who is the most wasted talent in mma history?

[theincognito]

The most obvious examples are people like Crazy Horse - all kinds of natural talent and athleticism wasted because no discipline.

 

[Gregoire1]

Jones
Alex
Cejudo
Penn
Zabit
Drysdale

 

[nonoob]

BJ for sure, his physical side was incredible, mentally not so much.

CM Punk 'what if he trained and took the whole thing seriously?'

Amazed CM could get a scripted win. MMA... "No Chance" music was fitting.

 

[Striker Fox]

Jones

Did he not have top quality Turinabol or something?

 

[Benoitthegr8]

I haven’t scoured all the comments yet, but Ricardo Arona seemingly walked away from MMA in his prime, supposedly to surf and bang models.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

Old schoolers can correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't David Terrell kinda fall into this criteria? Been forever but seems like he had a ton of potential but just kinda left the sport.

he had a great KO versus matt lindland as an unknown but he never really did anything before or after that. seems more like people put way too much stock into that win

 

[djacobox372]

Khabib... he could have been GOAT, but instead he fought a few good fighters who matched up poorly against him and then fucked off.

 

[Old Man]

Chris Holdsworth
Phillip Miller
Jeff Joslin

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Sherdoggers. They think they know more about MMA than the actual fighters, so that must mean they're wasting their talents by not fighting.

None of us can make 265 tbf.

 

[AmonTobin]

I don't know if this has been mentioned but, Ronda Rousey is kind of a wasted UFC talent because her ground game was pretty awesome but the only thing missing was some sharp standup. In a different timeline with some worldclass kickbox training, she might have been around for longer.

 

[sonofjay817]

umm, alex went to prison for rape and he still fights to this day so but he's obviously out of his prime....BJ Penn went on an embarassing losing streak which tainted his legacy to younger fans, Cain's knees are fucked....I could go on for days. Your comment just seems petty and sarcastic for no reason......

He won multiple high level belts. What more do you want?

Fair point but I just think he could have accomplished more and his legacy made larger. When he retired, he claimed it was because there was no one left to challenge him, and shortly after that, there were interesting potential opponents popping up everywhere it seemed. Admittedly, I'm coming from the fan perspective. He may have done what was best for himself, retiring on top.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

For me..

Chris Holdsworth - Not his fault but possibly the best ever TAM prospect. Career ended from a concussion from a cheap shot from Dillashaw in training.

Dan Lauzon - Good enough to make the UFC at 18. Completely lacked commitment, still managed to beat people like Bobby Green even when lacking commitment to the extent that Joe refused to continue cornering him.

Tom Duquesnoy - Hot young prospect, lost a close fight to another hot young prospect who went on to be ranked for years in Cody Stamann and quit MMA to join a cult

 

[Chayanne]

BJ Penn.
never had to fight gsp, should have remained champion in his division for years.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I do find it amusing seeing people who were UFC champions being called a waste of talent lol

 

[Elvis.]

Mark Kerr I think could have had a decent run as the man at heavyweight if he didn’t get all fucked up on drugs

I was expecting a big career out of JZ Calvan but his knees went for a shit

Frank Shamrock basically stopped for 7 years , now he would have had some success for sure , but if he stayed around he probably would have found himself in confrontations with Wanderlei , Sakuraba , Henderson , Franklin and Silva , so maybe getting out when he did was smart

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

I haven’t scoured all the comments yet, but Ricardo Arona seemingly walked away from MMA in his prime, supposedly to surf and bang models.

Happiest MMA retirement possible

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Where did he say he retired ?

I saw it on social media about a month back

 

[Clark Rogers]

he had a great KO versus matt lindland as an unknown but he never really did anything before or after that. seems more like people put way too much stock into that win

At this point about all I can remember is him being a frequent "what if" topic 15-20 years ago. I do remember that Lindkand KO now that you mention it.

 

[Wetarmpits]

Obviously Conor.

 

[mister piscadinha]

wow, its rare to find a tennis and an mma fan. do you still watch much tennis these days? since federer retired and the djoker takeover,i stopped following it

the top2 of the newgen are will be playing in ten minutes at the indian wells masters