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The UFC has seen hundreds of fighters pass through the Octagon over its 25-year history, and while some have seen huge success and fame during their run in the promotion, others have become infamous for various reasons.
Sometimes this infamy translates to even bigger stardom, while other times it only results in a negative outcome both for the fighter and the UFC. It’s impossible to totally list all of the fighters who became infamous during their time in the UFC, but the following 5 truly stand out for various reasons.
#1 Rousimar Palhares – infamous for holding onto submissions for too long
Despite the UFC initially being built on the success of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Royce Gracie, in the modern UFC, submission specialists are pretty few and far between. Demian Maia and Charles Oliveira are probably the most successful submission artists in recent years, but perhaps the most feared submission artist in the modern-day UFC was Rousimar ‘Toquinho’ Palhares.
The stocky Brazilian fought in the UFC from 2008 through to 2013, but despite success in both the Middleweight and Welterweight divisions, he was released from the promotion after becoming infamous for a pretty nasty reason – he simply wouldn’t let his submissions go after his opponent tapped out.
‘Toquinho’ bought a reputation for injuring his opponents with him into the UFC, but his first few fights were relatively quiet on that front. That was until UFC 111, when he continued to wrench on a heel hook applied to Tomasz Drwal despite the Polish fighter tapping out. Drwal was left with an injured knee, and Palhares wound up being suspended for 90 days for the unsportsmanlike infraction.
Not that it stopped him – submissions of David Branch and Mike Massenzio were semi-controversial as he only released them at the last possible second, but a 2013 win over Mike Pierce was a repeat of the Drwal incident, complete with the same heel hook submission.
That earned the Brazilian his release, but his infamy continued on the smaller circuit, where he got into hot water for holding another heel hook for too long on Jon Fitch, and then for repeated fouls against Jake Shields. Despite a real slide as of late – he’s lost 4 of his last 6 fights – Palhares remains one of the most infamous fighters in the sport.
#2 Diego Sanchez – infamous for eccentricity
The winner of the inaugural Ultimate Fighter series at Middleweight, Diego Sanchez is a true UFC legend and remains on the roster 14 years after his debut, and has a number of the greatest fights in promotional history under his belt. He’s generally beloved by the fanbase, but he also stands out as being infamous for his wild eccentricity.
This was on show during his stint on TUF as he famously practiced yoga at strange moments, such as when he attempted to extract “energy” from a lightning storm by posing and stretching in the rain. And it hasn’t stopped there. The list of Sanchez’s eccentric moments is almost too long to list.
There was the time that he got really into Tony Robbins, and began to chant “YES!” during his entrances, even adopting the mantra to come up with the ‘yes cartwheel’, which was highlighted during the build to his fight with BJ Penn. Then there was the entrance that saw him holding a giant cross in the air, like some kind of vampire hunter; his apparent use of the herbal sweetener Stevia as some kind of supplement; his change of nicknames from ‘The Nightmare’ to ‘The Dream’ and then back again, and well, you get the picture.
Basically, Diego is a legend of the sport – he’s probably my all-time favourite fighter in fact – but in terms of wackiness inside and outside of the Octagon, it’s pretty hard to touch him, making him the most infamously eccentric fighter in UFC history.
#3 Jon Fitch – infamous for dull fights
It’s quite hard to quantify exactly what makes a “dull fight” because in a sport like MMA which has so many facets, every fan probably has their own tastes. Hardcore fans of striking, for instance, might find the ground game dull as dishwater while others would adore the use of guard passes, submission attempts and sweeps.
However, one fighter remains more infamous than any other for putting on perceived dull fights – step forward Jon Fitch. Nobody could argue that Fitch – who fought in the UFC’s Welterweight division from 2005 to 2013 – wasn’t a fantastic fighter. His incredible UFC record of 14-3-1 stands up with the best of all time in that division – right up with Georges St-Pierre and Tyron Woodley – and he beat some incredibly tough fighters during his time in the promotion.
Ask most fans, though, and they’d tell you that Fitch didn’t exactly employ the most entertaining style when he stepped into the Octagon. Despite his 14 wins, Fitch was only able to finish 4 of his opponents during his UFC run. Most of the time he simply ground fighters out with his stifling wrestling skill; taking them down and beating them up for 15 minutes.
That’s not to say all of Fitch’s fights were boring – his war with Erick Silva was fantastic, for instance – but when a fighter’s name becomes so linked with a style of fighting among fans, as in “to Fitch” someone now means to grind them out with wrestling – it’s hard to deny his perhaps undeserved infamy as a fighter who put on less-than-exciting fights.
#4 Chael Sonnen – infamous for trash talk
Plenty of UFC fighters have become infamous for their trash talk over the years – Tito Ortiz, Conor McGregor and Colby Covington all come to mind – but perhaps no other fighter found as much success – and as much infamy – with their work on a microphone than Chael Sonnen, who competed in the UFC on-and-off from 2005 through to 2013.
During his first run with the promotion in 2005-6, Sonnen was little more than a vanilla wrestler who barely showed any personality – he didn’t even have a nickname! But when he returned to the UFC from the WEC in 2009, everything began to change. Suddenly, Sonnen began to use the microphone like a pro-wrestler, spouting wild boasts and calling out numerous fighters in various wacky ways.
Sonnen’s best use of trash talk, of course, came during his two-fight series with legendary UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Sonnen hit out at Silva’s fighting style, his Brazilian heritage, his training partners, and everything else imaginable – building the fights like nobody else could and transforming the stoic Silva into one of the UFC’s most popular fighters.
Admittedly, Sonnen’s skills in the cage didn’t always back up his big words – he lost the majority of his big fights – but nobody worked the mic quite like Chael P. His tongue-in-cheek style and incredible wit sets him apart even today from the likes of McGregor and Covington – meaning he still remains the most infamous trash-talker in UFC history.
#5 Jon Jones – infamous for failing drug tests
Plenty of fighters have failed drug tests while competing in the UFC over the years – even huge names like Anderson Silva and Alistair Overeem and champions like Tim Sylvia and Josh Barnett – but one fighter has become more infamous than any other for testing positive for banned substances, despite not failing a test for the first 8 years of his UFC career. Step forward Jon Jones.
Jones – widely recognised as the greatest 205lbs fighter in UFC history and one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time – first tested positive for a banned substance following his win over Daniel Cormier in January 2015. Jones was flagged for the use of cocaine, although being a recreational drug, this came with no penalty.
Worse was to follow, however. Prior to his rematch with Cormier at UFC 200 in July 2016, Jones tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene – an estrogen blocker. Jones was immediately removed from the event and eventually suspended for a year.
Upon his return in July 2017, Jones defeated Cormier in their eventual fight, only to test positive again in the post-fight tests – this time for the banned steroid turanibol – and was hit with another ban. Most recently, he was flagged again for turanibol – although controversially, this was explained by the prior positive test as a “residual effect” – and this resulted in the move of UFC 232 from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.
Whether Jones is genuinely a drug cheat, or whether he’s simply been both very unlucky and very naive is still up in the air, but either way, it’s hard to deny that the reigning UFC Light-Heavyweight champion is the most infamous fighter in the promotion when it comes to failed tests.
