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Pride comes before a fall... Join us as we count down our picks for the times cocky athletes received a much-needed slice of humble pie! Our list features superstars who talked big but couldn't back it up when it mattered most. From tennis tantrums to UFC knockouts, these athletes learned the hard way that actions speak louder than words.
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00:00I've been on record to say I'm a sore loser.
00:02Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the times that cocky athletes received a much-needed
00:07slice of humble pie.
00:08I'm gonna show her what's up on Sunday and I'm done with all of this.
00:12Number 10, Nick Kyrgios.
00:14Tennis needed characters like Kyrgios to inject a little spice into the elite level.
00:18I love the media, like, I love doing the media.
00:21Yeah?
00:21Yeah, yeah, you guys are so nice to me.
00:23It's true of any era in any sport.
00:25However, that doesn't mean the Australian didn't end up looking foolish from time to time.
00:29In an attempt to get under the great Rafael Nadal's skin, Kyrgios mocked his pre-served demeanor.
00:33Relax feel. Serious feel.
00:35Yeah, exactly. Thank you, Todd.
00:41Unfortunately, his mind games had little to no effect, and he later apologized to Nadal, who took it all in
00:46stride.
00:47Kyrgios, by his own admission, had fallen into a deep depression after losing badly to Nadal the previous year.
00:52But thankfully, he pulled himself out of it eventually.
00:53There's a lot of things I need to improve on to get to that level that, you know, Rafa brings,
00:57Novak brings, Roger have been doing for so long.
00:59Number 9, Mario Balotelli.
01:02Nobody was denying Balotelli's talents, especially during his prime.
01:05Mario was a pretty unique guy.
01:09He was a real one-off.
01:11He was, contrary to popular belief, he was a bright guy who did some bizarre things.
01:17Very unpredictable.
01:18He just didn't know what he was going to do next.
01:20Very, very talented player.
01:22However, consistency was always a problem for the Italian, and his attitude caused several rifts with big-name managers.
01:28One infamous example of Balotelli's antics on the big stage came during a Manchester City preseason showdown with LA Galaxy.
01:34Mario decided to attempt to score a trick shot that could not have looked more low effort.
01:38Beautifully timed run. Balotelli to make it two.
01:41And are you kidding?
01:43Mario Balotelli.
01:45This was, of course, seen as majorly disrespectful to the home side.
01:48Thankfully, manager Roberto Mancini decided to take action, subbing him out of the game immediately.
01:54Though Balotelli later claimed he thought he was offside and that the game had paused, very few people believed him.
01:59Boy, this is problematic here.
02:01Very interesting stuff here.
02:03Good on Roberto Mancini.
02:04Number eight, LeBron James.
02:06He came to the Miami Heat and decided to put a lot of pressure on his own shoulders, making the
02:10frankly insane promise of seven championship rings to the team's fans.
02:14But we also know you three kings came down here to win championships.
02:18Not one, championships.
02:20Not two.
02:21LeBron, tell us about that.
02:22Not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven.
02:28Sure, gunning for one more than Michael Jordan's six is a clear statement of intent, but it showed James' lack
02:34of humility.
02:34He would go on to have a patchy record in finals appearances, and in 2014, he was forced to accept
02:39that he had bitten off more than he could chew.
02:40San Antonio Spurs are the world champions.
02:45The Spurs have captured their fifth NBA championship.
02:49In other words, the San Antonio Spurs were simply better than the Heat.
02:52Sure, LeBron would go on to find more consistent form under the bright lights, but this was an important moment
02:57for his trajectory nonetheless.
02:58But that's just the nature of the game.
03:00You win some, you lose some.
03:02You know, he's just got to come back the next year and, you know, and be better.
03:06Number seven, Tom Brady.
03:07Seeing a young Brady being so undeniably cocky is a pretty crazy sight.
03:11We don't make predictions, or we just let our play do the talking, so.
03:15Giants wideout, Plaxico Burris boldly predicted that Brady's dominant Patriots wouldn't make it past 17 points in Super Bowl XLII.
03:22Brady, who was full of confidence, openly laughed at the idea of his team underperforming.
03:26We're only going to score 17 points.
03:29Okay.
03:30He then went out and saw Burris' prediction come true.
03:32Patriots lost 17-14, leaving Brady to accept that he was wrong.
03:36To his credit, he made no attempts to shy away from media questions, and later described it as his hardest
03:41ever career loss.
03:42Well, it is extremely disappointing.
03:46Isn't something, you know, any of us prepare for, but you go into a game, you know that some teams
03:50got to win and some teams got to lose.
03:52Number six, Brian Bosworth.
03:54To say that Bosworth had bought into his own hype would be putting it lightly.
03:57The Bos was this larger-than-life character, this guy who knew how to merchandise himself, this guy who had
04:07the haircut and the earring and all the things that he brought with him.
04:12He very publicly flaunted his persona as the Bos, often referring to himself in the third person.
04:18However, ahead of a heavily publicized meeting with Bo Jackson in 1987, he made a promise that would haunt him
04:23for years after.
04:24I remember calling him out. That was kind of what my job was as a linebacker, got to call out
04:29the star on the other side of the team.
04:31He made it clear that he wasn't worried about Jackson's athleticism or talents, vowing to handle him with ease on
04:36the field.
04:37Not only did that not happen, he actually ended up getting manhandled by Jackson in several key plays.
04:42It was a very public instance of being forced to eat crow.
04:45He did all, all of the talking, and I learned, and I learned back in college and high school, is
04:52that I do my talking on the field.
04:555. Cam Newton
04:56It doesn't matter how good your team looks in the lead-up to the Super Bowl. It can still fall
05:00apart when it matters most.
