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#9: Michihiro Omigawa
Former international judoka Michihiro Omigawa made his MMA debut with PRIDE back in 2005, and came into the UFC in 2007 when that promotion was bought out by Zuffa. He went 0-2 and was subsequently cut, but a move down from 155lbs to 145lbs in 2009 totally rejuvenated his career.
He went 4-1 in the Sengoku promotion, then moved to DREAM and went 3-0 there.
When the UFC integrated the 145lbs division as part of the WEC merger in 2011, Omigawa made the move back over to the States for the first time since 2008.
Given his form in Japan he was expected to be an instant title contender, and was paired with top five ranked Chad Mendes for his first UFC fight. He lost the bout, but really there was no shame in a loss to Mendes, and he was expected to rebound.
Except he simply didn’t. A loss to the unheralded Darren Elkins followed, and after a lone win over the equally unknown Jason Young, largely one-sided losses to Iuri Alcantara and Manvel Gamburyan ended his second UFC run with a record of 1-4.
The likely explanation was that he just couldn’t handle the differences between Japanese and US MMA – issues like the ten-point must system and the cage – but either way, he was a major bust.
