1. B.J Penn
Dana White has called BJ Penn as the most under-achieving UFC fighter of all time, and there is a lot of evidence to point to that fact.
BJ Penn was a world champion in brazilian jiu-jitsu after just 3 years of training. Penn just seemed naturally good at everything, earning him the nickname “the Prodigy”. Hype around Penn was so intense that it took along time for people to notice he was never going to live up to it.
BJ Penn has lost as many championship matches as he has won, he’s won 5 and lost 5. That’s hardly the record of legend, yet many still want to classify Penn as that. Since he turned 31 years old Penn’s MMA record is 1W-5L-1D.
That’s a steep a dive as anyone’s career has ever taken at that stage. The truth is “the Prodigy” never evolved, never improved, and by the time he was in his 30s other fighters had passed him by. Sometimes that happens to athletes who are as naturally gifted as BJ is, they don’t evolve their game because they believe they are naturally better than their opponents.
