3: Darren Till<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nAs a highly-marketable striker who started his career with a 17-fight unbeaten streak, Till took the torch from former middleweight champion Michael Bisping as the new face of UK MMA and it seemed inevitable that he, too, would capture gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That dream turned into a nightmare as \u201cThe Gorilla\u201d was stopped in the second round by then-welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in 2018 and he was knocked out cold by Jorge Masvidal in his next bout on home soil, prompting a move to middleweight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His razor-thin split decision win over Calvin Gastelum, who\u2019s also in desperate need of a victory, in his 185-pound debut in 2019 remains his only triumph in the weight class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three consecutive losses, the most recent a submission defeat to South African ace Dricus du Plessis last December, have left him pondering his future, knowing full well his UFC journey could end if he can\u2019t find success in his next fight, whomever he faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
2: Jorge Masvidal<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nA fighter\u2019s fighter who first threw down in the streets and backyards as part of Kimbo Slice\u2019s crew, Masvidal revitalised his career in 2019 when he slept Darren Till and busted up Leon Edwards in a backstage altercation on the same night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGamebred\u201d maximised that buzz with a record five-second knockout of Ben Askren that broke the internet and beat fellow fan favourite Nate Diaz for the specially built \u201cBMF\u201d belt later that year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Having become a megastar, Masvidal received two cracks at then-welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, losing the first by decision and ending up on the wrong side of the 2021 knockout of the year in the rematch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shifted his focus to friend turned foe Colby Covington last year and suffered a frustrating decision loss, frustrations he took out on \u201cChaos\u201d at a Miami restaurant that landed him in legal trouble that\u2019s yet to be resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a three-fight losing skid, Masvidal\u2019s been matched up with fellow former title challenger Gilbert Burns at UFC 287 in April, where a loss wouldn\u2019t hurt his overall popularity too much but would see him fall back into journeyman status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1: Conor McGregor<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nAs the biggest megastar in MMA history, McGregor has to win his next fight not only to remain a top contender in the lightweight division but also for the sake of the UFC and the sport in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No one in history has drawn more casual fans to the sport whilst also being a decorated member of MMA royalty as the transcendent Irish icon and for that dual status to remain intact, he has to get past Michael Chandler in his comeback fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The game-changing \u201cNotorious\u201d has won just one fight since his legendary masterclass against Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden in 2016 to become the first-ever fighter to hold two titles simultaneously, a first-round TKO of Donald Cerrone in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Prior to that, he lost the lightweight title he\u2019d won from Alvarez to arch-rival Khabib Nurmagomedov and after his quick win over \u201cCowboy\u201d, he suffered back-to-back defeats to Dustin Poirier in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the nature of his losses to \u201cThe Diamond\u201d that raised questions over whether McGregor, who\u2019d spiralled out of control after making $100 million in his crossover boxing bout against Floyd Mayweather in 2017, is still among the elite as he was knocked out for the first time and then dominated before he broke his leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He and human highlight reel Chandler will serve as coaches on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC\u2019s reality TV tournament, and face off later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a dangerous yet favourable match-up for McGregor, who\u2019ll vault right back into title contention with a victory. A loss, on the other hand, would signal the end of his time as a title contender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/top-10-ufc-knockouts-of-2022-2022-12-20\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The adage a fighter\u2019s next fight is their most important rings especially true for five UFC legends whose backs are against the Octagon fence writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":71276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"1","beyondwords_project_id":"20741","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"6203304","beyondwords_hash":"320ed494aac3dd1e4250a703eaaf9ed035bc87a2","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1503],"tags":[2185,2186,289,1301,2034,1986,5,2184,2187,1537,1202,2182,2183,315,2077],"yoast_head":"\n
UFC Fighters Who Can't Afford To Lose Their Next Fight<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UFC Fighters Who Can't Afford To Lose Their Next Fight","description":"The adage a fighter\u2019s next fight is their most important ring especially true for five UFC legends whose backs are against the Octagon fence.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UFC Fighters Who Can't Afford To Lose Their Next Fight","og_description":"The adage a fighter\u2019s next fight is their most important ring especially true for five UFC legends whose backs are against the Octagon fence.","og_url":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/","og_site_name":"Bet Central","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/betcoza\/","article_published_time":"2023-02-07T08:31:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-07T09:37:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/bet_feature-49.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Quintin van Jaarsveld","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/quintvj","twitter_site":"@betcoza","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Quintin van Jaarsveld","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/"},"author":{"name":"Quintin van Jaarsveld","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5fe4ce8feba5032abee971b2f2a38205"},"headline":"UFC Fighters Who Can’t Afford To Lose Their Next Fight","datePublished":"2023-02-07T08:31:09+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-07T09:37:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/"},"wordCount":1092,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/bet_feature-49.jpg","keywords":["Beneil Darius","Colby Covington","conor mcgregor","Editor's Choice","Islam Makhachev","Khamzat Chimaev","Latest News","Marlon Vera","Michael Chandler","MMA","News","Rose Namajunas","Sean O'Malley","UFC","Zhang Weili"],"articleSection":["UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/","url":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/","name":"UFC Fighters Who Can't Afford To Lose Their Next Fight","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/bet_feature-49.jpg","datePublished":"2023-02-07T08:31:09+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-07T09:37:01+00:00","description":"The adage a fighter\u2019s next fight is their most important ring especially true for five UFC legends whose backs are against the Octagon fence.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/bet_feature-49.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/bet_feature-49.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Conor McGregor"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/ufc\/ufc-fighters-who-cant-afford-to-lose-their-next-fight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UFC Fighters Who Can’t Afford To Lose Their Next Fight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/","name":"Bet Central","description":"Sports Betting News, Predictions, Stats and Tips","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#organization","name":"Bet.machibet777-app.com","url":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/1000x1000.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/1000x1000.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"Bet.machibet777-app.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/betcoza\/","https:\/\/x.com\/betcoza","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/betcoza\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCM4AQKDVv14sIh7hhSyHX1g"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5fe4ce8feba5032abee971b2f2a38205","name":"Quintin van Jaarsveld","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce4b2a5a30647fcd79ed775379b8f39b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ce4b2a5a30647fcd79ed775379b8f39b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Quintin van Jaarsveld"},"description":"Quintin Van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 15 years\u2019 experience and is currently a freelance sports writer.","sameAs":["https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/quintvj"],"url":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/author\/quintin-van-jaarsveld\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/machibet777-app.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}