MMA underachievers...

HW:
Andrei Arlovski -- one of the most gifted athletes in the division. Good size, and skill, but just isn't the winner that people thought he would be.

Gabriel Gonzaga -- he seems like he should be Big Nog 2.0, but he's not.

Sergei Kharitonov -- I've seen flashes of brilliance, but inconsistent.

LHW:
Rameau Sokoudjou -- ridiculous talent, but never shows up to fight.

Brandon Vera -- has really bad luck with decisions so I'm not sure if I should punish him, but just doesn't get wins.

Ricardo Arona -- doesn't fight often enough for as talented as he is.

MW:
Thales Leites -- what happened to the guy that beat Marquardt?

Denis Kang -- looked like the franchise player for Pride's MWs. Not so hot anymore.

Kendall Grove -- has natural gifts that should make him way better than he is.

WW:
Jason High -- seems like a freak, but can't deliver.

Brad Blackburn -- another guy that looks like he should be way better.

Tamden McCrory -- maybe not a huge underachiever, but has lost some fights that I expected him to win and maybe even dominate.

LW:
BJ Penn -- has so much natural talent, but gasses too easy.

Takanori Gomi -- one of the few LWs with KO power. Great talent, but can be submitted at will.

Gleison Tibau -- should be more difficult to beat with his size.

Some of these guys on this list are over-achievers, like Kendall Grove. Others are already legends with dominant title legacys like Gomi, Penn and AA. You ouch yo mind.

Mikey Burnett couldve gone down as one of the best welters ever but didnt cause of the Miletich bullshit

Why not put Joachem Hansen, Fabricio Werdum, and Luigi Fioravante down instead of BJ Penn, Takanori Gomi, and Andrei Arlovski.

Werdum? Why?

Because Dos Santos KO'd him once I guess? Nevermind the fact he is fighting Fedor this month.

I think Penn is the perfect underacheiver. Yes, he's a legend, but every 5 fights he delivers a head scratcher. While other p4p great continue to steam fwd, his greatness spits and sputters.

Though Sokoudjou is probably a better example, why can't that guy develop any cardio?

He's being fed to Fedor, there is a difference. Werdum has never fought for nor won a title in MMA to date. This guy has the ground game to destroy most ther heavyweights in the world barring maybe two and yet he never seemed to be able to develop an even average striking game to compliment it. As skilled as he is he fits the definition of an under achiever.

BJ Penn? I don't know where your getting this concept of every five fights he throws out a head scratcher. Dude has 22 Pro fights and of those he's been in a title fight 10 times. He has wins over guys like Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver, Caol Uno, Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and two Gracies. His only losses coming to GSP twice(really no shame there), Matt Hughes(again, no shame), Jens Pulver by five round decision(unheard of at the time), Lyoto Machida(who at the time was fighting at Heavyweight), and Frankie Edgar in a razor thin decision.

As far as the comparison between BJ Penn and other P4P greats, think on this a little bit. While GSP and Anderson haven't finished a title fight in the last two years(or more) BJ Penn was finishing Joe Stevenson, Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian, and Diego Sanchez in devastating fashion.

Obviously no shame in losing to GSP, but he dominated Georgie in the that 1st rnd in that first fight, then looked to gas and lost, the 2nd fight he was totally unprepared. While Georgie was preparing for a superfight, Penn was chilling out in a hot tub.

And controversial decision or not, no one picked Edgar to win that fight, Penn was expected to dominate. He lost. The top 3 p4p guys were not out losing fights. Sure Penn crushes guys, totally outclasses them when he comes in ready to go, which makes a fight like the edgar fight all the more frustrating

The draw vs Uno was another fight where I thought Penn was in cruise control.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Some of these guys on this list are over-achievers, like Kendall Grove. Others are already legends with dominant title legacys like Gomi, Penn and AA. You ouch yo mind.

Ha! So you're telling me that we see the best AA, Gomi and BJ with each outing? Come on. Legends, yes [I'm not sure about AA], but still underachieving.

Grove is a 6'5" MW with a good wrestling background and reach that no one should be able to deal with in that division. Whenever he wins, the storyline is that he got in the gym for this one because he knew he would be canned if he lost. He is not an overachiever, even though Herman was expected to win TUF that season. He is probably another underachiever.

Just because we don't see the "best fighter" out of these guys every time they fight doesn't make them under achievers. We don't know the underlying issues with a particular performance to throw that label around. These guys fight sick, injured, on short notice, etc etc etc. Under achiever is a label I reserve for guys who were supposed to be the next big thing and turn out to be a flop. Champions don't fit that description.

I am forgetting the dudes name but he was all the rage for like 2 fights untill Tanner beat him bad.

he is a gracie fighter. David or thompson come to mind

David Terrell. Its a shame back injuries fucked his career because he could've been a pretty damn good fighter. Still remember him making his debut hyped a BJJ phenom and then he knocked Lindland out cold in like 15 seconds

This thread fails. Two of the top three LWs all time are underachievers? Wow.

MMA overachievers - Forrest Griffin, Keith Jardine, Matt Serra, Tim Sylvia, Mark Kerr, Steve Jennum

I was going to do an overachievers list too. You beat me to it with the first three. Not so sure about the others.

As for my critique of Penn and Gomi, as great as they have been, I feel like they could be better. Everyone saw Penn's preparation or lack thereof against GSP. He's doughy in prep for most of his fights -- you know he's not giving it 110% training. And with the way Gomi gasses in every fight and gets submitted regularly now, I can say the same about him.