5 great UFC fighters who just don't show up sometimes

UFC 264: Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor 3
UFC 264: Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor 3

#4 Former UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem

UFC Fight Night: Overeem v Volkov
UFC Fight Night: Overeem v Volkov

A former Strikeforce heavyweight champion, Alistair Overeem enjoyed a distinguished career in the UFC's most challenging division. However, despite being a frightening knockout artist who had the power to end fights in an instant, the Dutch kickboxer has come up short multiple times in key fights.

Overeem has lost to several top-tier opponents over the course of his MMA career. He has losses to Chuck Liddell, Rogerio Nogueira (twice), Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua (twice), Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva and Francis Ngannou.

Although 'The Demolition Man' has many high-profile wins on his record, such as Werdum, Mark Hunt, Brock Lesnar, Andrei Arlovski, Junior dos Santos and Frank Mir, it is clear that he doesn't take the pressure of a big fight very well. Overeem's title fight loss to Stipe Miocic was another result that added to this belief.

Concerningly, Overeem has often looked bereft of answers in big fights, in stark contrast to the manner in which he mostly runs through opponents. Unfortunately, he just doesn't show up sometimes.


#3 Former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor

UFC 264: Poirier v McGregor 3
UFC 264: Poirier v McGregor 3

Conor McGregor has been in the limelight for most of his UFC career, and he handles the big occasion better than most. With historic wins over the likes of Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo and Eddie Alvarez, 'The Notorious' is one of the greatest fighters the UFC has ever seen.

But in the recent past, McGregor has failed to present the best version of himself in the UFC. He was first dominated and submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov, clearly not at his physical or mental best in the lead-up to and during the fight. Things didn't get better from him against Dustin Poirier, whom he was favored to beat at UFC 257.

McGregor was knocked out for the first time in his UFC career as Poirier had success in his kickboxing, before suffering another loss to the 'The Diamond' months later. Yes, the Irishman's losses were to arguably the two greatest lightweights of all time, but his performances were nowhere near the level he is capable of.

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