who is the most wasted talent in mma history?

[mister piscadinha]

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.

legend says "the tiger" is still riding those legendary niteroi waves

 

[dipstickjimmy]

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

He never fought Sandhagen. Aljo maybe a bit larger but Merab? Taller doesn't simply mean bigger. Talked about fighting Max (In a no lose situation for Herny) is not = fighting them. If that were the Case Colby & Khamzat would be Intergalactic champions. When Henry has been gifted the Fly W belt and then got the BW belt he called out Aldo & then fought Cruz. Didn't occur to him that he should fight Yan or Aljo or Sandhagen at the time. He ran rather than fighting actual #1 contenders. Never defended against any actual #1 contender when he had 2 belts. Henry is not remotely a "Badass, Anytime, Any weight" kind of fighter.

 

[sonofjay817]

Funny post. I laughed, but still, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say I have mad respect for Punk risking so much to challenge himself. If anyone deserves ridicule, its the UFC for that shitshow.

 

[Royce's Gi]

Questionable supplements aside. I'd go with Sean Sherk. Had they had the smaller weight classes like today he might be in the GOAT discussion. He was always fighting larger opponents..

He was a Muscle Shark!

 

[WokeWarrior]

URIAH HALL OMG IT HURTS THINKING WHAT HE COULD OF BEEN
Hector lombard
Nick Diaz
Kevin Lee
BJ Penn
Jake shields
Cody Garbrant
Tyron Woodley
rory mcdonald
Yoel
Alistar
Brock
Rampage
Anthony rumble johnson
Henry

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Considering how early BJ Penn started and how talent he was, Penn squandered all that time he had.

 

[orca]

bj penns record is like 50 wins 50 losses

theres no such thing as what if he trained hard
obviously he trained hard but he was beaten because the other fighter
was just better than him

cain velasquez because of his brutal training

maybe if the man didnt train brutaly he wouldnt be this savage fighter we knew

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Aleks E is up there. He had his brothers speed but with more height and reach.

 

[Paladin]

Ryan hall takes 1 fight every 3 years

 

[Streeter]

Khabib

 

[KungFuFoo]

even with all his success, its jon jones. he missed out on years of headlining PPVS, and that is wasted talent.

 

[HUNTERMANIA]

Paulo Filho is probably the biggest one. That guy was incredible and then all of a sudden he's fighting ghosts against Chael.

BJ Penn - I felt like he could have been even greater than he was. Frankie isn't a better fighter than him but somehow got 2 wins - hate it.

 

[PeterGriffin]

I know it might seem odd, but the two most notable ones for me are Jones and Conor. They were both their own worst enemy. I get that one is considered a GOAT and the other the most financially successful one, but they are both absolute trainwrecks.

Had they approached their careers more like GSP had, without the Dana haterade of course, , their bank accounts would be 2-3 times what they are now and their records would be markedly improved. The long layoffs, and character fuck ups really held them back. They both would have had the clout to really force the UFC's hands if they wanted and be a real advocate for fairness for the fighters.

Had Nick Diaz taken his fighting career more seriously, he could have been a fan favourite for years and years. Not on the same level as Jones and Conor as far as squandered talent goes, but up there.

Shane Carwin also comes to mind.

 

[blaseblase]

Gregor Gillespie spent the last 3 years not fighting, complete waste of talent.

 

[NoSmilez]

Kevin Lee

 

[GordonMMARamsey]

URIAH HALL OMG IT HURTS THINKING WHAT HE COULD OF BEEN
Hector lombard
Nick Diaz
Kevin Lee
BJ Penn
Jake shields
Cody Garbrant
Tyron Woodley
rory mcdonald
Yoel
Alistar
Brock
Rampage
Anthony rumble johnson
Henry

"Who is the most wasted talent in MMA"

Proceeds to list multiple former champions.

 

[michhmoggan]

Ngannou who started mma at 40

 

[jeskola]

 

[filthybliss]

Indeed sir and I was lucky enough to attend couple of Pride events whilst living in Japan

thats awesome....whatta time to be alive, i guess this what people mean when they say that "dad lore" goes crazy...have a good rest of your week

 

[filthybliss]

Khabib

meh, his short career gives critics less space to poke holes at