5 UFC champions who failed to win gold in their first title shot

#4. Tito Ortiz – former UFC light heavyweight champion

Tito Ortiz’s first title bout saw him fall in a legendary encounter with Frank Shamrock.

Back in the UFC’s early days, it was unquestionable that the promotion’s biggest star was Tito Ortiz. When the Fertitta brothers and Dana White took over the promotion in 2001, Ortiz was the reigning light heavyweight champion, and quickly became their new poster boy.

Ortiz had won the title in a fight with future PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva. That was a fight that essentially made him the world’s best 205 lber, and he would go on to defend his title successfully on five occasions.

However, newer fans may not realise that ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ failed in his first attempt to win the title. That was largely because that failed attempt came against a forgotten legend in Frank Shamrock.

Shamrock claimed what was then known as the UFC middleweight title in 1997, and defended it on four occasions before facing off with Ortiz. For his part, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ earned his shot by beating two of Shamrock’s former teammates and friends in Jerry Bohlander and Guy Mezger.

The two men faced off at UFC 22 in September 1999 in what would quickly be recognized as the greatest fight in the promotion’s early years.

Ortiz – who clearly outweighed the champion – dominated the fight’s early proceedings with his wrestling, power and ground-and-pound. However, as the rounds went on, he began to tire, and suddenly it became clear that Shamrock was playing possum of sorts.

In the fourth round, when Ortiz provided him an opening, Shamrock pounced. He reversed position, hurt Ortiz standing, and then finished him with a series of ground strikes. It was a dramatic end to a truly epic fight as it cemented Shamrock’s spot as the world’s greatest.

When he chose to retire directly after the fight, though – vacating the title in the process – it came as no surprise that Ortiz claimed it just months later. These days, of course, it’s just a pity that Shamrock isn’t remembered as a legend in the same way ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ is.

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#3. BJ Penn – former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion

BJ Penn’s first title fight against Jens Pulver came a little too early for him.

Few fighters in UFC history arrived in the promotion with quite the same impact as BJ Penn. However, for as good as ‘The Prodigy’ was on his arrival, it’s probably safe to say in hindsight that he was given a title shot a little too early.

Penn hadn’t even had a single MMA fight when he first stepped into the octagon. However, the promotion was willing to give him a shot based on a wild reputation from his days as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu artist.

It didn’t take long for the Hawaiian to make an impact, though. After easily dispatching Joey Gilbert on his debut, he took out highly ranked contenders Din Thomas and Caol Uno in successive fights. He needed less than three minutes combined to finish both men.

Given his achievements, it seemed impossible not to hand him a shot at reigning lightweight kingpin Jens Pulver. However, as the champion said at the time, Penn was ‘bad, but he wasn’t evil’.

The title bout between Pulver and Penn became the first lightweight fight to headline a UFC event. In a truly gritty performance, ‘Lil Evil’ recovered from a tricky start to outpoint Penn, outworking him with his slick boxing and underrated wrestling game.

The loss only temporarily derailed ‘The Prodigy’. However, incredibly, he also failed in his second bid to become a champion when the judges somehow declared his rematch with Uno as a draw.

It would be in his third title challenge – in a seemingly impossible fight with welterweight champion Matt Hughes – that Penn would finally claim gold. That set him on a path that would lead to truly legendary status down the line.