Gunnar Nelson
It might seem a little harsh to put Gunnar Nelson on this list considering he just lost his first match in thirteen fights. Those thirteen wins didn’t come against anyone special though. Rick Story knew how to best Nelson – avoid the ground at all costs and keep the pressure on him. When he’s constantly on the back-foot Nelson can’t be the cold, calculated finisher people make him out to be. There are other fighters that go out with the same basic game plan every fight. Ronda Rousey, Chael Sonnen and Lyoto Machida do that but they are world-class and Olympic level practitioners. Yes, he does have a very good jui-jitsu resume, but look at someone like Demian Maia’s BJJ record and you will see not a good resume, but a great one. Even Maia knew that being a one-trick pony will only get you so far. If Gunnar continues to rely on nothing but his ground skills he is in for a pretty tough year.
