MMA in 2014: 10 Stars Who Faded
In MMA, a fighter can go from the top of the world to the bottom of the barrel in a split second. One hard punch, and that's it. So when looking at an individual fighter and how things have gone for them over the course of a long, difficult 12 month span...things can go from bad to worse to terrible.
That in mind, the snapshot of MMA, from a competitive, coaching and promotional standpoint, is radically different now than it was a year ago.
So, in an already-ugly 2014, who wound up taking the biggest hits? Whose stock dipped the lowest? Whose stardom has faded the most?
Click on to find out.
Michael Chandler
1 of 10
Michael Chandler established himself as one of the best fighters outside the UFC, and possibly one of the best lightweights in the world, by taking Bellator's lightweight belt and clearing out its 155-pound division. In 2013, after two years of utter dominance, Chandler was thrown into an awkward, tournament-less rematch with the promotion's original star, Eddie Alvarez.
Chandler would come out on the wrong end of a controversial split decision, but the questionable nature of the loss (and some weird contract stuff) set him up for an immediate rubber match with Alvarez. The fight would never come to fruition, however, as Alvarez withdrew due to a concussion and would later be released from the promotion. Chandler would instead be matched against Will Brooks at Bellator 120, and once again became the victim of a questionable set of scorecards.
In spite of back-to-back losses, Bellator stood by their man, and set Chandler up with yet another title fight. This time, at Bellator 131, Brooks would leave no doubt about the winner, as he punched Chandler so hard he literally forgot they were fighting.
By the end of 2014, the fighter Bellator invested so much into was left beltless, on a three-fight losing streak, and flailing in the middle of a surprisingly deep lightweight division.
Glover Teixeira
2 of 10
The UFC will trip over itself hyping fighters. That's just the name of the combat sports game. It is not all that often, however, that the UFC closes its eyes, puts its fingers in its ears and screams at you that an unproven commodity is a title contender after just one fight.
That, however, was their approach to Glover Teixeira. The Brazilian slugger feasted upon journeymen, but parlayed a wheeze-filled decision win over a hobbling, knee-less Quinton "Rampage" Jackson into actual title relevance in spite of obvious deficiencies in his cardio, wrestling defense and striking.
It would be a profound understatement to say it was no surprise that he was beaten with ease by Jon Jones at UFC 172. However, he was utterly exposed by Phil Davis at UFC 179. Mr. Wonderful, who himself was fresh off a lopsided loss at the hands of Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, effortlessly outwrestled Teixeira en route to a unanimous 30-27 decision.
With his tool box effectively limited to above-average Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a heavy right hook, Teixeira's chances against any member of the suddenly-fearsome light heavyweight top-five are slim to nil.
Johny Hendricks
3 of 10
Johny Hendricks has looked average-or-less at several points during his career. He lost to Rick Story, he barely edged out lifetime preliminary carder Mike Pierce, he was gifted a decision over the jalopy version of Josh Koscheck and has never, ever had ironclad cardio. However, when he gave the great Georges St-Pierre all that he could handle, it seemed as though he may have, at long last, put everything together.
Then came Robbie Lawler. Hendricks' wrestling didn't seem quite as potent. His punches didn't have as much pop. Most of all, his gas tank seemed to hit empty pretty darn quickly.
While he would edge out Lawler at UFC 171, he wouldn't be so lucky during the rematch. At UFC 181, Hendricks gassed to the point where his only offensive output was pushing Lawler against the cage. That earned him boos from the crowd and nine-point rounds from the judges.
While Hendricks remains one of the best welterweights in the game today, his iffy showings against Lawler knocked him from "next big thing" status into the oceanic pool of formidable welterweights that you just can't help but feel won't ever measure up to GSP. He will get another shot at the belt, but his stock dropped in a big way with two less-than-amazing performances.
