5 Olympians who had unsuccessful MMA careers

Olympians are usually revered and adulated in sports communities for their advanced skill-sets. It takes thousands of hours of hard work and sacrifices to reach that level. Even Olympians who fall short of winning medals at the Games are largely successful in other competitions.

Many Olympians have tried their hand at MMA, and have enjoyed triumphant careers, proving that they had a higher level of skill-set than everyone else. However, many others have not been as fortunate and have tasted bitter defeats at the hands of athletes, causing fight fans to doubt their Olympic credentials.

Focusing on the latter category of athletes, here's a look at five Olympians who had unsuccessful MMA careers.

#5 Pawel Nastula - Olympian gold medalist (Judo)

22 Jul 1996: Pawel Nastula of Poland celebrates after winning gold in the 96kg category in men's judo.

Pawel Nastula is a Polish judoka who transitioned into a mixed martial artist after a successful Olympic journey. He has won several World Championships and European Championships in Men's judo, and was considered one of the best judokas in the world.

Nastula was unbeaten from February 1994 to March 1998, winning 312 consecutive judo matches across different competitions. It also included the 1996 Olympics held in Georgia, United States. The Olympian competed in the 95kg category for most of his career, and broke his 1,220 day-long unbeaten reign when the weight category changed to 100kg.

Pawel Nastula switched to MMA in 2005, but didn't have an easy journey. He fought several tough mixed martial artists, including the great Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former UFC champ Josh Barnett. Of course, he lost both fights, along with four other bouts in his 11-fight MMA career.

The Polish Olympian could not hit it off in MMA. Fighting in MMA promotions such as Pride and KSW, he picked up a 5-6 record over a period of nine years.

#4 Karam Gaber - Olympian gold medalist (Greco-Roman Wrestling)

Karam Gaber gets his hand raised at the Olympics.

Karam Gaber is an Egyptian Olympian who made it to the Games on three occasions. He won gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling, winning the semi-final 11-0 and final 12-1. In the process, he earned Egypt their second gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling since 1928.

The Egyptian Olympian wrestler also made it to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but failed to qualify for the quarter-finals. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won silver.

Karam Gaber made a very short-lived venture into the MMA world, which ended up being quite unsuccessful, though. Perhaps that was why the Olympian chose not to pursue it further. He faced Kazuyuki Fujita, an amateur wrestler-turned-mixed martial artist, on his MMA debut in K-1 in 2004.

While Fujita was not as decorated a wrestler as the Olympian, he did prove to be a better MMA fighter. During their bout in K-1, Kazuyuki Fujita knocked out Karam Gaber at the 1:07 mark of round one, forcing the latter to close the door on MMA.

#3 Satoshi Ishii - Olympian gold medalist (Judo)

Satoshi Ishii goes up against Quinton Jackson in Bellator.

Satoshi Ishii is a Japanese-Croatian judoka who won several international competitions such as the World U20 Championship, Asian U20 Championship and the Asian Games. His biggest achievement was at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he won gold.

The Olympian lost on his MMA debut in 2009 at Dynamite against fellow Olympic gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. He did show some promise after bouncing back for four straight wins, but lost another high-profile bout against MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko via knockout.

Satoshi Ishii is still an active MMA fighter, and is currently signed with K-1. He has a decent 24-12-1 MMA record, but hasn't been able to showcase his potential fully. The Olympian has fought in several MMA promotions like K-1, Pride, Bellator and Rizin. He has also fought UFC stars such as Quinton Jackson and Jiri Prochazka, but without any success.

#2 Kevin Jackson - Olympian gold medalist (Freestyle Wrestling)

Kevin Jackson is one of the most decorated Olympian wrestlers on this list. Apart from winning gold at the 1992 Olympics, he is a two-time World Champion, a three-time World Cup gold medalist and a two-time Pan American Games gold medalist.

Jackson started his MMA career with a bang, winning his debut at Extreme Fighting 4 and the UFC 14 middleweight tournament. However, the Olympian suffered a loss, and fell short of having a successful MMA career.

Kevin Jackson was submitted in 16 seconds by Frank Shamrock at UFC Japan in the fight for the inaugural UFC light heavyweight championship. Three months later, the Olympian suffered another submission loss, this time at the hands of Jerry Bohlander at UFC 16.

After moving on to another MMA promotion and picking up a win in May 1998, Kevin Jackson retired from the sport and eventually took up coaching.

#1 Makoto Takimoto - Olympian gold medalist (Judo)

Makoto Takimoto won gold at the 2000 Summer Olympics in judo in the half-middleweight category. Takimoto considered switching to MMA after watching a fellow judoka enjoy success in the sport in 2004. The welterweight Olympian announced that he would make his debut in Pride Shockwave 2004 against any non-Judo fighter in any weight class.

The Olympian made his MMA debut against former Sumo wrestler Henry Miller, a bout he won via unanimous decision, outstriking and outwrestling a heavier opponent. In his first six fights, all of which were in Pride, Takimoto amassed a 3-3 record.

Despite a 6-5 record, Makoto Takimoto cannot be said to have had a successful MMA career. Since losing his first fight against Kiyoshi Tamura in 2005, the Olympian has lost against almost every top opponent he has faced. He did defeat former UFC middleweight champion Murillo Bustamante in 2007, but his MMA career can best be described as modest.

Edited by Bhargav