10 MMA Fights That Were The Beginning Of The End For Legends

7. Chael Sonnen Vs. Rashad Evans - UFC 167

Chael Sonnen's star-making fight actually came in a defeat to Anderson Silva at UFC 117. Going into that fight, many just saw The American Nightmare as somebody who was all talk and who had used his expert sh*t-talking to bag himself a fight with the legendary Spider.

Sonnen would lose that fight in the fifth round, but he shocked the world by dominating Silva for the majority of that contest. Chael Sonnen was the real deal, and he'd turned the naysayers in the audience into believers. The next several years saw Sonnen as one of the UFC's biggest stars, but things took a serious turn for the worst during Chael's UFC 167 fight against Rashad Evans.

In that fight, 'Sugar' Rashad's impressive boxing skills saw him get a first-round TKO win over Sonnen. A spell as a TUF coach followed, but drug failures and a subsequent retirement saw Chael Sonnen out of the cage for just over three years.

Reflecting back, that Evans fight was realistically the beginning of the end for the talented wrestler as it pertains to being taken seriously as a top contender.

Sonnen's 2017 return at Bellator 170 saw him embarrassed by an already-declined Tito Ortiz with a first-round tap-out. The next two years saw Chael competing against other veteran performers, before The People's Champion once again retired this past June in the aftermath of his Bellator 222 TKO loss to Lyoto Machida.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.