With competition for places on the roster being so fiercely contested there’s no substitute for winning in the UFC, and as such it’s every fighters worst nightmare to find themselves trapped in the midst of a losing streak they just can’t seem to break out of. Every defeat brings a greater likelihood that their next
With competition for places on the roster being so fiercely contested there’s no substitute for winning in the UFC, and as such it’s every fighters worst nightmare to find themselves trapped in the midst of a losing streak they just can’t seem to break out of.
Every defeat brings a greater likelihood that their next fight could be their last in the Octagon, bringing even more pressure, anxiety and self-doubt that only seeks to further compound the problem.
For some fighters back-to-back defeats is all it takes before they are unceremoniously shown the exit door, but for one reason or another, some are cut a little more slack, which at first might seem like a blessing, but can often prove to be something of a curse as they dig themselves into an even deeper hole on the sports biggest stage.
It’s those unfortunate fighters that are the focus of this article as we count down the worst losing streaks ever recorded inside the UFC’s Octagon.
10. Gray Maynard – 4 losses in a row
Truth be told there’s a number of fighters who have suffered four-fight losing streaks in the UFC over the years, but Gray Maynard makes it onto this list due to the fact his slump came in the midst of a six-year spell in which he would register just two wins in nine Octagon outings.
A former two-time challenger for the lightweight belt, Maynard entered into another title eliminator with TJ Grant in 2013 having only lost once in his previous 14 bouts, but surprisingly was TKO’d barely two minutes into the fight.
Worrying signs that Maynard’s chin was deserting him then emerged when he was also TKO’d in the first round by Nate Diaz, and then Ross Pearson also finished him with strikes.
A further loss to the unheralded Alexander Yakovlev took his losing streak to four fights, but Maynard resisted talk of retiring and instead took over a year out before dropping down to the featherweight division.
He then briefly broke his losing streak with a win over the unheralded Francisco Bruno, but a loss to Ryan Hall since then leaves the 37-year-old’s fighting future in doubt again.
Last night, Bellator 119 was held at Casino Rama in Orillia, a sleepy town about two hours north of Toronto. By some standards, the show was a success—it featured performances by a talented, well-matched card punctuated with Daniel Weichel (33-8) finishing Desmond Green (11-2) via rear naked choke in the second round of the featherweight tournament finale. It was the type of mid-level show that has proved financially sustainable in the gritty dog-eat-dog world of MMA promotions. Regardless of sweeping reports from Sherdog.com and MMAFighting.com that Eddie Alvarez is pulling out of the inaugural Bellator pay-per-view show next week (reports that Bjorn Rebney denied at the post-fight presser), the promotion’soverall prospects for expansion are limited.
On the undercard of Bellator 119, Brazilian featherweight Marlon Sandro faced London, Ontario native Chris Horodecki. Sandro controlled the pace, committing to his strikes and dominating Horodecki to earn the judge’s decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27). At the post-fight presser, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney explained reasons why the bout was intentionally hidden among the untelevised preliminary bouts:
“Ran into some difficult contract situations that came to light in the last 24-48 hours before the fight…we all felt it was a better decision to keep the [Sandro-Horodecki] fight off TV and not exacerbate a bad situation,” said Rebney. “We got a lot of claims coming in from other camps that were claiming an interest in Chris Horodecki. We didn’t want to put him in a horrible spot of receiving a big lawsuit.”
Chris Horodecki has fought in three separate promotions since his last three-fight Bellator stint. If he is still under contract to another promotion, Horodecki needs to question his management for placing him in the precarious lose-lose position of limited exposure and shortchanging Bellator’s TV product.
