Unlike boxing, mixed martial artists rarely retire undefeated and usually are forced into retirement earlier than they would like. A fighter in MMA who hasn’t had at least one heart-breaking loss on their record is pretty rare.
In other sports when an athlete fails to accomplish their dream it’s sad, but in MMA those same athletes also get beaten up in the process, which makes it even sadder, or at least harder to watch.
Here are the 7 most heart-breaking losses in MMA history…
7. Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva UFC 117
Considering that Chael would fail a drug test shortly after this fight, it is not totally clear how heartbreaking this fight was. But steroids aside, Chael Sonnen was mere minutes away from becoming the person to finally overthrow Anderson Silva and win the UFC middleweight champion.
Sonnen had dominated the first four rounds of the fight with his wrestling. Rumours are that Silva had an injured rib going into the bout which may have allowed Sonnen to take him down and keep him there easier.
Then in the 5th round, seemingly out of the blue Silva locked in a triangle and Sonnen tapped. He was just minutes away but in an instant it was gone. All those steroids had gone to waste.
