4 Former UFC Stars You Might Have Forgotten About

The Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion first came into existence 25 years ago on November 12, 1993 and ever since then has seen the premier performers in Mixed Martial Arts compete against one another inside the world-renowned Octagon.

Playing host to fighters possessing all manners of fighting disciplines, the UFC has produced an incredible amount of stunning action on its shows and played host to a massive number of mixed martial artists from all over the world.

However, the promotion that can now boast over two million pay per view orders for its marquee matches was not always so culturally accepted by the mainstream.

Former presidential candidate, the late Senator John McCain saw a tape of early UFC events in 1996 and sought to ban it by asking all 50 American states to refuse to air the company's events.

36 states adhered to McCain's wishes and the UFC effectively went underground and its once impressive pay per view audience became minuscule. This led to the promotion's biggest star Ken Shamrock signing a deal to compete in the World Wrestling Federation instead. Other names such as Mark Coleman and Wanderlei Silva began to ply their trade in Japan for emerging league, Pride FC instead.

As a result, several names from this era have faded into history.

Since UFC became a big part of the mainstream's combat sports consumption in the mid-2000s, the sheer volume of competitors in UFC exploded as the roster gave opportunities to large amounts of hungry fighters.

However, given the huge amount of fighters on the company's books in recent times it's inevitable for every UFC superstar such as Conor McGregor and George St. Pierre there are many, many more whose runs are unmemorable or for who established legacies are simply forgotten.

Lost to time for a host of reasons, some former UFC fighters are simply not remembered by fans today.

In the following slideshow, we look at four such former UFC stars from the past and analyse possible reasons why there are not well remembered by fans today.

#4 Evan Tanner

Evan Tanner - Premature death has affected his legacy

From 1999 to 2005, Evan Tanner was one of the premier performers in UFC. Defeating such legends of the Octagon as Robbie Lawler and David Terrell, the latter being for the Middleweight Championship, Tanner seemed to be a future Hall of Famer in the making.

However, Tanner's career suffered a decline from 2005 to 2008 as he lost four of his final five fights.

On September 3, 2008 Tanner went camping alone in the California desert. After friends and family were unable to contact him, he was reported missing and discovered dead on September 8, 2008 next to numerous empty bottles of water.

Temperatures had reached up to 48 Degrees Celsius. The coroner reported Tanner's cause of death as heat exposure to excessive desert temperatures.

Tanner's is a name that is seldom heard on UFC programming in 2018 as his legend it seems has faded into history.

Perhaps a Hall of Fame induction in future will cause fans to recall the forgotten man of MMA.

#3 Benson Henderson

Benson Henderson - Once a top star in UFC

The current Bellator performer, Benson Henderson was once one of the UFC's hottest prospects. So lacklustre has Henderson's Bellator run been, it has caused some to forget his largely successful tenure in UFC.

That UFC career began in April 2011 at a memorable UFC 129 event in which Henderson defeated Mark Bocek.

Henderson would go on to defeat the Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar to win the title in a hugely impressive Decision victory.

Henderson defended that belt successfully versus Edgar in a re-match and also overcame dangerous opponents, Nate Diaz and Gilbert Melendez before dropping the title to Anthony Pettis at UFC 164 on August 31, 2013.

It was a staggeringly successful two years in the MMA powerhouse before "Bendo" experienced a dip in fortunes winning just three of his final five bouts inside the Octagon over the next two years.

His UFC career came to an end and he attempted to rebuild his reputation in Bellator to considerably mild success.

It's a shame in 2018 that Henderson's glory days in UFC are largely forgotten.

#2 Frank Shamrock

Frank Shamrock aims a leg kick at Tito Ortiz

For a time, Frank Shamrock, adopted brother of the more famous Ken, was the finest MMA fighter in the world.

Shamrock debuted in UFC in December 1997 at UFC Japan and won the Middleweight Championship (which was later rechristened the Light-Heavyweight belt).

He then went on to defend the title four times, most notably against serial winner, Jeremy Horn and future Light-Heavyweight legend, Tito Ortiz.

His bout with Ortiz was the 1999 fight of the year as the pair traded blows for four rounds before Shamrock finally earned a submission win after barraging his opponents with punches.

Despite being on top of the UFC world, Shamrock then vacated the title and left the promotion citing a lack of competition. He retired a year later only to make unspectacular returns in smaller promotions in 2003 and 2006.

Despite his impressive resume, Shamrock is not well remembered by fans today, largely due to the fact that his peak came during the dark days of the promotion when they were banned in most US states and their reach to a prime audience was limited.

#1 Keith Hackney

"The Giant Killer" lives up to his name defeating the massive Emmanuel Yarborough

Keith Hackney made his UFC debut way back at UFC 3 in September of 1994. Pitted against the enormous 600 Ibs Sumo star, Emmanuel Yarborough, the much smaller Hackney understandably was an underdog.

Giving away 350 Ibs in weight, the fight appeared to be a mismatch. That looked to be the case when Yarborough mauled Hackney and sent him careering out of the Octagon door.

Hackney responded by using his speed to dodge any further attacks and picked his spot and floored Yarborough with a big right hand and then finished him off with a spectacular flurry of punches which caused him to injure his hand and withdraw from the UFC 3 tournament.

Hackney made his return against another giant at UFC 4, the fearsome Joe Son (who would later be convicted of murder and numerous other felonies) in a fight infamous for the "Giant Killer" pounding Son's groin repeatedly before earning a submission win.

His brief UFC career ended with consecutive defeats to former UFC Tournament winners, Royce Gracie and Marco Ruas. His final fight in the promotion occurred on December 16, 1995.

23 years later, Hackney's short-lived career seldom gets any airtime in UFC which is a shame as his impact at the early UFC events was vast.