Fighters Who You Thought Would've Been Better

[Elvis.]

For a brief moment in time I think everyone thought Sokoudjou was a world beater

 

[Rovert]

 

[ssBaldy]

Jonny Walker, Nikita Krylov, Lando Vannata. Like them all still, but my boys be takin' more L's than they should.

 

[Man_in_Black]

A lot of great picks on here...I'd put Stefan Struve, and Alex Caceres (I know he's on a bit of streak right now, but I thought he would've been better early in his career)

 

[DoctorDeelon]

Who are some guys that had the potential to be serious contenders and even a champion that just fizzled out and are now not much more than a gatekeeper or fringe contender? One of mine is Thomas Almeida, I saw his fight against Brad Pickett and was an instant fan. He got another win and then got starched by Garbrandt and was never the same, hopefully he can return to form and spark O'Malley though.
A few other guys who I was sure were gonna go higher than they did (or at least have to this point) are:
Sage Northcutt (yeah yeah I bought into the hype)
Gunnar Nelson
Chris Weidman
Ryan Hall
Mirsad Bektic
Doo Ho Choi

David Terrell

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Melton Bowen, didn't do as well as I thought

 

[Megatronlee]

Nick Diaz second ufc run

 

[BigGing]

Thiago Silva.
I thought some HWs would have a bit of a higher ceiling like Chiek Kongo and Lavar Johnson

 

[Aleksandrfighter]

Houston Alexander two brutal knock outs in a row against great fighters then couldn’t pull trigger against Thiago Silva had he won that fight he would have fought rampage or chuck liddell and was never the same I remember being hype for h8m vs James Irvin thought fight he could get back on track on then he gets knocked out in seconds I went to bathroom missed fight couldn’t believe he lost again still a fan I just thought could had been champ one point

 

[thebesteva21]

I thought Thomas Almeida had all the tools to be champ until Cody completely derailed his career.

Rockhold had a fantastic career, but I thought he had a real chance to be GOAT status. Physically imposing, fast, good cardio, lengthy, powerful hands, range of techniques, and trains hard at a fantastic camp. Him and Jones are the most complete fighters I have ever seen, just Jones has great fight IQ and changed his game plan depending on the opponent.

 

[MikeyB]

Alessio Sakara

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

Ryan Hall is probably the best grappler in the UFC.

Not sure he's quite a "gatekeeper" yet.

Huh?
U realize Rodolfo is signed to the ufc, right?
Granted his shit striking led to him getting choked but his grappling credentials shit on hall’s.

 

[Trill850]

Mike Davis.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

Kevin Lee.. Def Kevin Lee..

 

[Freddie83]

Hatsu Hioki

 

[threetimes3]

Brian Bowles
Sakara
Jerry Bohlander

 

[kalabula]

Will Brooks. Took out Chandler twice and only had one loss on his record, solid wrestler and exceptional athlete, ended up getting destroyed by Brazilian cowboy and submitted by Nik Lentz.



I'm sure he's basing that off of his BJJ record.

Will brooks is a good one. What’s up with TS picking Weidman? Dude defended the strap multiple times.

 

[D'z]

Lee Murray

Herschel Walker

Tyrone Spong

 

[Ryoto Machida]

Go back a couple years and Charles Oliveira would have been right near the top of this list.

 

[Ryoto Machida]

Also, I was considering Erick Silva, but he's still a young prospect, and could always turn things around and make a run for the belt!