The End of Mark Munoz

What exactly happened to Mark Munoz?

In 2011, Munoz was one of the top middleweight contenders in the world. He had a 7-1 record as a middleweight, with only a split decision loss to Yushin Okami during that whole stretch, which included an impressive four-fight winning streak over Chris Leben, Demian Maia, CB Dollaway, and Aaron Simpson.

At one point during his stretch of dominance, fans were wondering if Munoz might fight Anderson Silva. Media even asked the Black House teammates if they would fight each other for the belt. Even though that fight never ended up happening, the fact that those questions were even being asked proves that at one point in time Munoz had some steam behind him as a legitimate middleweight title contender.

A highly-decorated collegiate wrestling champion, Munoz made a quick and easy transition to MMA, defeating Mike Pierce in his second career bout back in 2007 and being signed to the WEC by the time his fourth fight rolled around. After winning the first five fights of his career, including two in the WEC by knockout, the UFC signed Munoz and matched him up against Matt Hamill. Munoz was brutally knocked out in that fight – a sign of things to come – but that loss was a blessing to his career, as it forced him to realize life at 205 lbs would be harsh, and that 185 lbs would be a better fit.

After going 7-1 as a middleweight, the UFC matched up Munoz with Chael Sonnen at UFC on FOX 2 in a #1 contender’s fight. Munoz pulled out before the fight happened because of an injury, but the UFC decided to match him up with Chris Weidman at UFC on FUEL TV 4 in another #1 contender’s bout. At the time, people were split on who would win. The odds were extremely close, with Munoz just a very small underdog in what was expected to be a very competitive fight.

It wasn’t competitive, though. In fact, it was a blowout, with Weidman absolutely destroying Munoz en route to a second-round TKO. Not only was Munoz brutally knocked down with an elbow, on the ground Weidman landed a number of heavy punches while referee Josh Rosenthal looked on. That ground-and-pound stoppage likely took more out of Munoz than anyone ever realized, and I point to this fight as the beginning of the downside of Munoz’ career.

However, a year after defeating Weidman, Munoz came back with a vengeance. Overcoming depression and weight problems, Munoz put on the performance of his career against Tim Boetsch at UFC 162, beating the tar out of Boetsch for 15 minutes in what was the best performance of his career. People were saying Munoz was back, and that he could be a contender again.

The UFC put Munoz in yet another top contender’s fight, but once again Munoz lost the opportunity to emerge as a bona fide contender, as he fought Lyoto Machida and was viciously knocked out. In his next fight, another headlining bout, he got destroyed by Gegard Mousasi, who subbed him with a first-round rear-naked choke. And then in his last outing, against a blown-up welterweight in Roan Carneiro, Munoz once again looked horrible en route to a quick, first-round tapout loss.

All told, Munoz has lost his last three fights and four of his last five fights, and all the losses have been by stoppage. Considering this was a fighter who was in a #1 contender fight as recently as two years ago, that’s a massive decline. Now, at 37, Munoz has decided this is it. He will retire win or lose after he takes on Luke Barnatt at UFC Fight Night 66, but my question to Munoz is why is he fighting? Just so he can say he competed in front of the Philippines fans? In my opinion, the UFC shouldn’t even have offered Munoz a fight. I even wonder if he should be medically cleared to compete, knowing his recent fight history and the fact that he’s already announced his retirement.

At one point, Munoz was a very good fighter, one of the better middleweight fighters in the world. But that was then and this is now. The end of Munoz is finally upon us, so try and enjoy the last time we get to see him compete in the Octagon – and just hope he doesn’t get badly hurt while he does it.