Last night, Bellator 119 was held at Casino Rama in Orillia, a sleepy town about two hours north of Toronto. By some standards, the show was a success—it featured performances by a talented, well-matched card punctuated with Daniel Weichel (33-8) finishing Desmond Green (11-2) via rear naked choke in the second round of the featherweight tournament finale. It was the type of mid-level show that has proved financially sustainable in the gritty dog-eat-dog world of MMA promotions. Regardless of sweeping reports from Sherdog.com and MMAFighting.com that Eddie Alvarez is pulling out of the inaugural Bellator pay-per-view show next week (reports that Bjorn Rebney denied at the post-fight presser), the promotion’s overall prospects for expansion are limited.
On the undercard of Bellator 119, Brazilian featherweight Marlon Sandro faced London, Ontario native Chris Horodecki. Sandro controlled the pace, committing to his strikes and dominating Horodecki to earn the judge’s decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27). At the post-fight presser, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney explained reasons why the bout was intentionally hidden among the untelevised preliminary bouts:
“Ran into some difficult contract situations that came to light in the last 24-48 hours before the fight…we all felt it was a better decision to keep the [Sandro-Horodecki] fight off TV and not exacerbate a bad situation,” said Rebney. “We got a lot of claims coming in from other camps that were claiming an interest in Chris Horodecki. We didn’t want to put him in a horrible spot of receiving a big lawsuit.”
Chris Horodecki has fought in three separate promotions since his last three-fight Bellator stint. If he is still under contract to another promotion, Horodecki needs to question his management for placing him in the precarious lose-lose position of limited exposure and shortchanging Bellator’s TV product.
Heavyweights Raphael Butler and Nick Rossborough started with a bang and finished with both men out of gas. Butler intentionally fouled Rossborough with a head butt in the first round when Rossborough had Butler’s back. The ref took a point and restarted them on the feet; Butler took control from there onwards, clearly winning the final two rounds. After the fight, Rossborough claimed to have no memory of what transpired after the head butt; the judges scored the fight 28-27, 28-28 and 28-28 making it a majority draw.
In the other televised bouts, Marius Zaromskis low-kicked Canadian Vaughn Anderson’s leg into hamburger en route to a decision win; Canadian John Alessio used his veteran experience to outwrestle Eric Wisely and grind out a decision win.
For all the skill on display, Bellator has a ceiling in terms of how successful the promotion can become as its homegrown talent is handicapped in terms of perception and marketability. For instance, the May 17 pay per view relies heavily on UFC veterans Quinton Jackson and Tito Ortiz. If Eddie Alvarez fulfills the final fight on his Bellator contract when he recovers from his concussion and is signed to the UFC, he may prove himself equally skilled or superior to UFC lightweights; Bellator would win a moral victory but that wouldn’t necessarily translate into higher viewership for Bellator lightweights like Michael Chandler.
To become a player in the pay per view market, Bellator needs to sign UFC stars at the zenith of their popularity like Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey or Nick Diaz. Assuming Viacom would pony up the scratch, standard contractual language like the 12-month matching clause poses a tremendous problem. When Bellator attempted to acquire Gilbert Melendez, all the UFC had to do was outbid Bellator once and Melendez became UFC property once again.
“God bless Gilbert Melendez, we made him a very rich man,” claimed Rebney. “We made him an offer. The matching clause is in place, he is now the highest paid lightweight the UFC has—[and] one of the highest paid fighters the UFC has fighting in any division.”
Strategically, the UFC will continue to sign its marquee fighters to long-term contracts and match any offers made to their most marketable fighters in order to retain the dominant market position.
Still, Rebney is optimistic about Bellator’s offerings for its first pay per view show, “I think people need to look at it in the context of a fighting event, and not think about branding.”
In fact, the strength of the UFC brand is part of why the promotion remains content to offer an increasingly watered-down product with an escalating frequency of shows. However, some fans are getting wise to the game and are becoming increasingly critical; the UFC has no reason to change unless said fans vote with their pocketbooks.
If Bellator gets its first PPV card off the ground despite Alvarez’s injury and somehow manages to land near the break-even point, future shows will have to be cobbled together using a mix of former UFC fighters and homegrown talent. Throughout this, Bellator will need to stop the UFC from poaching their brightest stars, as was the strategy when Eddie Alvarez attempted to sign with the UFC and Bellator invoked their right to match the offer.
