes in his game right from day one and never showed any attempt to close them.
 
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