10 MMA Fighters Who Never Reached Their Full Potential

Another fighters on the list that most casuals may not have heard of, but Adlan Amagov was a straight up beast. One of many incredibly talented fighters to come out of Chechnya (Russian Rebublic), Amagov has a background in Combat Sambo, training with the famous Emelianenko brothers. Amagov made his MMA debut in 2007 to the now UFC Heavyweight contender Oleksiy Oliynyk but then went on to build an 8-1-1 record before making his US debut in 2011 with Strikeforce. Amagov tore through Anthony Smith in his debut, setting him up against current UFC Welterweight champion Robbie Lawler for his next fight.

Despite getting hit with a flying knee from Lawler and subsequently losing that fight, Amagov showed some great promise. "Borz" demolished Keith Berry in his next fight before the UFC bought out Strikeforce and therefore Amagov's contract. After an impressive victory against Chris Spang his next challenge in the UFC was slick submission specialist T.J Waldburger. Amagov showed incredibly balance to stop Waldburger's takedowns and progressed to finsh him in such brutal fashion it left you fearing for Waldburger's health.

The hype was in full swing and rightly so. Amagov was expected to face Jason High at UFC Fight Night 35 but withdrew due to injury. After more than a year of absence from the sport, BloodyElbow editor Karim Zidan stated that Amagov had "no interest" in returning to MMA, and that he wants to "watch his kids grow up and is tired of cutting weight".

Sadly, we'll never get to see just how well Amagov could have done, but in many people's opinions he looked like an eventual title contender.