MMA: 10 Fighters Who Fell Flat in Their Return to the Cage

Maybe it was an injury. Maybe it was a dispute with the promotion. Or it could have been one of those infamous semi-permanent retirements.

Regardless of reason, it's not unusual for fighters to take a break from the cage. Sometimes, fighters step back for a period of months or even years.

Mike Swick recently showed that you can go home again. But what about those for whom an extended leave of absence didn't work so well? That's probably the more common outcome, given that fighting inside a cage is not quite akin to riding atop a bike.

These 10 fighters fell flat upon their respective not-so-triumphant returns.

10. Din Thomas

Din Thomas injured his knee while fighting Kenny Florian in 2007, and it directly led to a loss. After a seven-month recovery period, Thomas returned to action against Josh Neer, but was controlled and battered for three rounds and subsequently released from the UFC following the unanimous-decision defeat.

9. Shane Del Rosario

Hard not to feel for the young Shane Del Rosario. In February 2011, the Strikeforce up-and-comer tapped Lavar Johnson to move his record to a perfect 10-0. Not long after, though, he was T-boned by a drunk driver and found himself on the shelf for the next 13 months. 

The heavyweight clearly had some rust on those iron fists of his when he returned to action against Stipe Miocic in May (a fight that doubled as his UFC debut). He lost by TKO in round 2. 

8. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar showed he was at least part human in a 2010 TKO loss to Cain Velasquez that cost him the heavyweight belt. But 14 months later, he was flatter than a three-day-old glass of club soda in a TKO loss to Alistair Overeem that lasted half as long as his tangle with Velasquez and wasn't remotely as competitive. Lesnar retired from MMA immediately afterward.

7. Sean Sherk

After defending the lightweight belt in July 2007, Sherk set a bathroom on fire with his urine stream. His first fight after reinstatement, more than 10 months later, was a tilt with new belt holder B.J. Penn, who almost literally beat him into submission (Sherk couldn't continue after the third round).

6. Mark Kerr

Things already were looking fairly bleak for Mark Kerr's fight career when he took 11 months off to regroup. When he returned, he was knocked out by Muhammed Lawal in 25 seconds.

5. Vitor Belfort

September 19, 2009: Vitor Belfort knocks out Rich Franklin in the first round, earns Knockout of the Night honors in his first UFC fight in more than four years.

February 5, 2011: The Front Kick.

4. Norifumi Yamamoto

A promotional switch and a knee injury meant a year and a half between Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto's victory over Yani Yahya and his return against Joe Warren.

His defeat to Warren was a pretty even affair that Warren took by split decision. But it was a pretty big upset, given that Yamamoto at the time was considered one of the best lighter-weight fighters on the planet. Kid dropped five of six after that.

3. Jason "Mayhem" Miller

Jason Miller was on a two-fight win streak before he hit the UFC. Two fights into his UFC return, though, and he had been spit out the bottom of the promotion.

That's what this kind of flatness will buy you. Miller appeared out of shape, out of breath, and out of options against Michael Bisping, and then again versus C.B. Dollaway. Blech.

2. Pedro Rizzo

After two years away from the sport, Pedro Rizzo, 37, returned to fight Fedor Emelianenko. The comeback lasted a minute and 24 seconds.

1. Frank Mir

Frank Mir probably beat the odds just by stepping back into the cage in the first place. Now the stuff of MMA lore, a 2004 motorcycle accident snapped Mir's femur in two (among other injuries), and ultimately cost Mir the heavyweight title, which he held at the time of the crash.

It would be nearly two years before Mir made his way back to fighting. And when he did, a supposed tune-up fight against Marcio Cruz ended in a first-round knockout loss for Mir. The loss was so bad that at the time it cast doubts on his future as a fighter. 

As we know now, Mir did recover and went on to hold the belt again. But his first fight after that layoff was about as flat as flat can be.

Scott Harris is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report MMA and a contributor to the Caged In MMA blog. Follow him on Twitter @ScottHarrisMMA.