10 MMA Fighters Who Never Reached Their Full Potential

A name a lot of casual fans will be familiar with is Heavyweight wrestler Cole Konrad. A winner of a gold medal at the 2005 Pan-American Championships, he also won the NCAA wrestling championships in 2006 and 2007 at 285 pounds and finished third at the 2006 World University Championships at 120 kilograms.

Konrad make is professional debut in 2010, winning his first 2 fights on the regional scene before being signed by Bellator MMA. Training with Brock Lesnar, a lot of hype surrounded Konrad and many expected great things. After 2 wins in Bellator, Konrad entered the Season 3 Heavyweight tournament, beating Rogent Lloret and powerful Polish grappler Damian Grabowski to earn his place in the final for the Bellator Heavyweight Title. Konrad dominated the fight with Neil Grove, winning via keylock in the first round to become the first ever Bellator MMA Heavyweight Champion. Konrad's first fight after winning the belt would be a 'non title fight' against MMA veteran and poweful puncher Paul Buentello at Bellator 48, a fight in which Konrad took a clear unanimous decision. Konrad would then dominate heavy hitter Eric Prindle to make the first defence of his Heavyweight title. According to his coach Greg Nelson, Konrad only trained for 1 day for the fight.

Konrad retired from MMA competition on September 12, 2012 to become a full-time commodities broker. Leaving many people questioning how well he could have done if he hadn.t Dominating opponents with such little training, Konrad could have become UFC Heavyweight Champion if he had continued.