5 top fighters who the UFC were unable to sign to deals

#4. The UFC failed to sign Igor Vovchanchyn

Igor Vovchanchyn was once considered the world's most feared heavyweight

Back in the late 1990’s, when the UFC was still a burgeoning promotion focused more on the idea of pitting style-against-style and the sport we now know as MMA hadn’t quite been established, the world’s most feared heavyweight fighter was Igor Vovchanchyn.

Hailing from Ukraine, ‘Ice Cold’ lived up to his nickname every time he fought, whether that was inside a cage or a ring. Standing just 5’8” and often weighing less than 230 pounds, Vovchanchyn was a terrifying force who carried bricks for hands and had the ability to knock any foe out.

While Vovchanchyn has now been retired for well over 15 years, the fact that he was never able to set foot in the octagon remains a source of disappointment for longtime fans.

So why didn’t ‘Ice Cold’ join the promotion at any point in his career? In this case, it was probably down to bad timing. They did make an attempt to sign Vovchanchyn, offering him a spot in the tournament at UFC 11 in 1996, only for the Ukrainian to turn down the opportunity due to visa issues and financial concerns.

At that point, Vovchanchyn was 18-2 and was largely fighting on smaller, underground shows. However, he would find far more fame once he joined Japan’s PRIDE promotion in 1998. There, he defeated the likes of Gary Goodridge, Mark Kerr and Gilbert Yvel. He also had memorable wars with the likes of Enson Inoue and Mark Coleman.

PRIDE paid far more than the UFC did at the time and so there was never any question of Vovchanchyn heading to the states in his prime. By the point that those positions had flipped around, ‘Ice Cold’ was past his best and he hung up his gloves before PRIDE was bought out in 2007.

Given his dangerous reputation and the fact that 41 of his 56 wins came by knockout, it’s safe to say that the world’s biggest promotion missed out hugely by failing to sign him to a deal.

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#3. The UFC failed to sign Joachim Hansen

At his peak, Joachim Hansen was one of the world's most exciting lightweight fighters

When the UFC bought out Japan’s PRIDE promotion in 2007, it was widely expected that the best fighters from that promotion would enter the octagon in a series of dream matches.

Indeed, the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Takanori Gomi eventually came over to fight their counterparts in a series of classic bouts. However, one fighter who never joined the world’s biggest promotion was Joachim Hansen.

Sure, ‘Hellboy’ wasn’t the best lightweight that PRIDE had to offer, but he was definitely one of the most exciting. With his super-aggressive striking style and ability to attack his foes with submissions on the ground, the native of Norway could never be counted out of any fight.

Indeed, his style seemed tailor-made for the octagon and quickly had fight fans dreaming of bouts against the likes of Clay Guida and Roger Huerta.

However, that never happened, as Hansen chose to stay as far away from the promotion as possible. From all reports, the decision wasn’t on the UFC’s end. They reportedly offered ‘Hellboy’ a contract to face fellow PRIDE veteran Marcus Aurelio, but there was a major snag.

According to Hansen, the offer was for less than half the money he’d been making in PRIDE and triggered him to state that he would “rather have bleeding haemorrhoids” than fight for the UFC.

Naturally, after this, the Norwegian never made his way to the octagon. While he likely wouldn’t have won gold there, he definitely would’ve made for some exciting fights, making his failure to sign a deal a grave disappointment.