Just as the title implies, I'm wondering if we can think of some up-and-coming fighters who were "gatekept" by the veterans of MMA, and whose careers were most impacted by the loss? This is in no way meant as a slight or in any way disrespectful to "journeymen" or older fighters, it's more a nod to their craftiness and ability to win against young potential contenders, even after all the wars and mileage they've put on their bodies.
The fight that inspired me to create this thread was Cowboy vs. Alex Hernandez. Hernandez seemed to have a lot of star potential; was riding an impressive winstreak and putting together a nice highlight reel, good looking dude, talking a lot of shit whenever there's a mic around, and generally trying to mimmick what all the big names of the last 5 years have been doing.
Then cowboy threw a perfectly-timed right head kick that sent Hernandez' equilibrium into orbit and sent him breakdancing across the octagon. In the year and a half since, Hernandez has had one fight, a decent but forgettable decision win over Francisco Trinaldo that really did nothing to get anybody back on the Hernandez hype train. He has a huge opportunity to bounce back with an impressive win over Makhachev on the Khabib/Tony card (if it happens *pleasepleaseplease*), but as of this moment it's hard for me not to think of him as "the guy who got embarrassingly humbled by Cowboy". He could always bounce back and could be considered a contender again, but it's hard to deny the damage the Cowboy loss has done to his career and to his potential "star power".
So who else is coming to mind as a similar case when you read this? Yair vs Frankie Edgar? Arron Pico vs Henry Corrales? Maycee Barber vs Modafferi? Whether they bounced back or not, let's think of some promising fighters who got stopped at the gates early in their careers!
Todd Duffee KO loss to Mike Russo. Mike flash KO’d Duffee who was demolishing him. In the post fight interview he apologised for his performance. He knew he shouldn’t have won that fight!
AT THE TIME...Robbie Lawler getting KOed by Nick Diaz. Diaz had an unremarkable run in the UFC and Lawler had been on FS1 and was being pushed as the next big thing. Now we all know that both are great.
Mirko Cro Cop getting beat by Gonzaga. Gonzaga got demolished by Couture in the title fight and was never a serious threat again.
fightsfan - EVAN TANNER beatdown of DAVID TERRELL and Terrell was never the same....
I remember ROGAN saying " Dave Terrell is on the bottom getting pounded and wow he really doesnt want to be here …
Terell was hyped to be the next HUGE thing.
I remember all the talk about his grappling credentials and how people said his striking was being worked on but his grappling would eaily cover the problem until he could be a top level striker with training.
Tanner took that and shoved his fist right into that lie.
fightsfan - EVAN TANNER beatdown of DAVID TERRELL and Terrell was never the same....
I remember ROGAN saying " Dave Terrell is on the bottom getting pounded and wow he really doesnt want to be here …
probably hard for younger people now to understand the hype and talent of terrell. Coming off a crazy flying knee bar submission of Almeida at ADCC and a 30 second knockout of lindland in his first UFC fight. was hyped enough to get a UFC title shot after 24 seconds of action in the UFC. He was actually unscored upon in his no-gi grappling career. He had lost matches but only by advantage. I kept waiting for him to get up or sweep or throw on a submission. And as quick as he arrived he was gone.
fightsfan - EVAN TANNER beatdown of DAVID TERRELL and Terrell was never the same....
I remember ROGAN saying " Dave Terrell is on the bottom getting pounded and wow he really doesnt want to be here …
Terell was hyped to be the next HUGE thing.
I remember all the talk about his grappling credentials and how people said his striking was being worked on but his grappling would eaily cover the problem until he could be a top level striker with training.
Tanner took that and shoved his fist right into that lie.
did Terrell ever fight again after the loss to Tanner? If so, how did he do?