5 Most career-damaging fights in UFC history
It’s a well-known fact that a bad beating in MMA can take years off a fighter’s career.
It’s hardly surprising – MMA is a violent sport and even though some fighters come off as being invincible, years of taking shots to the head catches up with everyone in the end.
Sometimes the gradual decline of a fighter is linked to their training regime – whether its hardcore strength and conditioning that causes injuries or super-hard sparring that practically replicates a full fight and causes damage via repeated concussions.
Other times, you can see a fighter gradually slowing down through their fights until they hit a wall later in their career and just can’t seem to pick up a win. See Nate Marquardt and Roy Nelson for examples of that.
There are examples, however, of a fighter going into one fight seemingly in their prime, and coming away having taken such a beating that they’re arguably never the same again.
Here are five fights that not only took years off the loser’s career, but they arguably damaged the fighter’s career irreparably.
#1 Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck – UFC 124 – 12/11/10
One of the UFC’s biggest PPVs of 2010 was built around the rivalry between Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and his brash challenger, Josh Koscheck. The feud had been built up during the 12th season of TUF when GSP and Koscheck coached against one another.
GSP had kept largely quiet throughout the tapings, even when Koscheck tried desperately to antagonise him, talking non-stop trash and playing pranks like boxing the champ’s car into a parking space. Koscheck at one point was reduced to feuding with GSP’s medic because the Canadian was so focused on coming off as the better man.
When the fight came around, though, it was Koscheck on the receiving end of all the abuse.
The former NCAA champion wrestler had been working on his striking non-stop since losing to GSP in 2007, feeling that he could prevent the Canadian from taking him down and attempt to knock him out on the feet.
The problem for Koscheck was that GSP was by far the better boxer. The Champion caught Koscheck early with a stiff jab and continued to land it throughout the fight, mixing in his right hand for good measure as well. Koscheck’s wild hooks couldn’t compete and by the end of the second round, it was clear Koscheck was badly outmatched.
In fact, it was after the second round that we got the sick visual of Koscheck knocking away an enswell from his right eye as his orbital bone was badly broken. In the end, Koscheck was able to last the distance despite his right eye being useless from the third round onwards.
How the doctor, or Koscheck’s corner, didn’t call a stop to this fight I don’t know – but my guess is that Koscheck probably wishes they had in hindsight. Since the GSP fight, he’s won just twice and has lost a further six times.
In all of those losses a major factor has been the damage his right eye took in the St-Pierre fight – it’s practically a given now that if an opponent lands a shot on it, Koscheck can be seen pawing at it in a panicked way. And this usually leads to him losing the fight shortly after.
People can label St-Pierre a “point-fighter” all they like, but for me, he essentially ended Josh Koscheck’s career with the beating he put on him back in December 2010. The downfall of Koscheck can clearly be traced back to this career-altering fight.