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#4. Brandon Thatch – former UFC welterweight
The UFC’s welterweight division has always been loaded and it seems like new prospects emerge there constantly. One such prospect who appeared to have all of the potential in the world just a few years ago was Brandon Thatch.
A giant 170lber who looked far bigger than his training partners Nate Marquardt and Georges St-Pierre, Thatch signed with the promotion in mid-2013 and brought plenty of hype with him thanks to a record of 9-1.
Upon his arrival, it looked like all the hype was well deserved. ‘Rukus’ destroyed an overmatched Justin Edwards in his octagon debut. He then stepped up another level to stop tough veteran Paulo Thiago with a knee to the body.
The UFC seemed to believe that they’d discovered the next big thing at 170 pounds and matched Thatch with Stephen Thompson in what would’ve been his first headline bout, only for ‘Wonderboy’ to drop out of the fight with an injury. That forced the promotion to turn to former lightweight champ Benson Henderson as a replacement.
Despite the discrepancy in experience, Thatch was largely favored in the fight. However, despite having some strong moments, he gassed out late on and succumbed to a rear naked choke in the fourth round.
‘Rukus’ was widely expected to recover from the setback. However, unfortunately, the nature of the loss turned out to be the story of his run in the octagon. He followed it with three losses, all via submission, before being released from his deal in 2016.
In this case, it appeared that Thatch had all the potential in the world from a physical standpoint. However, like so many others before him, he simply couldn’t close up the holes in his game enough to reach the top.
#3. Rustam Khabilov – former UFC lightweight
Right now, the Russian republic of Dagestan seems to be churning out more top fighters than any other place in the world.
Not only did the republic produce former UFC lightweight kingpin Khabib Nurmagomedov, but other Dagestani fighters such as Islam Makhachev, Magomed Ankalaev and Zabit Magomedsharipov are considered amongst the best fighters in their weight classes, too.
However, before Khabib ascended to the peak of the lightweight division, it looked like a different Dagestani would end up moving into title contention at 155 pounds. His name? Rustam Khabilov.
‘The Tiger’ debuted in the octagon in December 2012, and put on a tremendous performance to stop veteran Vinc Pichel with a series of brutal German suplexes.
When he followed that with wins over Yancy Medeiros and Jorge Masvidal, coming close to stopping the latter with a spinning kick, it looked like a star was born.
However, Khabilov then failed to make an impact in his first headline bout, suffering his first octagon loss to former champ Benson Henderson via rear-naked choke.
After this, ‘The Tiger’ simply never quite regained his momentum. Prior to departing for Bellator in 2020, he put together a record of 7-2 in the octagon, but failed to finish any of his opponents, even lower-level ones. He also earned a reputation as a dull fighter.
In this case, the potential Khabilov showed in his early days in the octagon was simply too high a standard for him to produce regularly, meaning he could never live up to the hype.
