One of the most underrated joys in professional wrestling is seeing a jobber get absolutely destroyed by an opponent who is better than them in pretty much every way. As such, the same kind of attitude works over in the world of mixed martial arts - but amusingly enough, many of these fighters go into the bouts actually believing they can win before hand.
It's like a real-life comedy show for some people, but for others, it's a sad indication of just how far some professional fighters will go in order to get paid. Whichever camp you fall into, there's no doubt that the UFC are much more lenient than boxing when it comes to allowing fighters to continue despite continuous losses, with all five of the people on this list suffering a string of defeats before being cut from the organisation.
Many a time, jobbers have their moment in the sunshine, but that pales in comparison to the punishment and ridicule they suffer following a defeat. You could argue that some of them deserve it, due to how arrogant they can be from time to time, but we prefer to see fighters learn and improve from their defeats as opposed to settling for mediocrity.
Then again, some of these records are pretty staggering. With that being said, here are the five greatest jobbers in UFC history.
#1 Josh Koscheck
Josh Koscheck is one of those fighters that everyone loves to hate. The guy proved during his season on The Ultimate Fighter with Georges St-Pierre that he knows how to get under the skin of people that don't like him, and in a way, you have to admire the way in which he does that.
What you don't have to admire, however, is his extremely poor record towards the end of his UFC career.
Yes, he may have been a player once upon a time but that hasn't been the case for many years now. In fact, Kos has actually lost six straight mixed martial arts fights with five of them coming in the UFC and the latest taking place in Bellator. Oh well, at least he knew how to play the character well before eventually doing the job. Good for you, pal.
Hands up if you've heard of this next guy.
#2 Jorge Santiago
When it comes to losing streaks in the UFC, we've already established that it's possible to bounce back and still maintain your job with the company. However in the case of Jorge Santiago, he was given a number of opportunities by Dana White to prove himself at the highest level after succeeding elsewhere - and each time he failed.
If you had to compare him, Curt Hawkins would probably bear the closest resemblance in terms of their trajectories. Santiago lost five straight fights in the UFC throughout three different stints with the organisation, continually failing to repay the trust put in him by management.
Honestly, it's like bringing in the same jobber every time WWE roll into town year in and year out. Now for another top contender when it comes to great jobbers.
#3 Steve Cantwell
Steve Cantwell was at one point on top of the world. He'd made a strong start to his mixed martial arts career as a professional and appeared set to make a real impact on the biggest stage possible in the sport - the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The stars were aligning perfectly and it was a carpe diem ‘cease the moment’ type of situation for the guy.
Unfortunately, cage fighting doesn't abide by fairytale rules and as such, Cantwell lost five straight fights to take his overall record to 7-6. Weirdly enough they were all unanimous decision losses too, so it was as if the guy was just stood there like a punching bag for three rounds just waiting for the pain and suffering to finally come to an end.
It's a shame, really. Now onto the James Ellsworth of MMA.
#4 Leonard Garcia
Not only does Leonard Garcia kind of look like James Ellsworth but he's also had the same kind of luck when it comes to victories too. Case and point - he endured a three-round war with Nam Phan a few years back with many people thinking Nam came out victorious in all three rounds.
Unfortunately, the judges saw things differently, awarding the bout to Garcia.
What followed was a big old dose of karma with Garcia losing five straight fights, with one of them ironically being a rematch defeat at the hands of Nam Phan himself. A weird statistic is that another of the failures came at the hands of Cody McKenzie, who was actually a part of the same Ultimate Fighter season as Nam.
It's funny how MMA works, really. We conclude with the most amusing story of them all.
#5 Phil Baroni
If you don't know who Phil Baroni is then we highly recommend that you go back and watch the fight we're about to reference. After knocking out former UFC Champion Dave Menne, Baroni claimed himself to be the "best eva" when it came to the sport of mixed martial arts.
Unfortunately, the rest of the UFC wholeheartedly disagreed with that statement.
Baroni would lose five straight fights in the UFC before being released and attempting to try his hand elsewhere around the world. That didn't work out too well, though, with his current and likely final record standing at a less than impressive 15-18.
Yes, that does in fact, mean that he won 15 fights and managed to lose 18. Maybe think before you speak next time, Phil.
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