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Despite the presence of a number of competitors over the years, the UFC is undoubtedly the world’s biggest MMA promotion. It has thus been home to most of the greatest fighters on the planet at one time or another.
While the UFC has been established as the biggest MMA promotion in the world for over a decade now, there have still been fighters, often highly-rated ones, who they have not been able to sign to a deal.
Often, this hasn’t been for the want of trying, as these fighters have been offered big-money deals on numerous occasions to come to the octagon. However, for one reason or another, they’ve always turned those deals down.
With that in mind, here are five top fighters the UFC were not able to sign to deals.
#5. The UFC failed to sign Bibiano Fernandes
When the UFC announced they’d signed Bibiano Fernandes to a deal in the summer of 2012, most hardcore MMA fans were highly excited. After all, ‘The Flash’ had been widely recognized as one of the best bantamweights in the world for years at that stage.
Unfortunately, Fernandes’ long-awaited octagon debut never came. Despite the promotion announcing that he would face Roland Delorme in his first bout, the Brazilian later stated his negotiations with the promotion had never been completed and he wouldn’t be signing after all.
Quite what went wrong is anyone’s guess. It’s probably likely that Dana White and company simply didn’t offer ‘The Flash’ enough money to warrant him moving over from Japan.
However, it’s safe to say that Fernandes definitely would’ve been a massive hit with the fans had he arrived in the promotion. Initially rising to fame with the DREAM promotion in the late 2000’s, ‘The Flash’ boasted a record of 11-3 when he was offered his contract and held wins over the likes of Joachim Hansen and Joe Warren.
Since then, though, he’s extended that record to a phenomenal 24-4 and has only lost one fight since December 2010. Capable of stopping opponents with strikes as well as submitting them on the ground, Fernandes now holds ONE Championship’s 145-pound title and remains one of the best fighters in the world.
However, given he’s now 41 years old and seems content to compete in ONE, it’s unlikely we’ll see him in the octagon, making him one of the few top fighters to never join the promotion.
#4. The UFC failed to sign Igor Vovchanchyn
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.
#3. The UFC failed to sign Joachim Hansen
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.
#2. The UFC failed to sign Gina Carano
Prior to the rise of Ronda Rousey, who would go onto become one of the UFC’s all-time greatest drawing cards as bantamweight champion, the biggest female star in MMA was undoubtedly Gina Carano.
‘Crush’ rose to fame in the late 2000’s, first in the ill-fated Elite XC promotion, where she defeated the likes of Kaitlin Young and Tonya Evinger to quickly gain massive popularity with the fans.
Once Elite XC closed its doors, Carano joined Strikeforce, but only fought under their banner once, suffering a loss at the hands of Cris Cyborg in the first female MMA fight to really go mainstream, some four years before Rousey arrived in the UFC.
However, following this loss, Carano stepped away from MMA altogether, choosing to pursue a career in acting instead.
When she starred in movies like Fast & Furious 6 and Haywire, it seemed unlikely that she’d ever return to fighting. In fact, that reportedly almost changed in 2014.
That July, UFC president Dana White suggested that he was in talks to bring Carano into the octagon to fight Rousey in what would’ve been a genuinely huge clash and that there were few hurdles to cross other than to meet with her lawyers.
However, the deal never went through and Carano instead returned to Hollywood. In 2019, ‘Crush’ revealed that while she had met with White and Lorenzo Fertitta, she’d asked for at least six months to prepare for a fight with Rousey and the UFC president was simply too impatient to wait.
Whether Carano would’ve succeeded in the octagon, particularly against Rousey at that time, is another thing entirely. However, the fight would undoubtedly have been a major seller for the promotion, meaning that ‘Crush’ should be considered a major missed opportunity.
#1. The UFC failed to sign Fedor Emelianenko
Naturally, the biggest star the UFC has never been able to sign to a deal is former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. ‘The Last Emperor’, who is currently competing in Bellator MMA, remains the greatest fighter to never set foot in the octagon.
Fedor shot to fame with PRIDE in the early 2000’s, where he defeated the likes of Heath Herring, Mark Coleman, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko Cro Cop to establish himself as the world’s best heavyweight.
When the UFC bought PRIDE out in 2007, though, they were unable to come to terms with Fedor. That was largely due to his insistence that they co-promote with his manager’s promotion, M-1 Global.
Instead, Fedor essentially fought for the promotion’s biggest competitors instead, joining both Affliction MMA and Strikeforce, where his lengthy unbeaten run finally came to an end at the hands of Fabricio Werdum in 2010.
From there, Fedor went onto retire in 2012 following three final victories in Japan and it seemed like any idea of him entering the octagon was over.
However, when he announced his intentions to return in late 2015, rumors abounded that he was finally ready to come to terms with the world’s biggest MMA promotion.
Unfortunately, though, the same issues reared their head. After fighting in Japan, he ended up doing what he’d always done, joining the UFC’s biggest competitor in the form of Bellator MMA.
At the age of 45, despite being on a two-fight win streak, it’s likely that Fedor will hang up his gloves for good in the coming years and will remain the biggest star to never fight in the octagon.
Who is to blame for ‘The Last Emperor’ never entering the UFC? To tell the truth, both sides are. In reality, the only people who’ve suffered from their failure to cut a deal are the fans.
