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While all champions in MMA gain a certain amount of respect, sometimes a fighter can win so often and so impressively that they gain an aura of invincibility, like nobody can even touch them, let alone beat them and take their title.
Everyone has to lose eventually, though, and while it’s possible to lose in a way in which an aura remains untouched – see TJ Dillashaw’s tight Bantamweight Title loss to Dominick Cruz for instance – sometimes a champion can lose so badly that their aura is destroyed for good and they no longer carry the same reputation that they once did.
Here are five prime examples.
#5 Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva
Going into his Middleweight title defence against Anderson Silva at UFC 64, Rich Franklin was seen as practically an unbeatable fighter thanks to his incredible blend of skills in all areas, his huge heart, and his incredible cardio.
He’d gained even more of an aura of invincibility when his insane training regime was aired on Spike TV, and he’d rolled over the likes of David Loiseau, Evan Tanner and Nathan Quarry since dropping to 185lbs and claiming the UFC’s title in 2005.
Anderson Silva had impressed in his UFC debut win over Chris Leben, but memories of his embarrassing loss to Ryo Chonan in PRIDE still lingered. While he was the best striker Franklin had ever fought, most people didn’t expect him to have the all-round skills to conquer ‘Ace’. They were painfully wrong.
While Franklin looked like the bigger man, he was thoroughly overpowered by Silva inside the clinch, and the Brazilian abused him with knees from close range en route to a nose-shattering first round TKO. It was as bad a loss as any UFC champion has ever taken.
Franklin would return, but never really regained the aura he had pre-Silva, particularly after being hammered in a rematch with the Brazilian.
His UFC record after UFC 64 was 7-5, and he retired in 2012 following a knockout loss to Cung Le.
#4 Renan Barao vs. TJ Dillashaw
Going into his fourth Bantamweight title defence at UFC 173 against TJ Dillashaw, people, including UFC President Dana White, were talking Renan Barao up as perhaps the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
It made sense, too – he hadn’t lost a fight in a decade and he’d hammered top contenders like Urijah Faber and Eddie Wineland, and made it look pretty easy too. And Dillashaw was only one fight off a loss to Raphael Assuncao, who couldn’t take the fight due to injury. It looked like business as usual for the Brazilian.
Except, well, it wasn’t. Dillashaw – once known as a wrestler – had improved his striking training under Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig to the point where his fleet-footed style was simply able to destroy Barao’s more flat-footed Muay Thai game.
A huge right hand almost had Barao out cold in the first round and from there it was simply a case of Dillashaw outclassing the champion. By the fifth round, it was clear that a new champion was about to be crowned, but Dillashaw put a stamp on it by knocking Barao out with a head kick and a flurry.
The beating meant Barao’s aura was thoroughly destroyed – he missed weight and had to pull out of a scheduled rematch with Dillashaw a few months later, struggled past the unranked Mitch Gagnon in his comeback fight, was hammered by Dillashaw in the eventual rematch and he’s since lost two of his last three fights.
Essentially, the first Dillashaw fight ended his career as a top-level UFC fighter.
#3 Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor
You could perhaps argue that it wasn’t just the loss to Conor McGregor that destroyed Jose Aldo’s aura, it was the entire build to that fateful fight. The Brazilian was originally supposed to defend his Featherweight crown against the brash Irishman at UFC 189, but pulled out citing a rib injury – something that was openly questioned by the UFC brass.
When he did step in with McGregor a few months later at UFC 194, he looked psyched out prior to the fight and then lost in truly embarrassing fashion – knocked out by a single punch just 13 seconds into the fight.
Prior to that, Aldo had looked unstoppable, winning a total of 15 fights under the Zuffa banner including a total of nine title defences. Nobody had truly tested his brand of vicious kickboxing and incredible takedown defence, but with one big left hand – and months of trash talk - McGregor destroyed his unbeatable aura for good. Not only had Aldo been humanised, but the fear factor he once carried was gone for good.
Aldo didn’t fight again until UFC 200 – seven months later – and while he defeated Frankie Edgar, it wasn’t his best performance and he looked gun-shy in comparison to a lot of his older fights. His next showing against Max Holloway really showed how he’d lost his aura, as he hit the Hawaiian cleanly multiple times in the opening round to no effect, before being destroyed by strikes in the third.
To say he suddenly looks beatable to all of his opponents would be an understatement, and it’s practically all down to McGregor.
#2 Anthony Pettis vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
While he’d spent a lot of time on the shelf – a total of 16 months – following his Lightweight Title win over Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis was still seen as one of the brightest young champions in the sport as he went into his UFC 181 title defence against Gilbert Melendez.
After choking Melendez out in the second round, his stock soared to the point where he was considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet. A follow-up title defence against Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 185 seemed almost like a challenger-of-the-month deal.
Instead, the Brazilian challenger humbled ‘Showtime’ in the most brutal way possible. Dos Anjos walked through the champion’s flashy strikes to hammer him with heavier punches, took him down with ease and absolutely dominated him on the ground too.
The fight went the distance, but was one of the most one-sided title fights in UFC history in favour of the challenger. Pettis went from a possible all-time great to a broken man in 25 minutes.
Since then Pettis has simply been unable to regain the aura he once had, as he lost further fights to Eddie Alvarez and Edson Barboza – and a drop to 145lbs didn’t help him either as he struggled past Charles Oliveira before being smashed to pieces by Max Holloway.
He has since beaten Jim Miller in a return to 155lbs, but he’s miles away from another title shot now and talk of him on the pound-for-pound list has long been forgotten.
#1 Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman
Clearly, the greatest example of an aura being erased in one fell swoop, Silva’s stunning Middleweight Title loss to Weidman remains one of the all-time UFC shockers. Coming into the fight the Brazilian champion had held his title for the best part of seven years, had completed ten title defences, and was known for his virtuoso style of fighting that made his opponents look like amateurs.
But he made the error of underestimating Weidman and paid the ultimate price, eating a crushing left hook in the second round that knocked him silly and ended his title reign.
The loss made Silva look beatable for the first time, and with his aura gone, Weidman almost repeated the feat in their rematch before Silva ended up losing in even more devastating fashion, his leg snapping after Weidman checked a second-round leg kick. ‘The Spider’ took a year off to recover and returned with a victory over Nick Diaz in one of the weirdest fights of all time, but his aura was further eroded when he failed the post-fight drug test for a PED.
Since returning from his suspension, Silva has lost further fights to Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier, and his only win (discounting the overturned Diaz victory) came in controversial fashion over Derek Brunson – a fight that most observers scored for Brunson rather than Silva.
While it’s fair to expect him to be on a downturn now at the age of 42, there’s no question that his sudden decline – and the destruction of his aura – came in that first fight with Weidman.
