Sometimes it’s just the fighter with the largest gas tank who wins.
How many times have we seen elite level fighters gas out during the biggest fight of their life? It happens all the time, leaving many of us wondering how something like that can happen. Are they not paying enough attention to cardio? Aren’t they training hard enough that they should know whether or not they are going to gas in later rounds?
Determining if you are going to gas or not during a fight is easier said than done. There are numerous variables that happen during a fight that don’t happen during training. Just the added adrenaline that comes with an actual fight as opposed to a test fight or hard sparring is enough to cause a fighter with good cardio during training to gas out come fight time.
Unfortunately sometimes a career defining moment for a fighter is a bout in which he just didn’t have the gas tank left to win.
Here are 7 MMA fighters who gassed out in the very first round…
7. Rolles Gracie vs. Joey Beltran
Having the last name Gracie and fighting in the UFC comes with some pressure. After all the UFC was founded on the idea that Gracie jiu-jitsu was the world’s most dominant fighting style.
Rolles Gracie was 3W-0L when he was scheduled to make his UFC debut. After some initial problems getting a fight, Gracie was schedule to face Joey Beltran at UFC 109. It did not go well. Gracie came out strong and even got full mount early, however after only a few minutes he was gassed.
By the 2nd round Gracie had nothing left, and after failing on a takedown attempt he basically just allowed Beltran to beat him up until Herb Dean stepped in. Even Renzo Gracie referred to his performance as “embarrassing”. The UFC cut Rolles after the fight.
