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For most MMA fighters, making a debut in the UFC is perhaps the best and most nerve-racking achievement possible. After all, countless numbers of fighters don’t make it that far.
Of course, some UFC debutants receive far more hype than others, largely due to their achievements elsewhere. However, on occasion, these debutants fail to make an impact in the octagon.
We’ve seen numerous examples of disappointing octagon debuts over the years, with fighters who looked great elsewhere simply struggling to adjust to the brighter lights of the world’s biggest promotion.
Here are five of the most disappointing debuts in UFC history.
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#5. Mark Hunt vs. Sean McCorkle – UFC 119
When the UFC bought out PRIDE in 2007, most of the Japanese promotion’s biggest stars made their way to the octagon, from Wanderlei Silva to Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua. However, one name conspicuous by his absence was Mark Hunt.
‘The Super Samoan’ had become wildly popular in PRIDE and had fought the likes of Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko Cro Cop. Rather than enter the octagon, he instead headed to the new Japanese promotion DREAM. This, it transpired, was no accident.
According to many sources, Dana White and company had passed on the opportunity to sign Hunt despite the New Zealand-born fighter being under contract with PRIDE, and even attempted to buy said contract out when ‘The Super Samoan’ finally decided he wanted to try his hand in the octagon.
Hunt refused to do that, and so the UFC finally bought him in during the latter stages of 2010, matching him with fellow debutant Sean McCorkle in his first fight. On paper at least, it looked like an easy enough match for Hunt.
Incredibly, though, ‘The Super Samoan’ looked awful in the fight. It took McCorkle just over a minute to take the former K-1 champion down, where he quickly submitted him with a straight armbar. Overall, the debut couldn’t have been more disappointing for Hunt, and it looked like he’d wash out of the promotion immediately.
Thankfully for his fans, that didn’t happen. Hunt stunned everyone by bouncing back from the defeat to win his next four fights in the octagon, and while he never won gold there, it’s safe to say he was a big success, even if his time with the promotion ended on a sour note.
#4. CM Punk vs. Mickey Gall – UFC 203
Okay, so it’s safe to say that no serious UFC fans were expecting former WWE champion CM Punk to capture gold inside the octagon, or even climb up into the top 10 in the welterweight division. Many figured he’d lose his promotional debut to neophyte Mickey Gall, in fact.
However, given that he’d been training for his debut for well over two years in a highly-rated camp in the form of Roufusport, looked to be in the best shape of his life physically, and was seemingly taking things seriously, it was expected that Punk would at least look like he knew how to fight.
Bizarrely, that didn’t seem to be the case at all. Despite Gall only having two professional fights to his name, he looked far more comfortable than Punk from the off, and when the former WWE man threw an amateurish punch, he found himself quickly taken down.
From there, Gall ran a grappling train on ‘The Straight Edge Superstar’, slicing into full mount with ease before beating him down en route to a first-round rear-naked choke win.
Not only had Punk lost his octagon debut, he’d been utterly embarrassed by Gall in the process, and never looked like he belonged for a second. Even his biggest doubters were expecting more than this, making this one of the most disappointing UFC debuts of all time.
#3. Rolles Gracie Jr. vs. Joey Beltran – UFC 109
The UFC’s earliest events were famously dominated by one man, Royce Gracie, who introduced the world to the art of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. However, despite multiple members of his extended family competing in various MMA promotions across the world, once Royce had drawn with Ken Shamrock at UFC 5, it felt like we’d seen the last of the Gracies in the octagon.
That changed in early 2010, when the promotion announced that they’d signed Rolles Gracie Jr. to a contract. The news immediately excited hardcore fans, particularly as Rolles was billed as a “next generation Gracie” and already had three victories in MMA to his name.
Matched with fellow debutant Joey Beltran on his first trip to the octagon, it was fully expected that Rolles would simply run through ‘The Mexecutioner’. Not only was Beltran unheralded, he also looked like a smaller heavyweight.
Unfortunately for fans of the Gracie family, that wasn’t the case at all. Things started off well for Rolles as he took Beltran down and immediately secured back control. However, when he couldn’t submit his opponent, the wheels quickly came off.
Gracie looked exhausted coming into the second round, and it didn’t take long for Beltran to force him to the ground and stop him with a series of punches. Given the hype, as well as the reputation of his family, to say this was a disappointing debut would be an understatement.
Unsurprisingly, Rolles was then cut from his UFC contract and never really made any subsequent noise in MMA afterwards.
#2. Hector Lombard vs. Tim Boetsch – UFC 149
When the UFC signed Bellator MMA middleweight kingpin Hector Lombard to a contract in 2012, it was hard not to get excited. Simply put, at the time, no other fighter outside the promotion had quite as fearsome a reputation as the Cuban judoka.
Not only was Lombard on a ridiculous winning streak of 20 bouts, but he’d also finished the majority of his opponents with violent knockouts and hadn’t lost since 2006. On paper, at least, ‘Lightning’ should’ve been an instant contender to Anderson Silva’s middleweight crown.
Despite the hype, the UFC decided to match Lombard with the largely unheralded Tim Boetsch in his octagon debut. To be fair, the idea did make sense. ‘The Barbarian’ was coming off an excellent win over Yushin Okami, but wasn’t expected to really test the Cuban.
Many fans felt that it was only a matter of time before Lombard landed a knockout blow.
Incredibly, though, he didn’t come close. Not only did ‘Lightning’ not really land anything major on his opponent, he looked painfully gunshy throughout the clash – nothing like the Lombard who’d been destroying people in Bellator.
In the end, the fight petered out and became painfully dull to watch, with Lombard coming out on the wrong end of a split decision loss.
Quite what caused him to perform so badly was anyone’s guess, but given his UFC career ended with six straight losses, it’s probably fair to call him one of the biggest busts in the promotion’s history.
#1. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Lyoto Machida – UFC 79
Despite only having a small amount of experience at the time, it’s safe to say that few fighters were signed to the UFC with as much hype as Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. ‘The African Assassin’ had exploded onto the PRIDE scene in early 2007, turning the lights out on both Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona, and he looked like the hottest fighter in the sport.
When the UFC brought him in, then, signing him to face the unbeaten Lyoto Machida at the final event of the year, literally every MMA fan on the planet was excited. After what he’d done to Nogueira and Arona, two top 10-ranked fighters, how could they not be?
In hindsight, of course, there were clear red flags. Sokoudjou was just 4-1 at the time and nobody really knew anything about how he’d react to adversity. Even his ground game was a massive question mark.
Still, it felt like the majority of fans were expecting him to take out ‘The Dragon’ in a matter of seconds. When that didn’t happen, it was hard not to be disappointed. Worse still, ‘The African Assassin’ didn’t lay a glove on Machida, eventually succumbing to a second-round arm-triangle choke.
Other PRIDE alumni made equally poor debuts in the octagon, but few carried the same hype as Sokoudjou, who simply didn’t come close to living up to the reputation he brought with him.
Over a decade on, his debut remains one of the most disappointing in history.
