Roy Nelson and 3 UFC Fighters Who've Lost a Lot of Steam Lately

Only a handful of UFC fighters are capable of putting impressive streaks together, stringing win after win along as they make their trek toward the top of the divisional mountain. 

But even the best fighters in all of the land watch their impressive streaks come to an end.

Anderson Silva was caught with his hands down against Chris Weidman at UFC 162 as we all saw his impeccable 17-fight win streak come to a screeching halt. Brock Lesnar was overwhelmed by a game Cain Velasquez as we saw his impressive rise to stardom come tumbling back down to reality at UFC 121. Lyoto Machida was clipped by an aggressive Mauricio "Shogun" Rua before most of us could even finish uttering "The Machida Era" after his 16-fight undefeated streak. 

Even the great Fedor Emelianenko saw his great reign come to an end, proving he could no longer outmuscle a strong grappler in Fabricio Werdum, outmaneuver a bigger fighter in Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva or absorb the crushing blows of a heavy-handed Dan Henderson.

What goes up must come down; it's the way nature intended. 

Scroll on to see which fighters have seen their recent success come to a halt, losing much of their steam in the process.

Roy Nelson

USA TODAY Sports

When Roy Nelson fights, somebody falls. When Roy Nelson fights, you watch. It's a pretty simple formula, really. 

It's a formula he followed to perfection at UFC Fight Night 39 in his main event bout with Minotauro Nogueira. We all knew the knockout was coming; it was just a matter of figuring out how many first-round minutes Nogueira was destined to last.

He managed to follow that same formula in his ensuing bout with Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 52, but this time he was the one laying stiff on the mat while his opponent was reaching for the stars in victory.

This leaves Nelson with a mere two victories in his last five appearances and about as far from the throne as any heavyweight fighter can get. But, as we all know, that isn't too far at all. 

Gunnar Nelson

ANDERS WIKLUND/Associated Press

Unlike his Irish training partner, Gunnar Nelson wasn't able to back up all of the hype in his main event debut in Stockholm at UFC Fight Night 53 against Rick Story.

Many, including myself, believed Nelson to be the next big thing at 170 pounds. He wasn't necessarily supposed to be the second coming of Georges St-Pierre, but he was supposed to keep impressing us for the foreseeable future against the cream of the crop at welterweight.

He didn't.

In hindsight, it makes a lot of sense. Nelson stepped in the cage and immediately felt the sort of pressure that Story's able to give off when motivated enough. Story moved forward and Nelson had no answer.

With 13 straight wins to start his career against lesser opponents, it's easy to see why we all bought into the hype that Nelson's performances were building. He had the type of elusive striking that reminded us of Lyoto Machida. He had the type of submission-oriented grappling that made us think he could go far. 

But at a mere 26 years old, Nelson's future success isn't ultimately hinged upon the success he's having today—he still has plenty of time for success tomorrow. 

Eddie Alvarez

Associated Press

Few other fighters have entered the Octagon with the sort of hype Eddie Alvarez built outside of it. 

Spending the majority of his athletic prime fighting under the Bellator banner, avid MMA fans couldn't wait to see Alvarez trade Michael C. Williams for Bruce Buffer. After a few years of battling to get inside of the UFC cage, Alvarez was finally allowed to make the switch. We would finally be able to discern just how high of a ceiling the Philadelphia native had.

As it turns out, it's about "Donald Cerrone" high, and it only took two dominant rounds and a near finish to prove it. 

Alvarez has always been the sort of fighter to thrive off of the early damage inflicted upon him to get himself into gear toward the end of the fight. Problem is, that strategy won't work against fighters who don't get tired or make too many mistakes like Cerrone. 

There's no reason to discredit Alvarez after one Octagon appearance. It's likely that the UFC jitters, coupled with fighting the hottest lightweight fighter on the planet, played a predominant role in his demise.

Renan Barao

USA TODAY Sports

Talk about a "What have you done for me lately?" mentality for Renan Barao.

It wasn't too long ago that UFC president Dana White was touting Barao as the second-best, if not the absolute best, pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He said at the UFC Fight Night 40 media scrum:

"

I'm a big Renan Barao fan. What don't you love about Renan Barao? He finishes and he wrecks people. I still go back and forth with the 'Jon Jones, Renan Barao' thing. I still, without a doubt, think Renan Barao is the No. 2-ranked (pound-for-pound fighter). After Jones' last performance, he looked so damn good. And he just buzz-sawed through all the big names at 205. Even before that I was calling Barao the No. 1 pound-for-pound (fighter), but he is without a doubt the No. 2 pound-for-pound guy in the world. He goes in there, and no matter who he faces, he goes in there to finish them. I love guys that go in to annihilate people, and that's what he does.

"

But then he ran into T.J. Dillashaw. He wasn't able to finish or annihilate Dillashaw. Not even close.

Dillashaw's victory put an end to all of the pound-for-pound conversations White was trying to ram down everybody's throat. Barao's weight-cutting mishap ripped him clean away from White's good graces. No longer was he the undisputed bantamweight champion; he wasn't even the next title contender. 

Perhaps the pressure became too much. Perhaps Dillashaw was just too much. Either way, you can't discount Barao from the bantamweight title picture after the dominance he demonstrated with the belt around his waist. 

Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University's student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.