MMA: Fighters Who Lost...

[Gene Kiniski]

I was talking this over with a friend the other day. There are a lot of fighters that lose the fight, but in return gain a bit of respect in some shape or form. What fighters have you gained some sort of respect for off of a losing bout?

Mine would be Chris Leben vs. Anderson Silva. Here's the thing, Leben is one of my favorite fighters, but I am able to put that to the side for this. Had I still been stuck on his actions from the TUF House and his attitude at the time I would have been able to look past it a bit after this fight. This fight ended early, yes, but even after you realized that Leben was going to need a miracle left hand to win this fight he still continued to press and trade with Silva who was obviously out-striking him.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Without a doubt Bonnar comes to mind straight away. That first fight with Forrest blew my mind, certainly got to be up there as my favourite fight. Ended up losing the fight, but damn did he earn my respect.

[ZJ Penn]

Kevin Randleman after the Fedor fight at Pride: Critical Countdown 2004 (I think). Never really liked him for a few reasons but he'd just lost his father and been in one hell of a car accident, then went out there and threw Fedor around like a rag doll before being submitted. I'm still not overly keen on him, but it's hard not to have respect for the guy after that.

[Toe]

Brock Lesner against Frank Mir. Sure, he got caught, but he was doing well against a top level fighter and proved that he was taking MMA seriously.

[Enter Blue Guy]

I'd say the best instance for me is Forrest/Tito from UFC 59. Forrest went from the scrappy winner of TUF to a fighter worthy of hype. It was really nothing more than a test for Forrest to see were he stood against stiffer competition. Much more of a must win for Tito and in the end it could have easily been handed to Griffin. Regardless, this was were most observer's perception of Forrest Griffin would change.

[Mr Evil Guy]

Hammill losing to Bisping is one, Guida losing to Huerta is another.