Sometimes just watching MMA can be a painful experience. This is especially the case when we see a legend fall from grace, one of our favourite fighters knocked out, or a champion brought back to reality.
What makes a loss in MMA more devastating to an athlete than in other sports, is that when you lose in MMA you also get beat up. If you lose a basketball game, you just lost a basketball game. The fighters on this list are here because not only did they lose in heartbreaking fashion, they also lost in bone-breaking fashion.
Here are 7 painful losses that were difficult to watch…
Rory MacDonald vs. Robbie Lawler- UFC 189
Heading into the 5th round of their welterweight title fight at UFC 189, it was still anyone’s fight. It had been an absolute bloodbath up until this point, already one of the greatest fights in UFC history.
In fact, this fight would be awarded the Fight of the Year award, the second straight year a Robbie Lawler fight had been given the honour. For Lawler it was his first title defence and one of the greatest performances of his career. For MacDonald he was so close to holding the title that had been held by his Tristar teammate, Georges St. Pierre, for so long.
Lawler cracked him with a shot that literally rearranged Rory’s face in the fifth, and MacDonald collapsed and covered up. After coming that far, and going through such a war, it was painful to watch Rory cover up and come away from the fight without the title.
