The 10 biggest busts in UFC history

#7: Hatsu Hioki

Hatsu Hioki never did challenge for the UFC title

Japanese fighters had always traditionally struggled in the UFC, but in 2011 Hatsu Hioki was supposed to be different. Not only was he bringing a pretty impressive record into the Octagon – 24-4-2 – but he’d also had experience inside a cage, fighting for Canada’s TKO promotion on three occasions.

With 145lbs being relatively thin on contenders, he was expected to challenge Jose Aldo for the UFC title at some point.

Hioki started off relatively well, beating George Roop and Bart Palaszewski, although both fights were closer than people expected them to be.

The Palaszewski fight was rumoured to have netted him a title shot, but instead he was matched with Ricardo Lamas – who comfortably beat him, ending that idea for good.

Losses to Clay Guida and Darren Elkins knocked him out of contention entirely, and then a win over Ivan Menjivar was followed by losses to Charles Oliveira and Dan Hooker – both of whom finished Hioki, marking the first submission and KO losses of his career.

He ended his UFC run with a record of 3-5, awful going for someone who was meant to be a title challenger.