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The UFC has been the world’s biggest MMA promotion for over a decade now, and despite the best efforts of rivals like StrikeForce, PRIDE and Bellator, that doesn’t look likely to change any time soon. With that said, despite their position, the UFC hasn’t always been able to keep all of its fighters happy.
With a roster of literally hundreds, disagreements between fighters and their promoter are bound to happen, but surprisingly enough some of the biggest feuds between the UFC and the men and women they promote have come with some of the sport’s biggest stars.
Clashes over money, treatment and disrespect have all happened over the years – and sometimes bridges have been burned for good. Here are 10 fighters who feuded with the UFC – in order of how bitter things became.
#10 Georges St-Pierre
Arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time, Georges St-Pierre could seemingly do no wrong for a long time as one of the UFC’s poster boys. A massive pay-per-view draw, GSP was one of the promotion’s most loyal athletes for the best part of a decade, but by the end of 2013, things began to go a little sour.
During the build for his Welterweight title defense against Johny Hendricks, St-Pierre criticised the UFC for not pushing through with enhanced drug testing with VADA for the bout. And when he squeaked by Hendricks in a controversial decision, the Canadian hero earned the ire of Dana White for refusing to commit to an immediate rematch.
Things appeared to be smoothed over when GSP agreed to step away from the sport and relinquish his belt, but over the next few years, it was clear he wasn’t in Dana’s good books – most notably when he was revealed as part of the MMAAA fighter’s union in late 2016. 2017 then saw things get worse as ‘Rush’ attempted to declare himself a “free agent” despite the UFC claiming to the contrary.
Eventually, cooler heads prevailed as GSP was brought back into the fold with a new contract and a fight for the Middleweight title against Michael Bisping in November 2017, but after winning that fight, he’s taken another step back from the sport so who knows if he’s still on-side with the UFC right now.
#9 BJ Penn
BJ Penn might be a fighter that the UFC brass considers a genuine legend right now – he’s been inducted into the Hall of Fame and continues to fight despite being years past his prime – but back in 2004 ‘The Prodigy’ landed himself in hot water with the promotion and some really nasty feuding almost ended with him being erased from UFC history.
UFC 46 in January 2004 saw Penn upset longtime Welterweight kingpin Matt Hughes to win his first UFC title, but the fight happened to be the final one on his contract. According to Penn’s 2010 autobiography, he was then offered $187,500 per fight by the K-1 promotion – apparently 5 times what he was making in the UFC.
According to Penn, when he decided to take K-1’s offer, a furious Dana White called him and told him “you’re finished, you’re scorched earth, motherf*cker”. Soon after, the UFC stripped Penn of his title and put together a fight between Hughes and Georges St-Pierre for the vacant belt. Penn attempted to file a lawsuit to stop the bout from happening but ended up being unsuccessful.
About a year later, the two sides mended fences and Penn was brought back into the fold for a fight with St-Pierre in early 2006. Penn ended up going onto have a legendary reign with the Lightweight title, drew a ton of money for the UFC, and is now one of their golden boys again.
#8 Demetrious Johnson
Former UFC Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was often labelled by the UFC as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, but due to his apparent lack of box-office drawing power despite countless numbers of main events and television exposure, he never truly seemed like one of the promotion’s favourite fighters.
Still, few expected what happened in the summer of 2017, when Johnson ended up going on an angry rant regarding his treatment by the UFC and the apparent disrespect he’d felt from the promotion and from Dana White. Johnson claimed that the despite being a “company man”, the UFC were mistreating him by refusing to allow him a cut of the pay-per-view profits – a deal awarded to plenty of other fighters on the roster.
Johnson claimed that negotiations for what would be the historic 11th defense of his Flyweight title went awry when he attempted to discuss a fight with Cody Garbrandt and not Ray Borg as initially planned. The UFC apparently balked and demanded he fight Borg, only for Dana White to supposedly decide he should fight TJ Dillashaw instead, and if he refused, the Flyweight division would be shut down.
The whole issue was quietly smoothed over and Johnson ended up fighting Borg as per the original plan, but after his loss to Henry Cejudo this summer, he’s since been “traded” to ONE FC with Ben Askren going the other way – suggesting the bad blood between both parties was never truly resolved.
#7 Ken Shamrock
This was somewhat of a strange feud given Shamrock’s status not only as a UFC pioneer, but one of the men who managed to change the company’s fortunes around in the early 2000s when they were initially struggling under the helm of Zuffa.
Things took a wrong turn in 2007; Shamrock was under contract with the UFC dating back to his fights with Tito Ortiz in 2006, but when he apparently retired following his third loss to Ortiz in October that year, the UFC took this at face value. And when ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ decided he wanted to return in 2007, the UFC refused to book him for a fight.
Shamrock decided to hit the UFC with a lawsuit, but his bid to hit the UFC in the purse failed in court and he was ordered to pay the UFC’s legal costs – somewhere around $175,000. The UFC didn’t chase Shamrock for that money, but in 2013 – when Ken decided to go on a Twitter rant against the promotion – Dana White changed his tune, stating “I’m coming for the money, you piece of sh*t”.
