Fighters whose promising/successful career was totally derailed by one terrible loss?

In MMA?

Not from injuries or surgeries between fights, but just from getting a savage beating and never really recovering?

In boxing, the obvious is Michael Spinks. He was 31 years old, the undisputed LHW champ, 31-0 record, recently took two back-to-back wins over Larry Holmes to ruin Holmes' undefeated record and take a portion of the HW title.

Then Tyson splattered him in 91 seconds and we never saw Spinks in the ring again. Fair play to him, he made his money, was incredibly successful, and retired with one single defeat and his health and wallet intact. But in the span of one fight, he went from top of the tree to out of the game.

Who are some MMA equivalents? :think

Discuss. :good

:hat

 

Ryan Bader might be another, less clear-cut case. He's not as good as Spinks was, but he had a nice run going. Undefeated fighter, TUF winner, some good wins and then he ran into Jon Jones in a "top prospects" battle. Jones handled him so easily that Bader's career went into a tailspin. He rebounded in his next fight by becoming the only guy that Tito could beat in the last six years/nine fights of his career, and he's never looked the same confident guy since.

He might recover and he was never THAT good to begin with, but Jones obliterating him seemed to really shake his confidence - that he went from an undefeated fighter with a lot of hype to a guy who realized for the first time what title level actually was. Since then he's looked more a journeyman than a title contender. :conf

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That's true, he was never really THAT good, but I didn't claim he was. :good

However, he has definitely lost a lot of confidence in himself. In one fight he went from undefeated TUF winner who was one win away from serious title consideration, to seemingly a career gatekeeper. He looked better pre-Jones than post-Jones, he seems somewhat deflated now. I reckon Jones gave him a brutal reality check and deep down, he now knows that he just isn't good enough to wear the gold. Whereas before that fight, he had that confidence in himself and seemed a better fighter because of it. :good

Maybe he just naturally found his level, maybe he was beaten down to it. But confidence is a big thing for a fighter, and suffering a brutal one-sided beating like that, at that stage of his career, was a terrible setback for him.

Anyway, if not Bader, who do you nominate?

:hat

 

Here's a thread on here before the Bader-Jones fight.

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?t=284607&highlight=bader


Jones is clearly the favourite, but the most common consensus is "Great fight!". Bader was considered a live dog and he seemed confident going in. But he visibly broke mentally quite early on in that fight, when he realized how powerful and long Jones is and how easily Jones stuffed his takedowns. I don't think he's gotten that confidence back, and I don't think he ever will. Seems to me like he's gone from thinking about himself as a future champion, to thinking about himself as a solid, respected contender. :conf

:hat

 

Uriah Hall? :yep

:hat