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Mike Dolce
4 of 10
Appearing alongside high-profile fighters like Vitor Belfort, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Thiago Alves and Chael Sonnen with his signature "The Dolce Diet" tee, Mike Dolce made himself one of the most identifiable non-fighters associated with the UFC. He parlayed his reputation as MMA's nutritionist-in-chief into something of an official role with the UFC and a cushy gig designing and starring in the UFC Fit workout tape. However, time wore on and the honeymoon ended.
Entering 2014, Dolce was regarded as something of a miracle worker. Exiting the year, however, that shine has dulled.
Johny Hendricks, one of Dolce's biggest clients, had two weight-related kerfuffles in 2014, coming in overweight on his first weigh-in attempt ahead of UFC 171, and turning in a terrible performance at UFC 181 due to an ugly cut. Another prominent customer, former welterweight and lightweight champion BJ Penn, had it out with him on Twitter. Not only that, but bombastic claims that Daniel Cormier can get bigger, stronger and fight at middleweight and that Kelvin Gastelum should be fighting at 155-pounds in spite of the fact that he regularly struggles to make 170 had even his biggest believers doing a double take.
Again, Dolce remains one of the most recognizable figures in MMA, and unlike the other people on this list, his skills likely haven't corroded. The deity status he enjoyed, however, has gone out the window.
Carlos Condit
5 of 10
Carlos Condit is still exciting. He is still a dynamic striker. He is still one of the better welterweights in the game today.
That said, he picked the worst possible time to have his knee explode.
Facing off with Tyron Woodley in March, the former interim welterweight champ tore his ACL while defending a takedown attempt. That injury would cost him a fight against a fast-rising name, and also kept him out of the cage long enough to be swallowed up in an ocean of 170-pound talent.
Officially sitting on a 1-3 record over his last four, and with killers like Rory MacDonald, Hector Lombard, Kelvin Gastelum and Matt Brown all eclipsing him in terms of visibility and contention worthiness, Condit's inactivity has cost him dearly. He is angling for a Spring 2015 return, and with his spot in the rankings holding steady (he is actually ranked No. 4 in the UFC's official rankings), he may be poised to bounce back in a big way.
Alexander Shlemenko
6 of 10
2013 was one of the best years of Alexander Shlemenko's storied career. The Russian striker took the Bellator middleweight strap with an impressive knockout of Maiquel Falcao. Not only that, but his stoic post-fight speech and robotic efficiency drew comparisons to the legendary Fedor Emelianenko. From there, he defended his strap twice with a Fight of the Year candidate opposite Brett Cooper, and another emphatic knockout at the expense of Doug Marshall.
Then, something happened.
2014 started out just fine when Shlemenko scored a strong second-round win over Brennan Ward at Bellator 114. Sure, his iffy takedown defense was on full display during the fight, but it is hard to argue against a nonchalant submission win.
Then, however, came his inexplicable pairing with former UFC light heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz. While Shlemenko entered a huge favorite, in one of those "hindsight is 20/20" moments, the Russian was tossed to the ground and choked out with an ease one wouldn't expect from the dilapidating Ortiz. While it wouldn't have been unreasonable to brush off that loss as an anomaly (Ortiz was enormous compared to Shlemenko), he was then dispatched in just 35 seconds by the largely unknown Brandon Halsey.
While he bounced back with an all but invisible win over European journeyman Yasubey Enomoto, the damage done to his brand was profound. He has gone from being, quite possibly, Bellator's most marketable fighter to being a relative non-factor in the middleweight division. The promotion isn't doing him any favors, either, as they have him booked to face Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 133.
Benson Henderson
7 of 10
While Benson Henderson has beaten top-tier lightweights time and again throughout his career, fans have never quite gelled with the one they call "Smooth." Maybe it's his propensity for beating out fan favorites like Nate Diaz and Clay Guida. Maybe it's his habit of beating out Zuffa boardroom darlings like Frankie Edgar and Gilbert Melendez. Maybe it's how UFC President Dana White actively undercut his reign as, possibly, the greatest lightweight champ in UFC history from beginning to end.
