The 411 MMA Year-End Awards: Part Two – The Most Disappointing Fighters of 2016

Welcome back to the MMA Top 5, year-end awards edition! What we are going to is take a topic and all the writers here on 411 MMA will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, and the end, based on where all of these topics rank on people’s list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It looks a little like this…

1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd – 3
4th – 2
5th – 1

At the end we tally the scores and get our overall top 5! It’s highly non-official and final, like WAMMA. From best and worst fight to best fighter and KO of the year, the staff will come together to share out best. Thanks for joining us, and lets get down to work.

1. Anthony Pettis – Pettis entered 2016 looking to return to championship form and stay healthy following a summer injury (that postponed a fight with Myles Jury). The best you can say about his year was he fought four times (the first time he did so in the UFC, he did it last in 2010), but now you have to question whether his prime is long gone. Losses to Eddie Alvarez and Edson Barboza early in the year chased him from the lightweight division, though he did look solid in a win over Charles Oliveira in the summer. He had an opportunity to fight Max Holloway for an interim featherweight title but missed weight (joining the likes of Travis Lutter who by missing weight, lost out on a title fight) and went on to be finished for the first time in his 25-fight career. Now 1-4 in his last five fights, Pettis will turn 30-years-old later this month and he aims to return to 155-pounds in the new year. A former UFC champion, his incredible “Showtime kick” and first win over Benson Henderson is now six years old, will he be able to bounce back and go for his second UFC title in 2017?

1. Johny Hendricks – Remember when Johny Hendricks was “robbed” of a decision against GSP and was going to rule over the welterweight division with his powerful punches and smothering wrestling game? Because it wasn’t that long ago, in fact it was 2014. Hendricks lost the welterweight title in a somewhat disputed split decision to Robbie Lawler in 2014 but rebounded by beating Matt Brown and a trilogy match with Lawler seemed like a good enough idea as 2016 got underway. Then he ran into the buzz saw that is Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and was finished for the first time in his career. Now Thompson is a very good fighter, but Hendricks then failed to make weight and looked absolutely awful when he was battered by Kelvin Gastelum, and failed to make weight again and was bested by Neil Magny. For a guy who looked to be a fixture at the top of the division at basically this same time last year, he’s disappointed on every level from failing to make weight to lackluster fights, and by the time this is published could easily have been cut by the UFC.

1. Johny Hendricks – To me, Johny Hendricks was the only choice. Johny Hendricks in the span of a year went from one of the top welterweights in the UFC to going 0-3 and on the outs of the company. Hendricks had been struggling with his cut to 170 pounds quite a while before 2016. In fact, after his rematch with Lawler, he was doing everything in his power to just not die in the fight because he had a horrible weight cut. He even went so far as telling the media that if he had another bad weight cut, he’d either move up to 185 pounds or retire. His problems only increased after that. His weight cut got so bad he was forced to withdraw from a welterweight title eliminator fight in the co-main event with Tyron Woodley at UFC 192. Hendricks then proceeded to lose all of his three fights in 2016. He missed weight against Kelvin Gastelum, and lost an uninspired performance. Then he lost a tough decision to Neil Magny at UFC 207. However, for that fight he missed weight yet again. During fight week, he did not appear to be doing well at well. He was acting miserable and very sluggish. He was even challenging reporters to make weight and cut 25 pounds for the next UFC event. Disregarding the fact that it’s his job and something he legally agrees to show up to a fight on weight. If his weight cut is so terrible, he should’ve moved up a long time ago. If it’s an issue of discipline, he’s had more than enough time to make adjustments. It’s just sad considering that Hendricks used to be the king of the division. He’s a former UFC champion. He’s a NCAA Division I wrestling champion. Now, we could very much be seeing the downfall of Hendricks’ MMA career.

1. Johny Hendricks – This has been such an odd downfall for Hendricks, who lost his welterweight title in a disputed decision at the end of 2014 and UFC flirted with the idea of an immediate rematch. They went in a different direction, and Hendricks fought Matt Brown. He beat Brown decisively, but it wasn’t a good fight. Although by all rights he should have been the next title challenger, he was passed over for the more exciting Carlos Condit. Then things went way downhill. A bad weight cut made him a late scratch from an October 2015 fight with Tyron Woodley. He returned in February 2016 against Stephen Thompson, looking like a shell of himself as he was stopped in the first round. Then missed weight and lost to Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 200, before again missing weight and losing to Neil Magny at UFC 207. Perhaps it’s the strenuous weight cut, or maybe it’s motivation, but whatever the reason, Hendricks is not the same fighter that he was just a couple years ago.

1. Johny Hnedricks – After losing the welterweight strap, Johny Hendricks has not been able to put it together. He seems unmotivated, lately. Sure, he bounced back by beating Matt Brown in 2015, but his performance was somewhat under whelming. Then came 2016 and first up was Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Thompson quickly out struck Hendricks and stopped the former champion for the first time in his career. Next, Hendricks missed weight for his bout at UFC 200 with Kelvin Gastelum. Once again, his performance was under whelming in route to losing a unanimous decision. And, to cap off the year, his missed weight again for the big end of the year show (UFC 207), delivers another uninspiring performance, and loses by decision. Hendricks received no break this year and as a result his UFC career is tottering towards the wrong side of the line and his days at welterweight are likely over. While a hand full of fighters can say they deserve this embarrassing spot, Johny Hendricks fell the hardest this year and he only has himself to blame. He was poised to be a ruling elite in the division but he let it slip away. Others in the same boat have opportunities to bounce back, but for Hendricks, it just seems unlikely, at the moment.

1. Johny Hendricks – Hendricks went from “title contender/Uncrowned Welterweight Champion” to a guy that looks and performs like a completely different fighter since the arrival of USADA. He misses weight, looks soft and completely unmotivated as a fighter these days. He was 0-3 in 2016 in the cage, 1-2 against the scale. It’s been a sad fall for Hendricks, who looked to be the looked to be the heir apparent to George St-Pierre. Remember how GSP wanted the expanded drug testing for their fight and Hendricks’ side was dodgy about it?

T5. Luke Rockhold – 5 points

T5. Ronda Rousey – 5 points

4. Holly Holm – 7 points

3. Jon Jones – 13 points

2. Anthony Pettis – 24 points

1. Johny Hendricks – 28 points

THE 2015 411 MMA AWARDS:
* The Biggest Stories of 2016: Zuffa Sells UFC to WME-IMG for $4 BILLION – 29 points
* The Most Disappointing Fighters of 2016: Johny Hendricks – 28 points
* The Breakout Fighters of 2016: TO BE DETERMINED (January 18th)
* The Worst Fights of 2016: TO BE DETERMINED (January 19th)

* The Best Submissions of 2016: TO BE DETERMINED (January 23rd)
* The Best Knockouts of 2016: TO BE DETERMINED (January 24th)
* The Best Fights of 2016: TO BE DETERMINED (January 25th)
* Fighter of the Year: TO BE DETERMINED (January 26th)