The Ultimate Fighting Championship is regarded as the biggest stage in the sport of mixed martial arts. Fighters do all that they can to get the opportunity to step into the Octagon and fight their way towards prominence. However, as the UFC has grown and its roster has continued to swell, some individuals have chosen to build their names up while fighting in smaller promotions, with the goal of being brought into the UFC as bigger names. However, many times, when a fighter does finally get that opportunity for success on the larger stage, he comes up short. The bright lights of the UFC continue to blind fighters, and Hector Lombard was their most recent victim.
Lombard, Jorge Santiago, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Ian McCall, Dan Henderson, Jake Shields, and many others have come over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship after building up their names fighting in other organizations. Once they reached the Octagon, they all failed to continue the success that they achieved while competing within other promotions. Some individuals, such as Renan Pegado, have bucked the trend, but these fighters are more of the exception than the rule.
Experts point towards the step up in competition as the reason why many of these fighters are brought back down to Earth when they begin to compete in the UFC. Akiyama, for example, brought with him a 12-1 record before his debut with the organization at UFC 100. Since that controversial victory over Alan Belcher, he has lost four straight bouts in the span of two years. Santiago was given his second opportunity to fight for Zuffa after putting together an 11-1 record outside of the organization, and coming off of his 2010 Fight of the Year battle with Kazuo Misaki. Two fights and two defeats later, he was once again released, and will most likely never find his way back onto their roster. The list goes on and on with fighters that struggle when brought over to the UFC.
Looking forward, we can only wonder if this situation will continue to play out when we see other names make the jump. Bellator’s Eddie Alvarez and Strikeforce’s Daniel Cormier are two fighters that come to mind as individuals who will step into the Octagon with a lot of hype pushing them forward — although it’s possible that Alvarez’s recent loss to Michael Chandler may help curb much of that anticipation, and make his debut much “easier” to cope with. However, Cormier’s situation will be much different. While it may not be the deepest division, the heavyweight weight class is the most highly-promoted division in combat sports, and Cormier’s debut in the UFC is going to come with a huge wave of expectations. It will be interesting to see how well each of these fighters deal with walking into the Octagon for the first time, whenever it does happen.
Coming into the Ultimate Fighting Championship with a lot of hype has proven to be a detriment to many of the organization’s fighters. The biggest stage in combat sports has swallowed up legacy after legacy, as more fighters continue to be brought under Zuffa employ. One look over their histories is all that’s needed to prove that “Octagon Jitters” are real and must be acknowledged when we watch a new fighter make his debut in the UFC.
