5 of the longest spells of inactivity from a UFC champion

#4 Anthony Pettis – 1 year and 4 months

Injuries and a stint coaching TUF with Gilbert Melendez kept Anthony Pettis on the shelf for over a year

Former UFC Lightweight champion Anthony Pettis’s case is perhaps the most fascinating of all because it’s the only one on this list that didn’t see the UFC create an Interim title while the champ was on the shelf.

‘Showtime’ captured the Lightweight title from Benson Henderson in August 2013 and his first title defense was immediately booked against Josh Thomson in December, just four months later. A knee injury forced him out of the defense, though, and suddenly Thomson’s title challenge went by the by.

Thomson lost to Benson Henderson in January 2014 and rather than book a Henderson/Pettis rematch, the UFC instead offered the next title shot to Gilbert Melendez, who was in sticky contract negotiations – playing the UFC off Bellator and vice versa.

Melendez accepted the UFC’s offer, which meant that he and Pettis would coach the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter prior to clashing in the Octagon.

Sadly for fans of Pettis, the show wasn’t due to start filming until the summer and wasn’t going to air until the winter, which pushed the Pettis/Melendez title fight all the way to UFC 181 – in early December 2014, a year and four months after Pettis had initially captured the title from Henderson.

Pettis would defend the title by submitting Melendez, but lost it to Rafael Dos Anjos in his next defense just three months later.