5 most disappointing UFC performances of 2021

Conor McGregor failed to impress with his performance against Dustin Poirier at UFC 257

2021 has been a pretty epic year for the UFC, with a number of classic shows, as well as some tremendous performances from the promotion’s best fighters.

The year has also seen a number of UFC fighters fail to perform to the best of their abilities inside the octagon, leaving fans largely disappointed.

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Some of these disappointing performances can be explained by injuries, nerves or overconfidence, but either way, they were difficult for UFC fans to digest.

With that considered, here are the five most disappointing UFC performances of 2021.

#5. Curtis Blaydes vs. Derrick Lewis – UFC Fight Night 185

Any hopes Curtis Blaydes had of claiming a UFC title shot went up in flames at the hands of Derrick Lewis

Coming into 2021, Curtis Blaydes appeared to be literally inches away from claiming his shot at the UFC heavyweight title.

‘Razor’ was riding a four-fight win streak and had won 10 of his last 11 fights. While his victory over Alexander Volkov in 2020 failed to impress UFC president Dana White, his crushing wins over Junior dos Santos and Shamil Abdurakhimov suggested that he was the most dangerous threat to the winner of the fight between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou.

February’s UFC Fight Night 185 saw Blaydes matched with Derrick Lewis in the headline bout. The feeling was that the winner would probably go onto challenge whoever held the UFC heavyweight title later in 2021.

Given Lewis’s problems with powerful wrestlers such as Daniel Cormier and Blagoy Ivanov in the past, it was widely expected that ‘Razor’ would be able to plant ‘The Black Beast’ on his back and have his way with him. However, Blaydes looked nervous from the off and seemed far too willing to risk standing and striking with Lewis.

He won the first round pretty handily, but early in the second round, he rushed forward and left himself a little too open. Lewis capitalized by completely folding him with a brutal uppercut.

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Any thoughts of a Blaydes title shot quickly evaporated following the loss. He did, however, rebound later in the year with a win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

Essentially, it’s probably fair to suggest Blaydes was unnerved by White’s criticism of him following the Volkov fight and paid the price for attempting to change up his game against a deadly power puncher.