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For most fighters, winning a title in the UFC is considered the pinnacle of their careers, as most never make it all the way to the top.
To win a title in the UFC is never easy; at times it even seems impossible. Some legendary champions failed in their first attempts to ascend to the top of the mountain.
Of course, these champions eventually claimed the gold despite their initial setback. If anything, that setback probably led them onto the greatness they eventually achieved.
On that note, here are five UFC champions who failed in their first title shot:
#5. Glover Teixeira – current UFC light heavyweight champion
When Glover Teixeira defeated Jan Blachowicz for the UFC light heavyweight title in late 2021, it came as a major surprise to many. Incredibly, the victory made the 42-year-old Teixeira the oldest fighter in the promotion’s history to claim gold for the first time.
However, the clash wasn’t the first time Teixeira had fought for gold inside the octagon. Back in 2014, when the Brazilian was considered a rising star of sorts, he faced then-champion Jon Jones in what, at the time, felt like the pinnacle of his career.
Teixeira had battled for traction outside of the UFC for years. By the time he joined the promotion in 2012, he had a massive amount of experience, boasting a 17-2 record.
It didn’t take him long to make an impact in the octagon either. He beat Kyle Kingsbury, Fabio Maldonado, Quinton’ Rampage’ Jackson, James Te Huna and Ryan Bader in quick succession to set up a meeting with Jones.
However, in that title fight, few gave Teixeira a chance. Sure, he was on a great run, but he was no Jon Jones. Moreover, it felt in many ways that the promotion had set him up as a ‘challenger of the month’ type. Sure enough, he was thoroughly outclassed by ‘Bones’, and he did rather well to last the distance.
He went on to lose fights to the likes of Corey Anderson, Alexander Gustafsson and Phil Davis. So nobody expected him to rise back up the ladder to claim another title shot, even when he began to hit form again in 2019.
Proving everyone wrong, though, the Brazilian won five fights in a row to set up a second – more unlikely – title shot against Blachowicz. The rest, as they say, is history.
#4. Tito Ortiz – former UFC light heavyweight champion
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.
#3. BJ Penn – former UFC welterweight and lightweight champion
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.
#2. Francis Ngannou – current UFC heavyweight champion
After his victory over Ciryl Gane last weekend, there’s simply no disputing that Francis Ngannou is the best UFC heavyweight on the planet right now. The reigning UFC champion now looks like a force of nature inside the octagon, and it’s difficult to see anyone stopping him any time soon.
However, fans who believe that ‘The Predator’ is a completely unbeatable fighter should be reminded of his first bid to become a champion in 2018. That failed pretty miserably at the hands of Stipe Miocic.
Leading into the bout, it looked like a formality that Ngannou would claim the title from Miocic. After all, he’d been destroying every fighter put in front of him, even foes who gave the champion some trouble, such as Alistair Overeem.
Sure, Miocic was a battle-tested, proven champion with excellent skills. However, he simply didn’t possess the same kind of explosive power and athleticism as ‘The Predator’ did.
Nevertheless, it quickly became clear that if he was to claim victory, it wouldn’t come easy. Ngannou landed some of his trademark haymakers in the opening round, but for the first time in his UFC career, his opponent remained standing.
From there, ‘The Predator’ began to tire. Miocic then willed his way back into the fight, beginning to secure takedowns and beating Ngannou up on the ground. Eventually, the way the fight was going became clear, and Miocic claimed a unanimous decision.
The loss derailed Ngannou badly for a while, and he produced a career-worst performance in his next bout. However, ‘The Predator’ didn’t need long to recover. When the two men met in a rematch in 2021, Ngannou proved that he’d learned from his earlier mistakes, as he took out Miocic violently to claim the gold.
#1. Georges St-Pierre – former UFC welterweight champion
Perhaps the most famous example of a UFC legend who failed in his first attempt to become a champion is legendary former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre. In fact, it’s probably arguable that GSP’s first failed title shot played a key part in the greatness he went onto achieve later in his career.
The Canadian’s octagon career was just two fights old when he was offered a title bout against former champion Matt Hughes. The latter was looking to reclaim the title he’d lost to BJ Penn, who subsequently vacated it to leave the promotion for pastures new.
St-Pierre had looked impressive in his wins over Karo Parisyan and Jay Hieron, but Hughes was a different animal entirely. Despite his loss to Penn, he was still widely recognized as the greatest 170 lber of all time.
GSP couldn’t even look him in the eye during their staredown. While he had some success, landing some good strikes on Hughes and even taking him down at one point, he eventually made an error on the ground, and fell prey to an armbar.
Nevertheless, the fight opened the Canadian’s eyes to two things: it showed him the level he needed to be at to become a UFC champion, and it also showed him that with a little more work, he could make it to the top.
Sure enough, the next year, GSP returned to the octagon with a vengeance, and reeled off wins over Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk and Penn to set up a second shot at Hughes.
And as everyone knows, he went on to win that fight, and go on to become the greatest champion in UFC history.