All in all, there’s a lot to be considered for the long-term health of the sport. Having a second major promotion would benefit the industry in every way imaginable, but whether Bellator can survive business forces long enough to be a contender remains a topic for debate.
Bellator’s 101st show is over…and the majority of MMA fans are probably still unaware that Bellator has entered the triple digits, sadly. But CagePotato will always have you covered with Bellator recaps and highlights.
The main takeaway from the prelims was highly-regarded Polish prospect Marcin Held running through Ryan Healy worse than Khabib Nurmagomedov ran through Ryan’s brother Pat Healy back at UFC 165. I guess the Healy brothers have a weakness against fighters from Eastern Europe or something.
To start off the main card — which featured the Season 9 Lightweight Tournament Quarterfinals — Saad Awad submitted an overmatched Martin Stapleton. In the next fight, long-time veteran John Alessio faced up-and-comer Will Brooks. It wasn’t pretty. Brooks dominated the fight from bell to bell. One judge even scored the fight 30-25 in Brooks’ favor. In the last round of the fight, Brooks opened up a nasty gash on Alessio’s cheek. It wasn’t “goat’s vagina” bad, but it was close.
The other UFC vets on the card didn’t fare well. Rich Clementi lost a decision to Ricardo Tirloni, and Marcus Davis lost to Russian prospect Alexander Sarnavskiy by submission. The fight only lasted 1:40, and it still felt like Davis was in there too long. If your hairline is starting to go grey, MMA might not be the best sport for you.
In the night’s main event, the Bellator-sponsored Joe Warren defeated the unheralded Nick Kirk via armbar in a Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal bout. Warren won the fight, but took more punches than were necessary; “defense” might not be in his vocabulary.
Complete results from the event — as well as videos of the Warren/Kirk and Sarnavskiy/Davis fights — are after the jump.
(Spoiler alert: The guys you heard of are the ones who lost).
Bellator’s 101st show is over…and the majority of MMA fans are probably still unaware that Bellator has entered the triple digits, sadly. But CagePotato will always have you covered with Bellator recaps and highlights.
The main takeaway from the prelims was highly-regarded Polish prospect Marcin Held running through Ryan Healy worse than Khabib Nurmagomedov ran through Ryan’s brother Pat Healy back at UFC 165. I guess the Healy brothers have a weakness against fighters from Eastern Europe or something.
To start off the main card — which featured the Season 9 Lightweight Tournament Quarterfinals — Saad Awad submitted an overmatched Martin Stapleton. In the next fight, long-time veteran John Alessio faced up-and-comer Will Brooks. It wasn’t pretty. Brooks dominated the fight from bell to bell. One judge even scored the fight 30-25 in Brooks’ favor. In the last round of the fight, Brooks opened up a nasty gash on Alessio’s cheek. It wasn’t “goat’s vagina” bad, but it was close.
The other UFC vets on the card didn’t fare well. Rich Clementi lost a decision to Ricardo Tirloni, and Marcus Davis lost to Russian prospect Alexander Sarnavskiy by submission. The fight only lasted 1:40, and it still felt like Davis was in there too long. If your hairline is starting to go grey, MMA might not be the best sport for you.
In the night’s main event, the Bellator-sponsored Joe Warren defeated the unheralded Nick Kirk via armbar in a Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal bout. Warren won the fight, but took more punches than were necessary; “defense” might not be in his vocabulary.
Complete results from the event — as well as videos of the Warren/Kirk and Sarnavskiy/Davis fights — are after the jump.
