How does an undefeated MMA fighter lose to a journeyman with a losing record?
The answer is simple - the numbers can be deceptive. Especially on the regional scene.
Not all wins are created equal. Often it doesn't take much digging to find out the truth. When you see a fighter rising through the ranks while amassing an undefeated record, it's always worth checking out the quality of those victories. In the case of Mike Hales, who suffered his first professional loss to Anthony Taylor at BAMMA London, his record heading into that fight was very suspect.
Found out
Hales entered into the contest as a 5-0 pro. However, he was completely dominated by Taylor, who improved to 3-5 at York Yall. He wrestled the Englishman into oblivion. Even after being deducted a point for a headbutt, Taylor cruised to 29-27, 29-26, 29-26 victory.
When you look at how Hales became a 5-0 fighter, it's pretty obvious that the foundations of that 'invincibility' were built on something with less structural integrity than sand.
According to
Tapology, which is about as accurate as sites get for regional MMA records, Hales scored back-to-back first-round submissions over Danny Joel in his first two pro fights. Joel was 0-4 the first time he fought Hales, 0-9 for the second one and is currently 0-10.
Hales then knocked out 0-11 Linas Meistavich in the first, who has since fallen to 0-20. For his next bout, he scored another first-round knockout, this time against 0-4 Kane Goldup, who is now 0-7. Then, in his last bout before taking on Taylor, he KO'd Will Cairns, who was 0-22 at the time and is now 0-28.
https://twitter.com/chrisfieldsmma/status/1012735757805674496
Thanks to Irish MMA veteran Chris Fields for doing the Maths. That's right, the combined record of Hales opponents was 0-50 before he fought Taylor. They have since dropped to 0-66.
Fields is right, that's embarrassing for everyone involved. The embarrassment only intensifies once they get found out for what they are, such as Hales was in London on Thursday night.
