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2021 has been a pretty epic year for the UFC, with a number of classic shows, as well as some tremendous performances from the promotion’s best fighters.
The year has also seen a number of UFC fighters fail to perform to the best of their abilities inside the octagon, leaving fans largely disappointed.
Some of these disappointing performances can be explained by injuries, nerves or overconfidence, but either way, they were difficult for UFC fans to digest.
With that considered, here are the five most disappointing UFC performances of 2021.
#5. Curtis Blaydes vs. Derrick Lewis – UFC Fight Night 185
Coming into 2021, Curtis Blaydes appeared to be literally inches away from claiming his shot at the UFC heavyweight title.
‘Razor’ was riding a four-fight win streak and had won 10 of his last 11 fights. While his victory over Alexander Volkov in 2020 failed to impress UFC president Dana White, his crushing wins over Junior dos Santos and Shamil Abdurakhimov suggested that he was the most dangerous threat to the winner of the fight between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou.
February’s UFC Fight Night 185 saw Blaydes matched with Derrick Lewis in the headline bout. The feeling was that the winner would probably go onto challenge whoever held the UFC heavyweight title later in 2021.
Given Lewis’s problems with powerful wrestlers such as Daniel Cormier and Blagoy Ivanov in the past, it was widely expected that ‘Razor’ would be able to plant ‘The Black Beast’ on his back and have his way with him. However, Blaydes looked nervous from the off and seemed far too willing to risk standing and striking with Lewis.
He won the first round pretty handily, but early in the second round, he rushed forward and left himself a little too open. Lewis capitalized by completely folding him with a brutal uppercut.
Any thoughts of a Blaydes title shot quickly evaporated following the loss. He did, however, rebound later in the year with a win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Essentially, it’s probably fair to suggest Blaydes was unnerved by White’s criticism of him following the Volkov fight and paid the price for attempting to change up his game against a deadly power puncher.
#4. Johnny Walker vs. Thiago Santos – UFC Fight Night 193
Sometimes the UFC books a fight that just sounds like guaranteed fireworks. Most of the time, those kind of fights live up to the hype.
Everyone thought Justin Gaethje’s fight with Michael Chandler would be a classic, for instance, and they were largely proven right. The same could be said for Alexander Volkanovski’s clash with Brian Ortega.
However, in October, the UFC booked a fight that felt like a brutal finish was guaranteed, only for both fighters to seemingly choke in the moment and fail to produce their usual form.
Johnny Walker and Thiago Santos had combined for a total of 15 KO’s or TKO’s in the UFC leading into their headline bout at UFC Fight Night 193. More to the point, neither man seemed to know any other way to fight outside of simply attempting to take their opponent’s head off.
When it came to fight time, though, both fighters shocked and disappointed the fans by utilizing a highly tentative style, largely staying at a lengthy distance from one another.
It felt like both Walker and ‘Marreta’ simply respected one another a little too much, with neither man really wanting to risk a KO loss. In a way, it made sense. Both men had been knocked out before and the winner was likely to move into title contention.
In the end, the result was a lukewarm fight that went the distance, ending in Santos picking up a unanimous decision win.
However, the fight was so forgettable that ‘Marreta’ probably found himself further away from a crack at the title than he’d been prior, meaning that both he and Walker had one of the most disappointing UFC showings of 2021.
#3. Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira – UFC 267
2021 started in truly remarkable fashion for Jan Blachowicz.
One of the most unlikely champions in UFC history, the Polish power puncher won the UFC light heavyweight title in 2020 by knocking out Dominick Reyes. He then followed that with another surprise win, stopping Israel Adesanya’s attempt at becoming a double champion at March’s UFC 259.
However, despite being firmly favored to make another successful title defense against Glover Teixeira at UFC 267, Blachowicz appeared to fold under the pressure and ended up losing his crown in one-sided fashion.
The Polish star simply couldn’t get his usual imposing striking game going and in the second round, he was taken down and choked out.
To say this was a disappointing showing, particularly after his win over Adesanya, would be an understatement, something that Blachowicz himself seemed to agree with in a recent interview.
The former UFC champion stated that everything had gone wrong in the fight and while he wasn’t injured, it simply wasn’t his night. He even stated that he probably would’ve “lost to anyone that night” and largely blamed his mental state.
Whether Blachowicz has now peaked or whether he can get back into title contention in 2022 is unknown, but there’s no denying that this was one of 2021’s most disappointing UFC performances.
#2. Nick Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler – UFC 266
When the UFC announced that Nick Diaz would be returning to the octagon for the first time since 2015 to take on his old rival Robbie Lawler at UFC 266, the promotion’s fanbase were absolutely buzzing.
A fan favorite and one of the UFC’s biggest drawing cards, Diaz’s absence had largely been self-imposed and so many fans expected him to return to action in top form, particularly as Lawler has fallen on hard times in recent years. However, alarm bells began to ring instantly when a video of the Stockton, California native slowly shadowboxing appeared on the internet.
Those worries only increased when he didn’t appear to be in his best shape coming into the fight, forcing it to be switched from a welterweight bout to a middleweight one instead. Sure enough, despite Lawler not exactly looking in vintage form, Diaz simply couldn’t get a lot going when it came to fight time.
His punches looked slower than they’d done in his prime and for basically the first time in his career, Diaz appeared to be flagging as the fight went on. Eventually, ‘Ruthless’ dropped him with a right hand and rather than attempt to continue, Diaz essentially waved the fight off himself.
Sure, the fight was fun to watch, but it was hard not to be disappointed by Diaz’s performance. Realistically, it should stand as a reminder of how tricky it is to return to UFC action after years away.
#1. Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier – UFC 257
While the way that Conor McGregor’s third fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 ended was probably more disappointing to ‘The Notorious’, it’s hard to argue with the idea that his performance at UFC 257 was more of a letdown for UFC fans.
Prior to that fight, McGregor had largely never failed to deliver inside the octagon. Sure, he’d lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov in a one-sided fashion, but ‘The Eagle’ had dealt with basically all of his opponents in the same manner anyway.
Outside of that, ‘The Notorious’ was still feared as the fighter who knocked out Eddie Alvarez and Jose Aldo. His 2020 win over Donald Cerrone did nothing to dispel that idea. However, against Poirier, who he’d knocked out at UFC 178 back in 2014, McGregor simply didn’t look close to the fighter he once was.
The Irishman seemed far too focused on his boxing game rather than the unorthodox, movement-based striking that he’d once used to devastating effect and that played directly into Poirier’s hands.
‘The Diamond’ used low kicks to soften McGregor up and then hammered him with a brutal combination in the second round, knocking him out for the first time in his UFC career.
This was a performance so disappointing that it instantly made ‘The Notorious’ look like yesterday’s man inside the octagon. While he remains the UFC’s biggest star, it now feels unlikely that he’ll ever climb back to the top of the mountain again.