Main Card
Joe Warren def. Nick Kirk via submission (armbar), Round 2
Alexander Sarnavskiy def. Marcus Davis via submission (rear naked choke), Round 1, 1:40
Ricardo Tirloni def. Rich Clementi via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Will Brooks def. John Alessio via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-25)
Saad Awad def. Martin Stapleton via submission (rear naked choke), Round 1, 3:46
Preliminary Card
Nathan Coy def. Andy Uhrich via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Marcin Held def. Ryah Healy via KO (punches), Round 1, 1:12
Dave Vitkay def. Tyson Jeffries via submission (rear naked choke), Round 3, 3:07
Brent Primus def. Scott Thometz via submission (rear naked choke), Round 1, 3:48
Austin Springer def. Zack Skinner via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-28)
Peter Aspenwal def. Jeremiah Riggs via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
(If you think Bellator’s main carders are old, you obviously haven’t checked out their prelims in a while…)
After months of rolling our eyes while trying to make sense of Bellator’s new “sign pretty much anyone the UFC cuts and pray that it boosts our ratings” business model, the ratings for Bellator 99 – the promotion’s first show as The MMA Senior Circuit – are finally in.
Now, how you chose to interpret these numbers depends entirely on who you feel like being cynical towards this afternoon.
(If you think Bellator’s main carders are old, you obviously haven’t checked out their prelims in a while…)
After months of rolling our eyes while trying to make sense of Bellator’s new “sign pretty much anyone the UFC cuts and pray that it boosts our ratings” business model, the ratings for Bellator 99 – the promotion’s first show as The MMA Senior Circuit – are finally in.
Now, how you chose to interpret these numbers depends entirely on who you feel like being cynical towards this afternoon.
– On one hand, you can view the ratings boost as a sign that UFC veterans like Vladimir Matyushenko and Houston Alexander – despite being well past their sell-by dates – can still draw in the casual MMA fans, simply because they’re guys that the casual fans have actually heard of. You can’t have two nobodies headline an event and then act surprised when the casual fans don’t tune in – even if said nobodies are two of the best non-Zuffa middleweights on the planet. Perhaps the same way that signing David Beckham caused casual sports fans to take Major League Soccer seriously, the UFC castoffs will get causal MMA fans to consider Bellator a worthy alternative to the UFC. Make that we as human beings value namerecognition more than talent and potential whatever you will.
– On the other hand, if you only feel like being cynical towards Bellator instead of humanity in general, you can point out that Bellator 99 didn’t have nearly as much competition as Bellator 98 did. Bellator 98 had to compete against NCAA Football and NASCAR (don’t laugh, it’s true) for the casual sports fans’ attention. With that in mind, can we really pin Bellator’s improved ratings on Diego “I once lost to KenFlo you remember that right?” Nunes?
It’ll be interesting to track how guys like Cheick Kongo, John Alessio and Paul Sass move the needle for Bellator, but until then, what do you think affected Bellator’s ratings more?
During the summer, Bellator signed a number of new fighters that will make their promotional debuts during season nine, and we wanted to highlight a few of these hungry young prospects that fans should keep an eye on starting with tonight’s event in Temecula, California.
So, without further ado, here are nine Bellator prospects to watch out for during this coming season of fights.
The first fighter to keep an eye on this season is veteran John Alessio, who has been fighting professionally since 1998. After making his name as a top prospect fighting for SuperBrawl in Hawaii, the UFC fed Alessio to the sharks when, at just 20 years of age, he fought Pat Miletich for the UFC welterweight title. And while Alessio would get tapped out in just 1:43 and leave the UFC immediately afterwards, he returned in 2006 and fought both Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves, losing to both and losing his spot on the roster again. Never perturbed, Alessio then carved out a solid run in the WEC, MFC, Dream, and a few other promotions to get yet another crack in the Octagon in 2012, but after losing to Mark Bocek and Shane Roller — becoming the only fighter in UFC history to go 0-5 — he was cut for good. Bellator then picked him up and he’s been installed as a participant in the season nine lightweight tournament. Winning it, he says, is his destiny.
