The close of the year inevitably generates a slew of Top 10 lists, and this year all the more so, as it closed the decade. SBNation's John Bois recently put together a list no one wants to be on - The 10 Least Consequential Athletes of the Decade.
One MMA fighters made the list - bantamweight Joseph Sandoval, who went 6-0 before getting into the UFC. Sandoval went 0-2 in the UFC, was released, and went 1-6 thereafter. He hasn't fought since 2016.
Forty-five seconds into his UFC career, Joseph Sandoval got kicked in his penis and balls. It was an accidental low blow from Walel Watson, and things like this just happen from time to time, but the broadcast heaped on an extra indignity. You might wonder why in the world this is captured in slow motion:
Well, during the stoppage, they pulled up a slo-mo replay just so announcers Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg could laugh at him.
ROGAN: A replay, because America loves these. There you go, folks.
GOLDBERG: [laughing] We show it 'cause we can.
ROGAN. Yes. Sit at home on your couch and be happy that's not you.
GOLDBERG: [laughing]
Seconds later, Sandoval took a dozen hammers to the face and was knocked out just over a minute into the fight. He returned to the Octagon in 2012 for a prelim bout against Nick Denis, who threw some devastating elbows at his head and knocked him out in just 22 seconds. That was it for his UFC career.
Typically, entry-level UFC prelim fighters get $10,000 to show up and fight and an additional $10,000 if they win, which is an absurdly low level of compensation. Accounting for the gym fees, training, licensing, nutrition, and everything else a fighter like Sandoval has to pony up for, he quite possibly actually lost money on this venture, essentially paying for the privilege of taking a thrashing in the octagon, getting kicked in the wiener, and being made fun of by the Fear Factor man.
Rather than the absurdly low 10/10 referenced above, Sandoval was at a 6/6, so he made just 12k for his UFC career.