Either way, fans seem to revel in anything resembling a struggle for Henderson, so when he began encountering actual difficulties in 2014, his detractors were quick to pounce.
Henderson started the year off with a matchup against former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson. The bout was incredibly close, and while a 48-47 scorecard in either direction made sense, people were incensed when Henderson received an eyebrow-raising 49-46 tally from one of the judges. A win, however, is a win and it would take a loss for his naysayers to really have something to hold against him.
That loss would come from Rafael dos Anjos at Fight Night 49. The Brazilian nailed Henderson with a picture-perfect flying knee, and finished him with punches. This sent him plummeting down the rankings and all the way to the back of the line for a title shot.
Henderson is still an elite talent, and anyone who says differently is likely, for lack of a better term, a "hater." But the man most certainly took some hits in 2014.
Renan Barao
8 of 10
After capturing the interim bantamweight belt, Renan Barao established himself as one of the best in the business by defeating Michael McDonald and Eddie Wineland. When he was finally given undisputed champ status, he started off his reign in style by blowing Urijah Faber out of the water. That success had UFC President Dana White ranting and raving that he was the top pound-for-pound fighter in the game.
All good things, however, must come to an end.
Barao was booked to face TJ Dillashaw in a should-be-squash match at UFC 173, but in a surprising turn, it was the Brazilian that wound up the Goomba to Dillashaw's Super Mario. While that alone would have made this a particularly tough year for Barao, the hard times didn't end there.
The UFC would give him an immediate rematch at UFC 177 but in a surprising turn, Barao withdrew from the fight just hours ahead of the weigh-ins. That got him thrown in the UFC's doghouse, and bumped from headlining pay-per-views to co-maining Brazilian Fight Nights. To top it all off, he continued his recent trend of putting on underwhelming performances against tomato cans by struggling to finish the unknown Mitch Gagnon.
All in all, within just seven months, Barao went from being possibly the best pound-for-pound fighter in the game to being the fourth-best bantamweight. Not good.
Cristiane Justino
9 of 10
After spending all of 2012 out of the cage due to a flunked drug test, Cris "Cyborg" Justino came back in a big way in 2013. The fearsome knockout artist joined Invicta FC and defeated Fiona Muxlow and Marloes Coenen to become the promotion's featherweight champion. Not only that, but she kicked off her new kickboxing career in style by savaging Jennifer Colomb at Lion Fight 11.
That momentum, however, would evaporate through 2014.
Invicta FC went silent for 10 months as it transitioned from digitally distributed pay-per-views to UFC Fight Pass. During that time, Cyborg suffered her first combat sports defeat since 2009 when she dropped a unanimous decision to Jorina Baars at Lion Fight 14. While it was an admirable effort by Cyborg (Baars is one of the top female kickboxers in the world, while Cyborg is an unseasoned newcomer), much of her mystique was wrapped up in her perceived unbeatability.
Things didn't go much better for her in MMA, either. After announcing she would finally drop down to 135-pounds in order to move towards a fight with UFC champion Ronda Rousey, Cyborg nixed the cut, and stated she would only be fighting at featherweight from here on out.
With that, she lost her unbeaten distinction, she lost her shot at the biggest payday of her career, and she lost her relevance to casual MMA fans.
Jake Ellenberger
10 of 10
Before Johny Hendricks, there was Jake Ellenberger. His blend of athleticism, wrestling and knockout power made him a fighter that could compete at an elite level for years to come. There were hiccups, sure, but impressive performances were the norm for Ellenberger.
Then he fought Rory MacDonald. The prodigious Canadian froze Ellenberger in place with a jab for 15 boring minutes. While the loss was initially viewed as an oddity or an off night, 2014 would prove that the troubles with Ellenberger were much deeper than that.
He floundered mightily against Robbie Lawler in his next outing. Even then, however, it was hard to fault him for a loss to Lawler. When he seemed almost content in being dominated by Kelvin Gastelum, however, it officially marked the end of his days as an above-average welterweight.
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