A year later though, White had a change of heart and decided to call Shamrock to smooth things over. Ken was responsive and had a heart-to-heart with the UFC President, and eventually, the beef was squashed – ending another fighter vs. promoter feud.
#6 Jon Fitch
A title contender at Welterweight for the best part of a decade in the UFC, Jon Fitch never truly became a fan favourite due to what was perceived as a dull fighting style. He never warmed himself to the UFC brass, either – and ended up having numerous feuds with the promotion over the years.
The first came way back in 2008. Fitch – who had just unsuccessfully challenged Georges St-Pierre for the Welterweight crown – decided to refuse to give the UFC lifetime rights to his likeness for their upcoming video game, as well as other merchandising opportunities, and ended up being cut from the roster, along with teammate Christian Wellisch.
To Fitch, the UFC’s demand to use his likeness in perpetuity was a step too far, as he felt that Dana White’s approach to the whole issue was overly aggressive. A day later though – and after a meeting with then-head honcho Lorenzo Fertitta – Fitch was back in the fold.
The relationship was never quite the same, however, and in 2013, when Fitch lost two fights in a row to Johny Hendricks and Demian Maia, he was released from his contract in somewhat of a surprise move. Dana White claimed he was “on the downside” of his career, but did state that he didn’t have a personal problem with the Welterweight.
That might be a little different now. In the years since, Fitch has become heavily involved with the class action lawsuit filed against the UFC accusing them of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act – a lawsuit that is ongoing at the time of writing, meaning this feud between fighter and promoter is ongoing, too.
#5 Frank Shamrock
Often considered one of the greatest MMA fighters – and UFC champions – of all time, Frank Shamrock has been persona non grata with the UFC for well over a decade now, and where the accomplishments of pioneers like Mark Coleman, Royce Gracie, Don Frye and Frank’s adopted brother Ken are widely recognised by the promotion, any word of Frank tends to be a footnote at best.
Nobody’s really 100% sure what kick-started the feud, but most sources agree that a meeting back in 2001 between Shamrock and the UFC’s new owners – Zuffa, headed by the Fertitta brothers and Dana White – didn’t go to plan and resulted in the fighter being blacklisted by the company.
Things got so bad that Javier Mendez and Bob Cook – Shamrock’s longtime friends and coaches – had to change the name of their fight team from Shamrock Submission Academy to the American Kickboxing Academy in order for them to get UFC fights.
Over the years that have followed, Shamrock has headlined for two of the UFC’s biggest rival promotions – Elite XC and StrikeForce – and in 2011 he even claimed a fight with Dana White would be the only one that could bring him out of retirement.
Surprisingly, White has been relatively quiet when it comes to the UFC’s feud with Shamrock – but in 2012 after Frank claimed a “vendetta” was the only thing keeping him out of the UFC’s Hall of Fame, the UFC President finally hit back – labelling Frank “irrelevant” and stating that he’d done nothing for the “new” UFC.
#4 Wanderlei Silva
Just a handful of years ago, it felt like Wanderlei Silva would become one of the UFC’s golden boys who would probably stick around for the long haul, like his countryman Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira or Forrest Griffin. A fan favourite for years, Silva had come over to the UFC from PRIDE in 2007 and despite a so-so Octagon record, he was given plenty of promotion by the UFC, including numerous main events and two stints as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.
It was during his second coaching stint that things went horribly wrong. During the build for a fight between Silva and bitter rival Chael Sonnen in mid-2014, ‘The Axe Murderer’ decided to run from drug testers who showed up at his gym looking to administer a random test. Due to this infraction, Silva was hit with a stunning lifetime ban by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The Brazilian then demanded that the UFC release him from his contract – allowing him to pursue fights outside of NSAC jurisdiction – but when the promotion refused, Silva went on a wild Facebook rant in the summer of 2015, accusing the UFC of robbing their athletes and fixing fights.
The UFC were understandably furious, and immediately hit Silva with a lawsuit for defamation, stating he’d committed “intentional misconduct”. Thankfully, before the whole deal went to court, both parties smoothed things out; Silva apologised for his comments, and the UFC dropped the lawsuit and agreed to release him, allowing him to sign with rival promotion Bellator.
Despite the lawsuit being dropped though, the former PRIDE champion remains persona non grata with the UFC – and it’s unlikely that will change any time soon.
#3 Mark Hunt
Despite fighting for the UFC for a relatively long period – 8 years – headlining 6 shows and even fighting for the Heavyweight title in 2014, Mark Hunt is currently embroiled in a pretty serious feud with the UFC – to the point where ‘The Super Samoan’ has even filed a lawsuit against his promoters.
The UFC has naturally kept pretty tight-lipped about the whole situation due to the impending lawsuit, meaning this is a feud that’s been largely one-sided, but it’s still been a very vocal one on the part of Hunt.