05:02I'm comfortable, you know, with the position that I'm in right now.
05:05Cam Newton seemed uber-confident about the Carolina Panthers' chances of running over the Denver Broncos.
05:10On the big night, it was the Broncos' defense that had the last laugh, as they managed to throw him
05:14off his game.
05:15Newly-minted MVP. Couldn't get it going.
05:18Newton was even responsible for a huge error, freezing up for a split second over a fumbled ball, allowing the
05:24opposition to scoop it up.
05:25It was an error that he himself admitted would follow him for years after.
05:29They just played better than us. I don't know what you want me to say.
05:334. Muhammad Ali
05:34Look, we love Muhammad Ali, as much as anyone else.
05:37He is, without question, one of the most iconic and important sports figures in history.
05:40I predict that when I meet Joe Frazier, this will be like a good amateur fighting a real professional.
05:47We'd be remiss, though, if we didn't draw attention to how much he belittled and insulted Joe Frazier in the
05:52lead-up to their first bout.
05:53Billed as the fight of the century, it was the collision of the current champ, Smoke and Joe, and the
05:57former champ who never actually lost his belt in the ring, Ali.
06:00Wait till I get you in the ring. Wait, listen to me. Lift your hand.
06:03Despite writing him off as one-dimensional, Ali was forced to accept that Frazier's aggressive style and stocky frame was
06:09a real problem.
06:10He even got knocked down late in the fight, eventually losing on the scorecards.
06:13For the first time in his career, Muhammad Ali was beaten.
06:173. Conor McGregor
06:19We could point to a few times that McGregor was served up some humble pie.
06:22I came back for the love of this, to come and shut this man up. A little rat, a little
06:27weasel, a little hard man in groups.
06:29His defeats to Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier are certainly worth a mention.
06:33But for our money, his collision with Khabib Nurmagomedov stands out.
06:37McGregor relentlessly trash-talked Khabib in the build-up to the bout, going after his character, his family, his team,
06:43his religion.
06:44Nothing was off-limits.
06:45I am going to truly, truly love putting a bad, bad beating on this little glass jar rat.
06:52However, on fight night, Nurmagomedov showed his quality, dominating the Irishman before forcing him to tap in the fourth round.
06:59He even out-notoriused him by causing a huge post-fight brawl in the immediate aftermath.
07:04A new major superstar was born on that night, and it signaled the beginning of the end of the McGregor
07:08era.
07:08I told you guys, when you put him wrong way, he gonna tap.
07:12You know, what happened today? Like, they call him two-time world champion, like, two weight classes, but today he
07:18tapped.
07:18Number two, Anthony Joshua.
07:20If there's one mistake that any young boxer should avoid at all costs, it's underestimating a worthy opponent.
07:25When they see me, they're like, man, who's this short, chubby kid? He's gonna get tired really fast. I don't
07:30think he could last.
07:31Andy Ruiz Jr. might not have looked like much to the casual observer, and Anthony Joshua clearly didn't think that
07:37highly of him ahead of their 2019 showdown.
07:39As it turned out, though, Ruiz was a lot better than most people realized and got the jump on EJ,
07:44knocking him down several times before scoring the TKO finish.
07:47He says that's it! Andy Ruiz is the heavyweight champion! And Andy Ruiz has shocked the world!
07:54All of a sudden, one of the biggest stars in the sport had fallen victim to his own arrogance.
07:58Though he did eventually find his momentum again with the win in the rematch, his stock and reputation never fully
08:03recovered.
08:03But it just didn't work out, so what do I do next? Tidy up, brush off the cobwebs, and go
08:08again.
08:08He did eventually find his momentum again with a win in the rematch, and did some humbling of his own
08:13in his match against Jake Paul in 2025.
08:16Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
08:20Anderson Silva. This MMA legend flew a little too close to the sun.
08:27Johnny Manziel. He was the definition of all talk with very little action.
08:31Well, this is some of the creativity that we see from Johnny Manziel, and a lot of times it plays
08:36to his benefit. Right now, to his detriment.
08:39Ryan Lochte. This Olympic champion was truly his own worst enemy.
08:43And I just want to put this behind me and move on, and move forward.
08:47Adrian Broner. He called himself the next Mayweather, but fell way short.
08:59I really don't get the credit that I deserve. I've got to convince the world that I am what everybody's
09:05saying I am.
09:06Colby Covington. His shock value antics made his lack of championship success embarrassing.
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09:361. Ronda Rousey
09:38Her drop from Hero to Zero might be the most dramatic fall from grace in recent memory.
09:42Yeah, I'm ready for every situation.
09:44I've had more title fights than non-title fights, and I've been in many more situations than Holly's been.
09:48And I'm more prepared than she is for this, and I'm going to win on Sunday. And everyone's going to
09:52see.
09:52She was a pioneering force for women's MMA, and single-handedly responsible for Dana White, allowing them to compete in
09:58the UFC.
09:59However, when she began to believe her own hype, it all fell apart.
10:01She was tasked with taking on the former boxing world champion Holly Holm.
10:05But we ended up seeing Rousey's game audited in shocking fashion.
10:08I just go out there and get the victory in the most efficient and fantastic way I can think of.
10:12Not only was her striking underdeveloped, it was almost laughably bad.
10:15To make matters worse, when Holm eventually finished her with a brutal head kick, Rousey refused to even acknowledge it
10:20in interviews.
10:21UFC 193 began her decline into a universally criticized figure in the sport.
10:26I think I'd just rather not talk about that right now.
10:28Which dose of sporting karma sticks out in your memory? Let us know in the comments below.
10:35examine her.
10:37I'd love to see.
10:37Let us know in the comments below.
10:37Leonard bodice.
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