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The UFC is the greatest stage in the combat sports landscape. It is where mixed martial artists from all corners of the globe come together to test their mettle and prove themselves in front of fans and fellow fighters alike. This is among one of the many reasons why MMA fighters are thought of as modern-day gladiators.
But it is more than their opponent that they must overcome when they step inside the octagon. Sometimes, fighters are pinned down by the weight of countless things stacked against them, like injuries, turmoil in their personal lives, the promotion and fans favoring one fighter over another, and much more.
However, even with the odds stacked against them, some fighters managed to emerge triumphant. Even with every conceivable disadvantage, they still managed to defy everyone's expectation of failure by finding success. Below are the fighters in question.
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#5 Henry Cejudo at UFC 238
Henry Cejudo came into the UFC with an undefeated record and the highest possible level of freestyle wrestling skill. After capturing an undisputed title to match his Olympic gold medal, he made the decision to move up a weight class and fight for the vacant bantamweight championship.
To do so, he'd have to face knockout artist Marlon Moraes, who was on a four-fight win streak. The odds weren't in Cejudo's favor. Fans had already seen what becomes of a flyweight who tries to fight a bantamweight, when Demetrious Johnson was ragdolled by Dominick Cruz several years ago.
Cejudo, despite his high-level wrestling credentials, was never that effective a grappler in the cage. He could score takedowns, but never showed the ability to hold anyone down. If he couldn't do it at flyweight, he certainly wasn't going to do so at bantamweight.
So what hope did he have? Was he going to strike with the much bigger and far more powerful man, who had dynamite in every limb? He was too small. But at UFC 249, he overcame his foe's initial onslaught and turned the tide late into the fight to score a third-round TKO when no one thought he would.
#4 Conor McGregor at UFC 189
Conor McGregor's 13-second knockout over José Aldo marked the most improbable and spectacular finish to a title fight in the promotion's history. Interestingly, it was actually meant to happen at an earlier event. Unfortunately, the all-time great featherweight was forced to withdraw from the fight due to injury.
Chad Mendes stepped in as a short-notice replacement. The Irishman had been preparing for a striker for most of his camp. Now, he had to face a wrestler, and with a fairly compromised leg, as he was still nursing an ACL he'd torn three months prior. Everything, it seems, was pointing to failure.
He was uncharacteristically flat-flooted in the fight, likely due to his still injured knee. McGregor lost most of the bout, conceding takedowns and eating big power punches. But the front kicks he'd landed to Mendes' body paid dividends. By round two, the former two-time title challenger was exhausted.
McGregor pounced and scored a come from behind TKO that earned him the interim featherweight title.
#3 Holly Holm at UFC 193
In 2015, Ronda Rousey was on top of the world. She was the sport's most famous fighter and had become a global icon, a beacon of inspiration for all women who fought for success in a male-dominated world. She had an aura of invincibility and had looked nothing short of unstoppable in the UFC.
As the women's bantamweight champion and grappler extraordinaire, she was an offensive dynamo that her foes could do nothing against. So when Holly Holm, in just her third bout with the promotion, was booked to face her, she had every odd stacked against her. First, she had little experience at the top level of MMA.
Secondly, she was a striker going up against her division's best grappler. More than that, the entire world was seated firmly in Rousey's corner, booing Holm at every turn. But come fight night, 'The Preacher's Daughter' was the star of a miraculous performance, as she stunned Rousey with a second-round knockout.
No one believed she could do it, and with everything in Rousey's favor, she wasn't supposed to. Rousey was the movie star, the celebrity, the god-like juggernaut that could beat Floyd Mayweather Jr., if some were to be believed. Holly Holm was no one. But that night, she became a GOAT-slayer.
#2 Leon Edwards at UFC 278
It's safe to assume that the UFC never wanted Leon Edwards as its welterweight champion. The Englishman was neither a finisher, nor an interesting personality. He didn't thrill fans with his performances inside the cage, nor was he exciting outside of it. He was simply a highly skilled fighter who kept to himself.
But after embarking on a long win streak, he couldn't be denied. But his title shot couldn't have come under worse circumstances. He had to face off against Kamaru Usman, a man he had already lost to. Not only did 'The Nigerian Nightmare' have the psychological advantage, he was also a wrestler.
As a striker by trade, Edwards, who had been outwrestled by Usman before, had his work cut out for him. More than that, their bout took place at a high elevation in Salt Lake City, where Usman's superior gas tank and wrestling would almost certainly drown the Englishman in an ocean of failure.
Edwards had gassed out under normal elevation last time. What was he supposed to do at high altitude against a tireless, stronger and far better wrestler who had beaten him before? For most of the fight, it seemed like there was nothing he could do.
But in round five, he defied fate with a head kick that knocked Usman out cold in one of the greatest title comebacks of all time.
#1 Michael Bisping at UFC 199
There's something odd about English champions becoming UFC titleholders by avenging losses to seemingly unstoppable champions with the odds stacked against them. Leon Edwards did it against Kamaru Usman at elevation. Michael Bisping did it against Luke Rockhold on short-notice.
The two had crossed swords years prior, and Bisping was beaten effortlessly, submitted within two rounds. He was a perennial underachiever, whereas Rockhold went on to become the middleweight champion, who many expected to reign over the division in a new era of dominance.
But as it turned out, fate had other plans. After Chris Weidman withdrew from his rematch with Luke Rockhold, Michael Bisping was given the title shot. Unfortunately, he had just 17 days to prepare for a man who had dominated him the last time they had clashed.
Not only was he coming in on short-notice to face someone he'd already lost to, but he was doing so with one functional eye due to a retinal detachment in his right. So, on 17 days' notice and half-blind, he took on the man who had dropped and submitted him.
But to everyone's shock, he succeeded, knocking him out within a round to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a UFC champion.
