I don’t believe competitors in any other sport are as naked as the ones in MMA. They’re exposed to everyone in there, locked in a cage with just one other guy. No teammates. No uniform. No equipment. Just your body and your mind.
That might be part of what makes it such a sad event when a fighter falls from the edge of that knife blade on which all the elites are precariously balanced. You’ve got no one to blame but yourself. Nowhere to look but the mirror. Nowhere to hide but nowhere.
These are the 13 most heartbreaking career collapses in the history of MMA. And let’s be clear: I’m not talking about guys who didn’t live up to the hype, or just got old and lost their fastball, as all athletes inevitably do. These are guys who, for various reasons, had proven track records of success but stumbled and fell, repeatedly and spectacularly, before their time. Pinballing down the side of the sinking Titanic to be swallowed up by the icy, unforgiving Atlantic.
So yeah! Please enjoy.