Fedor Emelianenko (& 9 More MMA Fighters Who Suffered A Sharp Career Decline)

MMA fighters generally follow a standard career trajectory. They typically have a slow but consistent rise to the top, before eventually declining and slowly fading into obscurity over the course of a few years. However, that's not always the case with all fighters.

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Some fighters, such as Fedor Emelianenko, are riding high and are on top of the world before falling off a cliff instantly. While Emelianenko is still fighting today, he had a sharp decline out of nowhere that has seen him take a massive hit to his career and his legacy. However, Emelianenko is not alone, as many UFC and MMA fighters in general have suffered sharp declines.

10 Ken Shamrock

Ken Shamrock was one of the earliest high-profile fighters in the UFC. Fighting at the very first UFC event in 1993, he became a Hall of Famer by becoming a superfight champion and defeating massive names such as Bas Rutten and Maurice Smith.

However, he took time off and wrestled for the WWF for a few years and upon his return, had fallen off a cliff in terms of talent. Shamrock went 5-12 after returning to MMA in 2000 and was brutalized in any fight against top-level competition.

9 BJ Penn

BJ Penn is a former two-division champion who had beaten some of the best the sport had to offer heading into his title eliminator bout against Nick Diaz in 2011. Had he beaten Diaz, he would've had a trilogy bout against Georges St-Pierre, however, that would be the last time Penn was anywhere close to a victory.

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Penn lost that bout to Diaz and proceeded to lose his next six as well. Very few fights were actually competitive during the stretch and Penn was released from the UFC with the longest losing streak in company history in 2019.

8 Junior dos Santos

Junior dos Santos had incredible longevity in the heavyweight division. Having been at the top of the mountain as a former UFC heavyweight champion, he was still in title contention when he ran into Francis Ngannou in 2019, having won three straight fights.

dos Santos got knocked out brutally by Ngannou, which then kickstarted a drastic downfall for Santos. JDS previously had one of the greatest chins in the game but finished his UFC career getting knocked out four straight times before being cut.

7 Bigfoot Silva

Bigfoot Silva was one of the best heavyweights on the planet until he failed a drug test for elevated testosterone in 2013. Following Silva having to go without the TRT that was needed due to medical issues, he fell off a cliff in terms of competitiveness.

Since 2013, Silva has gone 1-10 in fights across MMA, kickboxing, and bare-knuckle boxing. Rough end to the career for the Brazilian big man.

6 Cody Garbrandt

Cody Garbrandt was 11-0 at the end of 2016, the UFC bantamweight champion, and had just put on arguably the single best performance in UFC history against Dominick Cruz. Following his win against Cruz, he then had the most unexpected collapse in MMA history.

Since 2016, Garbrandt has gone 1-5 in his six octagon appearances. Suffering loads of injuries in that stretch, he got brutally knocked out in four of those fights.

5 Anthony Pettis

Anthony Pettis was well on his way to being one of the biggest crossover stars in MMA history in 2015. It's hard to stress, but his highlight reel was one of the best ever, he was getting a massive push by the UFC, he was literally on the Wheaties box.

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However, it was all downhill for Pettis from there. While he picked up some good wins over the years, he's gone from an 18-2 record to 24-12 over the past seven years. He's since moved on from the UFC to PFL and has lost his debut fights in the promotion there as well.

4 Tony Ferguson

Tony Ferguson was seen by years as the only man on the planet who might be able to compete with Khabib Nurmagomedov. However, his final scheduled showdown with the Russian at UFC 249 was canceled after COVID-19 forced Nurmagomedov to pull out, and he instead faced Justin Gaethje.

Ferguson then took a massive beating and lost to Gaethje via knockout. He then got dominated in his two subsequent bouts, and at the age of 37, it seems that Ferguson's decline will only continue to get worse.

3 Donald Cerrone

Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone had battled against father time for years. Despite loads of damage, short-notice fights, and insane wars, he was still a top-five fighter on the verge of a title shot when he faced Tony Ferguson at UFC 238.

Unfortunately for Cerrone, that 2019 fight was the beginning of the end. He lost that bout via knockout and proceeded to be winless in his next five fights. Dana White has previously pleaded with the bonus king to retire but has stated that he'll give the future Hall of Famer one more bout, to hopefully end on a win.

2 Robbie Lawler

Robbie Lawler's career turnaround was one of the greatest in the sport's history. Lawler was making a name for himself as one of the greatest welterweights ever in 2016, having defeated the likes of Rory Macdonald, Carlos Condit, and Johny Hendricks in title bouts.

However, Lawler lost his title to Tyron Woodley that year. He then went 2-4 in his next four bouts following the Woodley loss. While that's not a bad record on paper, his wins are against another entry on this list, Donald Cerrone, and the other was Nick Diaz after a six-year layoff.

1 Fedor Emelianenko

Fedor Emelianenko had won 27 straight bouts and was considered the greatest fighter on the planet when he faced Fabricio Werdum in 2010. He lost in one of the biggest upsets of all time to Werdum that night in 2010, and then the downfall began.

Emelianenko then lost his next two bouts via finish as well, before being cut from Strikeforce. While Emelinaneko's record hasn't been terrible following that three-fight skid, he's still had terrible knockout losses to Matt Mitrione and Ryan Bader in recent years that mar his record.