Essentially, Hunt’s issue with the UFC stems from his 2016 fight with Brock Lesnar. Hunt lost the fight via unanimous decision, but was infuriated later down the line when it was revealed that despite the presence of USADA drug testing in the promotion, Lesnar had tested positive for a banned substance in a pre-fight drug test and was still allowed to compete.
Due to this, Hunt has filed his lawsuit against the UFC – accusing them of racketeering and fraud – essentially claiming that the promotion knowingly allowed a fighter who was abusing performance-enhancing drugs to step into the Octagon.
Despite this the UFC allowed Hunt to continue fighting – although they did pull him from last November’s Fight Night 121 card after a controversial interview in which he suggested he’d had symptoms of CTE.
This past weekend saw his contract end with a loss to Justin Willis, and it doesn’t appear that the Aussie favourite will be back in the Octagon. Outside of the cage though, it looks like his feud with the UFC will continue.
#2 Tito Ortiz
Perhaps no other fighter has had as many feuds with the UFC as Tito Ortiz; the former Light-Heavyweight champion has been in and out of the promotion on numerous occasions, and has gone from being considered persona non grata, back to being a company man and a Hall of Famer, to being back on the outside looking in. Largely, Ortiz’s issues with the UFC have been around the subject of money.
When Zuffa purchased the UFC in 2001, Tito was their first poster-boy and everything was rosy between the two parties – unsurprising, as Dana White had managed Ortiz prior to becoming the UFC President. Their relationship took a knock in 2003 when Tito refused to defend his Light-Heavyweight title against Chuck Liddell, but months later ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was back in the fold, dropping his title instead to Randy Couture.
2005 saw Ortiz end his contract with the UFC with a win over Vitor Belfort, and the months that followed saw him play a role as a free agent – teasing a move to the now-defunct WFA promotion or even the beginning of his own promotion alongside the Maloof brothers – but by 2006 he was again back in the UFC’s Octagon. This time it came with a caveat, though – due to his disagreements with Dana White, he’d demanded that a boxing match between himself and the UFC President be organised as part of his contract.
That boxing match – initially pegged to be a behind-closed-doors match – was then promoted by the UFC, and when Ortiz decided not to go ahead with the fight, relations between the two parties became ever more strained. By 2008, Ortiz had decided to leave the promotion following the final fight on his contract – against Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 – and even wore a t-shirt stating “Dana is my bitch!” at the weigh-ins.
Incredibly, Ortiz and White mended fences yet again and ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was back in the Octagon by 2009. This time he proved himself the consummate company man, as he stepped in on late notice to save UFC 133 when Phil Davis was forced out of a fight with Rashad Evans, and ended up being inducted into the promotion’s Hall of Fame in July 2012.
A year later, however, Tito was burning bridges again. This time he came out of retirement to sign with the UFC’s rival promoter Bellator, and although this didn’t draw the ire of Dana, his most recent venture with Oscar De La Hoya and the burgeoning Golden Boy MMA certainly has. It seems like Tito’s on-off feud with the UFC will never end – even if it hasn’t hit court like some of these other feuds have.
#1 Randy Couture
Despite being a UFC Hall of Famer and generally being considered as one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time, Randy Couture is almost certainly the fighter who has had the bitterest feud with his former promoter. ‘The Natural’ was once considered one of the UFC’s go-to superstars – he was even a regular colour commentator after his initial 2006 retirement – but things went extremely sour in 2007.
Couture came out of retirement that year to defeat Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight title, and after a successful defence against Gabriel Gonzaga, he decided he wanted to fight PRIDE Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko in his next fight. But the UFC couldn’t come to terms with the Russian – and so rather than fight another contender, Couture decided to “resign” from the UFC.
Naturally, lawsuits from both sides came flying in; the UFC sued Couture for breach of contract, while Couture claimed he hadn’t been paid correctly for his fights with Sylvia and Gonzaga and also had rival promotion HDNet Fights file a suit to attempt to decide his contractual status with the UFC. Things got so bad that Couture was banned from cornering his team’s fighters when they competed in the Octagon.
Eventually – when it was looking like the UFC had the upper hand in the legal battle – Couture decided to return to the UFC, mending fences with Dana White and signing a new contract. It looked like everything was rosy and when ‘The Natural’ finally decided to retire in 2011 following a loss to Lyoto Machida, the UFC offered him a spot as an analyst on their live shows with Fox that were beginning in 2012.
Instead though – and apparently without letting the UFC know, drawing the fury of White – Couture signed with the UFC’s biggest rival, Bellator MMA, as a coach on their new Spike TV reality show. Since then Couture and the UFC have firmly been at odds, with ‘Captain America’ now a big supporter of the attempt to enforce boxing’s Ali Act onto MMA – a move that would greatly damage the UFC’s business model.
At this stage, to see Couture back in the UFC fold would be more surprising than seeing Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov mend fences.
