10 UFC Stars Who Got Too Cocky

It doesn't take a genius to realise that bravado and self-assurance are two key components that any UFC fighter needs to keep themselves on top. Without them, a competitor would lack belief and leave themselves looking vulnerable.

In a world that leans so heavily on the ability to intimidate your rival, this confidence can very quickly evolve into something else entirely.

Arrogance.

Stars become so wrapped up in the constant battle to get the upper hand, that they inevitably become warped by their own rhetoric and begin to exude a level of over-confidence that makes fans clamour to see them get eviscerated - which is always only a matter of time.

Be it with cocky flourishes inside the Octagon or sickeningly brash statements at a press-conference, the fighters signed to the UFC are never starved of platforms to make rods for their own backs.

Speaking of which, is there anything more entertaining than seeing a smarmy MMA entity get humbled in front of a paying audience?

If you don't think there is, then these ten will be right up your street...

When starting a conversation about cocky loudmouths in the UFC, Chael Sonnen's name cropping up is pretty much a given, right?

Whether he's threatening to 'whoop' a fan's ass at a UFC Fan Expo or warning rivals that it is 'hazardous to one's health' when choosing to fight him, Sonnen has never wanted for reassurance.

But, with that high degree of belief in his own hype, 'The Bad Guy' was always going to leave himself open to humiliation when he couldn't follow up on his diatribes.

One glaring example of this would be when Sonnen was heading into his title showdown with UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jon Jones.

Sonnen boasted about how Jones had never been in the Octagon with a 'gangster' and even went as far as to call himself 'the best MMA wrestler in the world', poking at Jones for 'saying no' to their first potential match-up, throughout the build-up.

Needless to say, Sonnen was taken down on multiple occasions, before being pummeled into a TKO loss inside the first round at UFC 159.

Bragging about your amateur wrestling World Championship Silver Medal prior to getting your ass thrown around a ring for just under a round, isn't exactly a strong look.