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This past weekend at UFC 280, Aljamain Sterling overcame former titleholder T.J. Dillashaw to retain his bantamweight title. However, the win came with a caveat, as Dillashaw struggled in the fight with a shoulder injury.
T.J. Dillashaw’s shoulder injury at UFC 280 was unfortunate, but he wasn’t the first fighter to suffer a devastating injury during one of the biggest fights of his career. Over the years, numerous fighters have stepped into the octagon for a huge title bout, only for injuries to ruin them, for good on a couple of occasions.
Here are five UFC fighters who suffered devastating injuries in one of their biggest title bouts.
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#5. T.J. Dillashaw vs. Aljamain Sterling – UFC 280
We begin with the most recent entry onto this list, as any hope that T.J. Dillashaw had of regaining the bantamweight title he never actually lost in the octagon went up in smoke when he faced current champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280.
‘Funk Master’ dominated the bout from the off, coming close to finishing Dillashaw after taking his back in the first round before finally ending things with a brutal dose of ground-and-pound early in the second.
However, Sterling’s win was marred when it became clear that Dillashaw was suffering from an injury to his left shoulder, which seemed to have popped out of the socket during the early moments of the opening round.
The challenger’s corner appeared to have fixed the problem between rounds, but this was only temporary. He quickly began to struggle before succumbing to Sterling’s punishment in the second.
After the fight, Dillashaw admitted that he’d injured the shoulder during his training camp and probably should not have fought at the event. Of course, to withdraw from such a massive opportunity would’ve been unthinkable for a fighter of his caliber.
Either way, while Dillashaw’s injury didn’t outright occur during the bout, it definitely cost him any chance he had of dethroning ‘Funk Master’, and may well mean that he’ll never receive this kind of opportunity again.
#4. Patrick Cote vs. Anderson Silva – UFC 90
By the latter part of 2008, Anderson Silva had become so dominant over the UFC’s middleweight division that the promotion was reduced to really stretching itself to find any possible contenders for him.
When Patrick Cote was selected as his next challenger, then, nobody was really giving the Canadian a chance. ‘The Predator’ was riding a solid win streak of five bouts, but none of them suggested he had what it would take to dispatch ‘The Spider’.
In their eventual showdown, though, Cote surprised everyone by doing better than expected. Sure, he wasn’t beating Silva, but the Brazilian – who appeared disinterested with the fight – didn’t take him out with ease, as many had suspected he would.
When the fight ticked into the third round, then, there was still an outside chance that Cote could pull off the upset of a lifetime.
That idea went out the window just 39 seconds in, though, as when he stepped forward to strike, the challenger’s right knee gave way entirely. He collapsed to the ground, and referee Herb Dean quickly had to call the fight off.
The injury was devastating for Cote, as even if he’d ended up losing to Silva, his good showing could’ve elevated his standing in the UFC overall. As it was, the fight ended anticlimactically and left ‘The Predator’ on the shelf for well over a year. When he returned, he wasn’t the same fighter at all.
#3. Justin Eilers vs. Andrei Arlovski – UFC 53
Back in 2005, the UFC didn’t have too many reliable headliners on its roster. So when Andrei Arlovski claimed the interim heavyweight title in impressive fashion, the promotion was determined to turn him into a star.
The only problem was that they simply didn’t have many viable opponents for him. ‘The Pitbull’ had already beaten Tim Sylvia, they wanted Paul Buentello to gain more experience in the octagon, Frank Mir was injured, and they couldn’t come to financial terms with Ricco Rodriguez.
In the end, Dana White and company settled on Justin Eilers as Arlovski’s first challenger. It was a baffling decision given he was coming off a knockout loss to Buentello.
On paper, it looked like the promotion was attempting to give ‘The Pitbull’ a highlight-reel finish. In the end, he didn’t even get that from a disappointing fight.
Sure, Arlovski picked Eilers apart from the word go, but before he could finish him off with a knockout blow, the challenger finished himself off by blowing out his right ACL, forcing referee John McCarthy to step in and stop the bout.
In the end, Eilers was left with a laundry list of injuries, and he never won another fight in the octagon. In turn, though, Arlovski left without the big finish he’d hoped for, and realistically, nobody was happy with the outcome.
#2. Chan Sung Jung vs. Jose Aldo – UFC 163
Usually, when the UFC is forced to alter a headline bout due to one of the two fighters withdrawing, fans are left disappointed. That wasn’t the case in the summer of 2013, when Anthony Pettis pulled out of his planned featherweight title bout with champion Jose Aldo.
Pettis hadn’t really earned a shot at the gold – he hadn’t even fought at 145lbs at that point. So, when the promotion replaced him with Chan Sung Jung, everyone was buzzing. Not only was ‘The Korean Zombie’ on an impressive three-fight win streak, but he was also the featherweight division’s most exciting fighter.
Literally, the entire UFC fanbase expected Jung to push Aldo like nobody had done before. In the end, the fight turned out to be somewhat disappointing.
Clearly overwhelmed by the moment slightly, ‘The Korean Zombie’ didn’t fight in his usual reckless manner, which allowed Aldo to get comfortable early on and basically pick him apart with a better technical striking game.
Worse, though, was the fact that the fight didn’t really have a proper finish. After throwing a right hand that connected to Aldo’s arm rather than his head, Jung was clearly hurt, and it soon became apparent that his shoulder had been dislocated.
Seconds later, ‘The Korean Zombie’ staggered back, and Aldo closed in and finished him off with a flurry of punches.
Considering what everyone expected, the bout was probably one of the most disappointing in modern UFC history – and it was hard not to blame Jung’s unfortunate shoulder injury for that fact.
#1. Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman – UFC 168
Perhaps the most infamous example of a UFC fighter who suffered a devastating injury in a huge title bout is former middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
After his lengthy, record-setting seven-year reign with the title was ended by Chris Weidman in one of the all-time great upsets in the summer of 2013, it came as no surprise to see the promotion offer ‘The Spider’ an instant rematch.
Many fans figured Silva would right the wrongs of the first meeting, particularly as the overarching feeling was that the Brazilian had paved the way to his own downfall by ‘clowning’ when he should’ve taken Weidman far more seriously.
However, ‘The All-American’ showed immediately that any idea of Silva easily regaining his title was not about to happen. He stunned the former champion in the first round with a big right hand, dropping him badly, and dominated him on the ground with more hard shots until the buzzer sounded.
Nobody could’ve predicted what would happen next, though. Before he’d been knocked out in the first fight, Silva had some success by using leg kicks – and so he threw one early in the second round.
Unfortunately for him, Weidman lifted his own leg to check the kick. In a sickening moment, Silva’s leg snapped like a twig, leaving him screaming in agony on the ground.
The fight was immediately called off, and essentially, Silva’s career as a top-level fighter was over, as he would win just two more fights in his octagon career after returning just over a year later, both in controversial circumstances.
Essentially, then, this was not only the most devastating injury in UFC history from a visual perspective, but also from the perspective of what it led to, as well.