During the summer, Bellator signed a number of new fighters that will make their promotional debuts during season nine, and we wanted to highlight a few of these hungry young prospects that fans should keep an eye on starting with tonight’s event in Temecula, California.
So, without further ado, here are nine Bellator prospects to watch out for during this coming season of fights.
The first fighter to keep an eye on this season is veteran John Alessio, who has been fighting professionally since 1998. After making his name as a top prospect fighting for SuperBrawl in Hawaii, the UFC fed Alessio to the sharks when, at just 20 years of age, he fought Pat Miletich for the UFC welterweight title. And while Alessio would get tapped out in just 1:43 and leave the UFC immediately afterwards, he returned in 2006 and fought both Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves, losing to both and losing his spot on the roster again. Never perturbed, Alessio then carved out a solid run in the WEC, MFC, Dream, and a few other promotions to get yet another crack in the Octagon in 2012, but after losing to Mark Bocek and Shane Roller — becoming the only fighter in UFC history to go 0-5 — he was cut for good. Bellator then picked him up and he’s been installed as a participant in the season nine lightweight tournament. Winning it, he says, is his destiny.
Another UFC veteran to look out for this season is Paul Sass, the British submission wizard who was picked up by Bellator after two-straight losses in the Octagon, although his 3-2 overall UFC record wasn’t too bad. Sass, in my opinion, was cut far too early by the UFC as he was one of the best submission guys in the entire 155-pound division and seemed to be coming along a bit with his striking. Although Bellator’s lightweight division is very good, I do believe that Sass had it rougher in the UFC’s 155-pound shark tank and so I expect him to pick up some nice undercard wins in Bellator and then maybe get a shot in a future lightweight tournament.
Vladimir Matyushenko, who at 42 years and eight months old is almost the oldest fighter on the Bellator roster, was cut by the UFC earlier this year after a 4-3 second run in the Octagon that culminated with back-to-back stoppage losses to Ryan Bader and Alexander Gustafsson. Not too long after, Bellator reached out to the former IFL light-heavyweight champion and he signed a deal with the promotion. According to Matyushenko, he still has something left in the tank and wants to prove it to both himself and to the fans in the circled Bellator cage tonight at Bellator 99. The Janitor will be making his promotional debut against Houston Alexander, with the winner of the fight getting an immediate shot against Keith Jardine (just kidding about the Jardine part).
As stated above, Alexander recently signed with Bellator after two-straight wins on the regional circuit and the 41-year-old will take on Matyushenko in a battle of two hard hitters who have been knocked out a combined nine times. Something tells me that one of these two men is going to wake up to a doctor’s flashlight – or maybe even both will, for the rare double KO – and, in a fight between two fighters with a combined age of 83, it wouldn’t be surprising if this match marks the end of one or both of these fighters’ careers. Or, maybe they’ll just keep dragging along. Isn’t 40 supposed to be the new 25?
I had no idea until I was looking through the official Bellator roster (forgive me, I don’t do it often) that they recently signed Mighty Mo, who is currently on an eight-fight losing streak in kickboxing, turns 43 next month, and is most fondly remembered in MMA for getting kicked in the groin by Josh Barnett and then getting to return the favor after the fight back in DREAM. Mo, who is just 3-2 in mixed martial arts competition, hasn’t fought in MMA in over three years, and I’m puzzled why Bellator signed him. I guess they were impressed by his knockout of Ruben “Warpath” Villareal back at Dynamite!!! USA in 2007 – his last win in MMA – and think he has the power to cause problems in the Bellator heavyweight division. Truth be told, he can still probably compete with guys like Ron Sparks and Rich Hale, and he could definitely be involved in some sloppy, groin-shot-filled Bellator heavyweight bouts in the near future.
On the next page:A legit featherweight contender, and some big names you love to hate.
(Alessio prays for forgiveness (and another shot) after coming up short in a snoozer against Shane Roller at UFC 148.)
