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Theoretically, at least, a UFC title fight should pit two combatants at the peak of their powers against each other in an epic clash to decide the best fighter in their weight class. For the most part, that is usually the case.
Over the years, though, we’ve seen a number of UFC title bouts that not only failed to live up to the hype behind them, but outright stunk out the octagon to the point that the fans were turned off entirely.
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Who is to blame for a dull title bout? Well, naturally it’s easy to blame the fighters involved, but often, the promotion deserves equal blame for not spotting a bad style clash beforehand.
Regardless, here are the five dullest title bouts in UFC history.
#5. Rose Namajunas vs. Carla Esparza – UFC women's strawweight title (2022)
We begin with the most recent entry on this list, as it’s probably safe to say that Rose Namajunas’ UFC strawweight title bout with Carla Esparza this past weekend should be considered the worst title fight since the turn of the decade, eclipsing Israel Adesanya’s clash with Yoel Romero in 2020.
Quite how this fight failed to deliver plenty of action remains a mystery. Not only was it a rematch of a highly-exciting title bout between the two women back in 2014, but both Namajunas and Esparza were coming into it on arguably the best form of their careers thus far.
The general consensus was that if ‘Thug Rose’ could keep the fight standing, she’d be able to blitz Esparza with her strikes. Meanwhile, ‘Cookie Monster’ would hunt for takedowns and submissions in order to find her way to victory.
In the end, neither thing really happened. For reasons known only to her, Namajunas, despite holding a huge striking advantage, simply wasn’t able to let her punches and kicks go, and the fight quickly degenerated into a staring contest.
Esparza did end up landing a couple of takedowns, which apparently swayed the judges into going with her as the victor. But to tell the truth, she fought in a bizarrely passive way too, meaning that neither woman came away looking like a winner.
Overall, the fight saw just 68 strikes land in total across the 25 minutes, and it was hardly a surprise to hear boos when it was over. Quite where the two fighters go from here remains to be seen, but whatever they do, it can’t be as bad as this fight was.
#4. Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson – UFC welterweight title (2017)
When the UFC signed a rematch between welterweight champ Tyron Woodley and top contender Stephen Thompson in early 2017, it made total sense. Not only had their first fight been declared a draw by the judges, but the fight itself was largely excellent, winning UFC 205’s Fight of the Night award.
Unfortunately, the fact that both men had made some adjustments going into the second bout meant that where the first was great, the second turned out to be remarkably dull, ruining UFC 209 entirely.
Essentially, after being hurt badly by Woodley’s punches in the first fight, ‘Wonderboy’ simply appeared to respect him a little too much, refusing to engage and remaining on the outside where he picked at the champion with his strikes to little effect.
Woodley, meanwhile, was unable to really lay a glove on Thompson, outside of landing a single takedown in the third round and a crushing combination in the waning seconds of the fight that nearly put ‘Wonderboy’ out.
Outside of those moments, though, it’s not unfair to suggest that literally nothing happened in the entire bout. In the end, Thompson did so little overall that those two attacks from ‘The Chosen One’ were enough to persuade the judge that he deserved the nod, allowing him to retain his title.
Unfortunately for him, though, the performance did nothing for his popularity in general, and was basically enough to ruin his reputation with both the fans and the UFC’s brass for good.
#3. Kevin Randleman vs. Pedro Rizzo – UFC heavyweight title (2000)
When UFC fans discuss the worst heavyweight title fights in the history of the promotion, the fight that usually stands out is Tim Sylvia’s third clash with Andrei Arlovski from the summer of 2006. However, while that fight was undoubtedly dull, it can’t hold a candle to Kevin Randleman’s fight with Pedro Rizzo six years beforehand.
Bizarrely, the fight seemed cursed before it even began. Initially, the two men were supposed to headline UFC 24, only for Randleman to somehow knock himself out backstage while warming up by striking his head on a pipe.
The fight ended up taking place two shows later, but if the fans had expected a barnburner, they were painfully mistaken.
Rizzo’s reputation as a deadly counterstriker preceded him and so Randleman had evidently decided that his best course of action would be to avoid pressing the action at any cost. In turn, ‘The Rock’ seemed so afraid of Randleman’s takedowns – and so wedded to his counterpunching gameplan – that he did very little in return.
In the end, the fans were treated to a fight filled mostly with circling and staring, with the odd clinch thrown in for good measure. The bout went the distance, and while ‘The Monster’ retained his title via decision, the fact that the crowd decided to fill the octagon with trash in the final seconds told its own story.
Due to the show taking place in the depths of the UFC’s ‘Dark Ages’, this fight has largely been forgotten. To be honest, that’s probably for the best.
#2. Jens Pulver vs. Dennis Hallman – UFC lightweight title (2001)
UFC 33 is widely recognized as one of, if not the, worst MMA shows of all time. Part of the reason for that is the fact that all three title bouts on the card ended up being disappointing. However, the dullest of the three, by far, was Jens Pulver’s lightweight title fight with Dennis Hallman.
Hopes were actually high for a barnburner between the two men, largely because there was a very real personal issue between them dating back to their days as enemies in high school, but also because Hallman had submitted Pulver’s teammate Matt Hughes twice.
However, ‘Little Evil’ was clearly well aware of Hallman’s skills on the ground and made it his goal to ensure that the challenger wouldn’t get a chance to tap him out by keeping the fight standing.
Unfortunately, while Pulver’s takedown defense was on point, Hallman simply wasn’t willing to engage with any kind of striking battle with the champion. Instead, ‘Superman’ simply flopped to his back at every given opportunity, hoping to entice ‘Little Evil’ to join him on the ground.
Naturally, Pulver wasn’t willing to oblige and so the fight was filled with stalling, staring and very little in the way of meaningful action. In the end, the crowd unsurprisingly booed both men out of the octagon, despite Pulver being highly popular beforehand.
While ‘Little Evil’ retained his title, he hardly seemed proud of his performance afterwards.
#1. Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia – UFC middleweight title (2010)
While this weekend’s fight between Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza was badly received, it certainly didn’t produce the same amount of scorn that Anderson Silva’s middleweight title defense against Demian Maia did. Despite taking place well over a decade ago now, the bout still stands as the worst title fight in UFC history.
All of the other dull title bouts at least featured fighters who looked like they were attempting to win, even if their gameplans didn’t work or produce anything entertaining to watch. In this case, though, it looked like Silva wasn’t interested in entertaining or winning.
Instead, the legendary champion seemed to have decided that he was so much better than Maia that he wouldn’t even try to put him away, instead choosing to dance around the octagon and play air guitar at points.
The weirdest thing was that it didn’t need to be that way. Maia actually tried his best to take Silva down, but simply couldn’t get close to ‘The Spider’ and seemed woefully outgunned. Basically, it looked like if he wanted to, Silva could’ve put Maia away at any time.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t his intention. Instead, after hurting him badly in the early going, Silva chose to largely ignore his opponent entirely. In the end, even referee Dan Miragliotta had enough, threatening to deduct a point from him for passivity.
When the fight was over, Dana White was so disgusted that he refused to present him with his title.
Silva is undoubtedly one of the greatest champions in UFC history, but it’s fair to say that this title defense was more infamous than anything else and it remains the most dull title bout in the promotion’s history.
