5 UFC fighters who suffered horrific runs in 2021
A year can make a huge difference in a fighter’s career, especially in the UFC. The level of competition in the world’s premier MMA organization is extremely high. If a fighter chooses to rest on his/her laurels, bad things tend to happen.
UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping enjoyed the best year of his career in 2016. The Brit defeated Anderson Silva in London in February, won the undisputed middleweight title in June with a win over bitter rival Luke Rockhold and defended his title against Dan Henderson in his hometown of Manchester in October.
2017, however, turned out to be the last year of the Englishman’s MMA career. He lost his title to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 and took on Kelvin Gastelum just three weeks later. He got knocked out and finally called it quits.
.@GeorgesStPierre chokes out @Bisping to win middleweight #UFC title bbc.in/2Aj0PLE #UFC217 @ufc https://t.co/SZsZ0zFYfB
Losses aren’t quite as big a deal in MMA as they are in boxing. However, a string of disappointing performances might see a fighter drop out of title contention, the rankings, or even the promotion altogether.
That said, we thought we’d look at 5 UFC fighters who suffered horrific runs in 2021.
#5. Stephen Thompson (0-2 in the UFC in 2021, drifting further away from title contention)
Stephen Thompson endured a disappointing run of results in 2021. The former two-time title challenger has been among the top 5 fighters in the UFC welterweight division for over half a decade. It now appears as though his relatively advanced age is finally catching up to him.
Thompson was campaigning for a title shot following his dominant victory over Geoff Neal in December 2020. He was subsequently booked to take on Gilbert Burns at UFC 264 back in July. Unfortunately for ‘Wonderboy’, he was on the receiving end of a wrestling clinic by Burns, who cruised to a comfortable unanimous decision victory.
Burns bounces back! 🇧🇷
Durinho found the answer to stopping Wonderboy in the #UFC264 co-main.
What next? https://t.co/mlY9IfqfRo
Thompson attempted to bounce back and return to winning ways against Belal Muhammad at UFC Vegas 45. Muhammad came out on top, using more-or-less the exact same gameplan that Gilbert Burns used five months prior. He took Thompson down repeatedly in all three rounds to come away with a unanimous decision victory.
He took to social media to share his disappointment at his own performances soon after the loss to Muhammad.
‘Wonderboy’ had displayed impeccable takedown defense on numerous occasions before his fights with Burns and Muhammad. At 38, he appears to have lost a step and his opponents are figuring out how to deal with his elusive style. Going into 2022, Thompson is the furthest he’s been from a title shot since 2014.