Sherdog’s Top 10: Biggest Underachievers

5. Rickson Gracie

I didn't include the great Rickson and neither did many others, but he also appeared in the top spot on three different lists. My criteria do not penalize fighters for retiring early or even a lack of activity, but without that, I would certainly have listed him, just like Cole Konrad. After all, Rickson is one of the great what-ifs in MMA history. What if he didn't have a falling out with brother Rorion and was chosen to represent the Gracie family in the first UFC tournaments, rather than little brother Royce? Rickson was, by all accounts, by far the greatest Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner of all time in 1993, while Royce was largely unheralded and, by some estimates, the level of a mere purple belt when he debuted at UFC 1. Even after that, Rickson could have joined the UFC when Rorion split with Semaphore Entertainment Group, then the owners of the promotion, after UFC 5. He could have simply fought more in Japan, but he didn't.

Thus, Rickson is the subject of speculation to this day about what he could have been. He has a perfect 11-0 record, but few of his opponents are anything to write home about. Masakatsu Funaki was easily the best and a Pancrase legend, though his game was limited by the standards of MMA in 2000, when Rickson defeated him, and he never translated well to full MMA from 90s Pancrase rules. Yuki Nakai was skilled for his time, but weighed 150 pounds soaking wet, far smaller than Rickson, and was dealing with a horrific eye injury that would later cause blindness when he faced Rickson in the finals of Vale Tudo Japan 1995. (The Brazilian valiantly refused to strike Nakai in the face.) While Nobuhiko Takada was an incredibly popular pro wrestler and his two fights against Rickson carried Pride’s early events, he was absolutely awful as a fighter. Rickson's second-best opponent may have been Yoshihisa Yamamoto, a Japanese journeyman heavyweight who finished with a record of 14-25. Could Rickson's legendary BJJ have forged a far more significant career in MMA against actual skilled opponents of the 90s, or would he have been exposed in that case? Consider too that Rickson was born in 1958, making him 40 by 1998. Yet, I believe he would indeed have found more considerable success, and three other Sherdog contributors believe so very strongly. Instead, Rickson's legend in MMA is a pale shadow of his younger brother’s.

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