Brian Bowles is inching closer to the end of the road—the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel of a career which, looking back, never really lived up to expectations. And after UFC 160 last Saturday night, the end of that career can’t be far off.
The former WEC Bantamweight Champion may disagree with me. He likely still has a few fights left in him. Maybe he can even keep his career rolling for another few years, but I doubt it.
I also doubt that he will ever battle for contention again. I doubt he ever breaks back into the division’s top 10. I even have my doubts as to whether or not he will ever win another fight in the UFC.
It’s not Bowles‘ fault, at least not entirely. He’s struggled with constant injuries and he isn’t getting any younger.
At 32 years of age, Bowles is well past his prime. We saw that against George Roop, an inconsistent bantamweight with a less-than-flattering 14-9 professional record—he put Bowles away in the second round with a TKO last Saturday.
We saw it against Urijah Faber at UFC 139 back in 2011, when Bowles failed to even reach the midpoint of the fight. And we even saw early glimpses of it in March of 2010 when Bowles lost his WEC title to Dominick Cruz after failing to continue following a hand injury in the early rounds.
Somewhere in between the handful of losses—two of which came against two of the best bantamweights to ever fight—sit a couple of victories. Following the loss to Cruz, Bowles burst onto the UFC scene with back-to-back wins. It seemed the former champion was primed for a return to the elite tier of the division—the tier featuring Cruz, Faber, Renan Barao, and the like.
Unfortunately, injuries and disinterest helped ensure that a return to the top would never happen.
Last weekend’s event marked the first time since November of 2011 that Bowles set foot in the cage.
On an episode of The MMA Hour on MMAFighting.com leading up to UFC 160, Bowles revealed that he broke his hand on three occasions, contracted a staph infection, was diagnosed with a pair of bulging discs and a pair of degenerative discs, and struggled with knee issues. According to that same piece, Bowles also struggled to find a desire to train and compete, stating that “it wasn’t fun to me anymore.”
Given the combination of dispassion for training and proneness to injury, it’s hardly surprising Bowles finds himself in such a predicament.
In 2011, he was undoubtedly a top five bantamweight. Now? He’s out of the top 10 official UFC rankings, barely makes my top 15, and has shown no signs of a potential upswing in the near future.
The Roop fight was a chance for him to rebound back into the top 10, and I thought he would bludgeon his way back up the ranks. After all, he effortlessly put away an overmatched Damacio Page (no longer with the UFC) and earned a decision over Takeya Mizugaki. One of those guys is a decent bantamweight.
After the Roop fight, however, it’s fairly clear that not only is Bowles unable to compete with the division’s elite, the Georgia native is going to struggle against average bantamweights.
Quite the fall for a guy who once wore the 135-pound crown.
Still, it’s hard to say that Bowles never realized his potential in the bantamweight division considering he won a title in the WEC. However, with all the vicious knockouts and slick submissions—only one of his 10 victories came by way of decision—he owns just one quality win, his knockout victory against Miguel Torres back in 2009 to win the WEC bantamweight title.
Since then, he’s 2-3 with all three losses coming by way of stoppage. One of his wins is against a fighter who went 0-for-3 in the UFC, the other against an average bantamweight. He can’t stay healthy, as the aforementioned list attests. He seems to struggle in the search for motivation, and it’s showing in his fight results. If he loses his next fight, he almost certainly will be released. Oh, he’s also 32 years old.
Bowles may disagree, but that sounds like retirement knocking.
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