Bet on mixed martial arts at Sportbet

Today, we will look at nine fighters who failed to live up to said hype and why. Join me in this trip down memory lane.

9. David Terrell

If you come out of the Ceasar Gracie camp with a black belt, it means your pretty good. David Terrell was hyped as the next great Jiu-Jitsu fighter to enter MMA, and when he signed with the UFC, Joe Silva put him against Matt Lindland to test the kids skills. Terrell shocked many people by dropping the smell hillbilly with a good punch and then pounded the wrestler out with punches in 24 seconds. Seeing a future star the UFC put him against Evan Tanner for the middleweight title and was exposed as a one trick pony.

After holding on a tight Guillotine Choke, Tanner broke out and pounded out a gassed Terrell out. After that, Terrell developed an injury bug and only fought once since the loss in 2006. After dropping out scheduled fights three times, the UFC decided to cut Terrell. Despite having a good record, Terrell was never able to live up to the hype that was bestowed upon him after the Lindland fight. Terrell has yet to fight in nearly four years, a sign that his MMA career is done.

8. Enson Inoue in PRIDE

After dominating in Shooto as their first Heavyweight Champion and defeating Randy Couture, Enson Inuoue was invited to fight in PRIDE FC with the guarantee of a fight with Kauzshi Sakuraba if he wins some fights. After beating freak show fighter Soichi Nishid, Inoue was then put up against four of the top heavyweights in MMA: Mark Kerr, Igor Vovchanchyn, Heath Herring, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria. You have to remember, Enson weights about 190 pounds and these guys weighed in the range of 200-255 pounds. He put up a tough fight against Mark Kerr, but the Igor fight was brutal to watch as the ref refused to stop the fight even after Enson was not defending himself.


The other fights were pretty bad since the refs pretty much allowed for Enson to bounced around the ring like a pinball. Even though Inoue was a good fighter, his run in PRIDE pretty much put an end to his active MMA career. It is rumored that Enson suffered such matchmaking when Nobuhiko Takada was drunk and provoked a fight at a night club that Inoue was at. Takada screamed for Enson to help them, and Enson told the people who Takda was screwing with to piss off. Since Takada was seen as a tough guy, this did damage to Takada’s reputation, and Enson was punished.

7. Stefan Leko In Pride

Leko is a good example of going into MMA without deciding to learn the ground game first. He looked clueless in his three fights, as smaller fighter took him down and submitted him with ease.


After going on a five fight win streak in K-1, Leko jumped to PRIDE to compete in their Heavyweight Grand Prix against Naoya Ogawa and getting submitted with ease. PRIDE realized the mistake they made and let him go after lasting a combined 3 minutes in three fights.


Another of the Japan MMA scene pushing an in-experienced fighter into the spotlight to early. Leko still fights in K-1 today, but has yet to return to MMA.

6. Mark Hunt's Return to K-1

After the death of PRIDE, Mark Hunt did not fight for over a year since he could not make the UFC's 265 pound weight class. Despite having a good MMA record with wins over Mirko Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva, Hunt finally signed a huge deal to return to K-1.


After looking Sloth like against Semmy Schilt, Hunt returned to MMA and promptly lost three fights in a row. First, Alistair Overeen submitted him in minutes, Melvin Manhoef broke the unbreakable chin, and he then lost to Gegard Mousasi.


Hunt is a good example of what happens when a fighter takes an extended leave of absence without training or handcuffing yourself to a Taco Bell for two years.

5. Masaaki Satake in PRIDE

In 2000, PRIDE was on the verge of becoming the top MMA organization, and they signed K-1 Legend Masaaki Satake, who wowed the crowds with a beautiful head kick, and a legendary fight with Andy Hug.


PRIDE thought that Satake could be the Heavyweight version of Sakuraba, a native star that could draw in big crowds with his skills. Since PRIDE would have been insanse to put Sakuraba against a heavyweight right? Instead of allowing Satake to develop his ground game, they threw him straight into the fire by putting him against Mark Coleman. Coleman took the K-1 Star to the ground with ease and submitted him in one minute.


After losses to Guy Mezger, Naoya Ogawa, and Igor, PRIDE pulled the plug on the Satake project, as Satake went 1-8 in his MMA career. A potential box-office star was squandered by PRIDE, putting even more pressure on Sakuraba to carry PRIDE.

4. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou's hype machine started after he brutally knocked out Antonio Rogerio Nogueria and Ricardo Arona before PRIDE's death. Since he was not favored in those fights, Sokoudjou became a free agent once PRIDE kicked the bucket and the bidding war began.


In the end, the UFC was able to sign him, and everybody was hyped for his debut fight against Lyoto Machida. Sokoudjou looked nothing like the fighter we saw against Nog or Arona, as Machida took him down and choked him out in the second round. After rebounding against PRIDE veteran Kazuhiro Nakamura, Sokoudjou fought up and comer Luiz Cane at UFC 89. After starting off good, Soko gassed out in the second round after throwing various kicks, knees, and punches in the first round.


The UFC decided to cut ties citing that Soko was an inconsistent fighter who needed to work on the holes in his game. Rameau signed with Affliction to face Renato “Babalu” Sobral in a much anticipated bout. Once again, Rameau started hot got gassed out in the second round and was choked out with ease. Rameau then fought Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi, and the same thing happened as with most of his fights. A good start, but he just falters down the stretch and ends up on the losing side again. He then lost to Minowa in an extremely embarrassing fight that basically signaled the end of him being relevant in the sport.

3 . Mirko Cro Cop in the UFC

Cro Cop was the big signing that the UFC made that helped to kill PRIDE. After UFC 66, it was announced that he signed a six fight, two year deal to fight exclusively for the UFC. After beating Eddie Sanchez, Cro Cop was put in a title conteders fight Gabriel Gonzaga. In a shocking moment, Gonzaga beat Cro Cop with a brutal head kick, the same move that Cro Cop used to finish so many fights in PRIDE.


Wanting to return to the cage so quickly, Cheick Kongo agreed to face Cro Cop. Kongo became famous for using Cro Cop's testicles as target practice in a fairly one sided decision. After that, Cro Cop left the UFC for Japan and then returned for one last go-around.


After mowing through Mostapha Al-Turk at UFC 96, he was matched up against heavyweight contender Junior Dos Santos, and Dos Santos picked Cro Cop apart for three rounds before Cro Cop quit when he could not see out of his eyes. His upcoming fight against Ben Rothwell is essentially Cro Cop’s last major chance to make an impact in MMA.

2. Tim Sylvia in Affliction

After being released from the UFC after going 1-2 in his previous fights, former heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia signed a contract with Affliction Clothing's MMA promotion. His first was to be against former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko at the first event.


The fight was a 36 second beat down with Fedor dropping Sylvia and sinking in a rear naked choke. How much did Tim get for 36 seconds of work? He received $800,000 which means he $22,000 per second. The irony in all of it was that Timmy was heavily critical of Brock Lesnar getting $250,000 for his UFC debut. In reality, he made $550,000 more than Brock made for his first fight.


Affliction came off as complete dopes for giving this much to a fighter who did so little. After the humiliating fight against Fedor, Sylvia took an easy fight against 47-year old boxer Ray Mercer and was then knocked out in brutal fashion after coming into the fight out-of-shape. Sylvia is attempting to resurrect his career by fighting in smaller shows and his next fight is against……Wes Simms.

1. Akebono

The first American to be given the title of Yokozuna *BANZAI!* in sumo wrestling, Akebono was a sumo legend. After retiring from sumo wrestling, Akebono signed a contract with K-1 to become their latest freak show extravaganza.


K-1 saw a potential huge ratings for a showdown between Bob Sapp and Akebono on New Years Eve. After losing to Sapp, Akebono went 1-12 in kickboxing and MMA with loses to Royce Graice, Don Frye, Remy Bonjasky, and Hong Man Choi.


Despite all the money made off his K-1 run, Akebono was a huge bust who made Bob Sapp look like Andy Hug in the talent department. His last fight was against fellow freak show fighter Giant Silva in a fight that was perfect for New Years Eve.


Today, Akebono promotes K-1 events in Hawaii and wrestles for HUSTLE as "Monster Bono" the result of The Great Muta spraying green mist into the vagina of a girl. Seriously.

If that was not my cue to wrap this up, then I don‘t know what is. Remember friends don't let friends spray green mist into women's vaginas.

Bet at BetCRIS MMA Fighting Today