Winning brings out the joy and emotion in a fighter that is so rarely seen because of that tough exterior you have to show for the cameras. UFC 155 featured the agony and ecstasy, with several stars seeing their stock drop precipitously due to losses and/or poor performances.
While there are winners who tend to look bad in victory, we are going to hold this list strictly to the fighters who failed to garner a win on Saturday night.
The card was built to bring some underrated stars to the forefront, but how many of them were successful? Here are the fighters who left us wanting to see a lot more from them after the event was over.
Junior dos Santos (defeated by Cain Velasquez)
Let me start by saying that I have a newfound respect for dos Santos for at least making it through all five rounds against Velasquez after looking like he wouldn’t even make it out of the first three minutes.
That being said, dos Santos had a chance to make a statement in this fight and was unable to do anything. He has been lauded for having some of the best takedown defense in the heavyweight division, yet Velasquez threw him around like a ragdoll.
There is some thinking that another rematch would be in order, but that doesn’t make sense for Velasquez or the UFC. He was completely and utterly destroyed in this fight; so, we want to throw him back in there with Velasquez again?
That first fight was clearly the aberration—possibly because Velasquez was hurt—not a sign that dos Santos had Velasquez’s number.
Dos Santos may get another title fight in the future, but he has to do a lot to earn it.
Chris Leben (defeated by Derek Brunson)
Leben needed a strong performance after losing two of his previous three fights—his only win came against the artist formerly known as Wanderlei Silva. Instead, he put forth a terrible showing against UFC newcomer Derek Brunson.
Since he is still a popular enough fighter, Leben probably isn’t in any danger of losing his job anytime soon, but he needs to re-evaluate where is at right now and do something to fix it.
UFC president Dana White even took to Twitter to tell the world what he thought about the fight, and it wasn’t good.
Ya that fight was BAD!!!
— Dana White (@danawhite) December 30, 2012
Even though his stock wasn’t very high coming into the event, Leben somehow managed to bring it down to new lows following a poor, lifeless showing against Brunson.
Melvin Guillard (defeated by Jamie Varner)
Melvin Guillard continues to be the most frustrating fighter in the world, though perhaps it is my fault for still having some semblance of expectation when he steps into the Octagon.
I admit I am a sucker for big hitters with a knockout punch, which Guillard definitely has. The problem is, he has never tried to evolve as a fighter. He can only do that one thing, and when an opponent can prevent him from doing it, he is lost.
Varner wasn’t necessarily overwhelming Guillard in this fight, but he just did too many things that Guillard had no answer for. On top of all that, Guillard had extra time to prepare for this fight since it was supposed to take place two weeks ago, before Varner went down with an illness.
Guillard has now lost four of his last five fights, three of them coming via finish (two submissions, one knockout). He needs to adjust in a hurry if he wants to keep his spot in UFC.
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