We don’t mean to disrespect a grizzled veteran of the sport like John Alessio, but simply put, if you are shocked to learn that “The Natural” was released from the UFC following an 0-2 stint in the octagon, you are either John Alessio or Lloyd Christmas. Having compiled an 0-5 lifetime record in the promotion, Alessio not only received one of the most undeserved title shots of all time under the Zuffa banner, but will live in CagePotato infamy for his placement amongst the “50 Worst Fighters in UFC History” and “The Ten Most Ironic Nicknames in MMA”. While he might be upset to learn of his placement on one of those lists, the other was more or less just a means of wasting time on our part.
Based purely on comparative success in other promotions, Alessio was/is basically the Canadian version of Jorge Santiago — a man capable of crushing 95% of the fighters he faces outside of the promotion, but one who simply couldn’t put it together under the bright lights — scoring impressive wins over fellow UFC veterans Chris Clements, War Machine, and Sean Pierson among others. Of his five losses, four came by way of unanimous decision, against superior strikers (Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez), superior grapplers (Mark Bocek, Shane Roller) and superior superiors (Pat Militech). In an interview with MMAJunkie, Alessio discussed how his most recent loss to Roller was the hardest to swallow:
I’m super upset. I worked so long and so hard to get back, and the UFC always puts all this pressure on you about being exciting, so I tried to change my style up to be crowd-pleasing. But then I get an opponent in my last fight, where he just chose to hold me down to win the fight, and it’s just depressing that that gets rewarded when all they talk about is exciting fights.
I really thought that I’d be spending more than a couple of months of 2012 in the UFC. I thought I’d get one more shot. I don’t know where I should go or what my options are.
Though we are sure that Alessio will find success wherever he lands, his hope of getting a win in the UFC before he retires is a long shot at best at this point in his career. The 33 year-old Xtreme Couture products record currently stands at 34-16.
A tribute to Alessio’s finest UFC moments is after the jump.
(Alessio prays for forgiveness (and another shot) after coming up short in a snoozer against Shane Roller at UFC 148.)
We don’t mean to disrespect a grizzled veteran of the sport like John Alessio, but simply put, if you are shocked to learn that “The Natural” was released from the UFC following an 0-2 stint in the octagon, you are either John Alessio or Lloyd Christmas. Having compiled an 0-5 lifetime record in the promotion, Alessio not only received one of the most undeserved title shots of all time under the Zuffa banner, but will live in CagePotato infamy for his placement amongst the “50 Worst Fighters in UFC History” and “The Ten Most Ironic Nicknames in MMA”. While he might be upset to learn of his placement on one of those lists, the other was more or less just a means of wasting time on our part.
Based purely on comparative success in other promotions, Alessio was/is basically the Canadian version of Jorge Santiago — a man capable of crushing 95% of the fighters he faces outside of the promotion, but one who simply couldn’t put it together under the bright lights — scoring impressive wins over fellow UFC veterans Chris Clements, War Machine, and Sean Pierson among others. Of his five losses, four came by way of unanimous decision, against superior strikers (Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez), superior grapplers (Mark Bocek, Shane Roller) and superior superiors (Pat Militech). In an interview with MMAJunkie, Alessio discussed how his most recent loss to Roller was the hardest to swallow:
I’m super upset. I worked so long and so hard to get back, and the UFC always puts all this pressure on you about being exciting, so I tried to change my style up to be crowd-pleasing. But then I get an opponent in my last fight, where he just chose to hold me down to win the fight, and it’s just depressing that that gets rewarded when all they talk about is exciting fights.
I really thought that I’d be spending more than a couple of months of 2012 in the UFC. I thought I’d get one more shot. I don’t know where I should go or what my options are.
Though we are sure that Alessio will find success wherever he lands, his hope of getting a win in the UFC before he retires is a long shot at best at this point in his career. The 33 year-old Xtreme Couture products record currently stands at 34-16.
We’ve whipped up a tribute to Alessio’s finest UFC moments and placed them below.
