'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Any fighter who manages to claim gold in the UFC is obviously a great fighter. Most champions tend to fall into two categories: fighters who skyrocket up the ranks like Jon Jones or Israel Adesanya, or those who smash everyone in front of them en route to the title like Khabib Nurmagomedov or Kamaru Usman.
Over the years, we have seen some anomalies in this sense. That's seen fighters take a far more arduous road to claiming a UFC title, often after they’d been written off.
In a lot of senses, it’s arguable that the fighters traveling this path ought to be more celebrated than their more dominant contemporaries. After all, sheer persistence has to be admired.
Here are five UFC champions who took a bumpy road to the top.
#5. Rafael dos Anjos – former UFC lightweight champion
When Rafael dos Anjos claimed the UFC lightweight title by thoroughly dominating Anthony Pettis in early 2015, the entire MMA world was largely left in shock. Not only was Pettis seen as a practically unbeatable champion at the time, but ‘RDA’ was the last man anyone expected to dethrone him.
The Brazilian had debuted in the octagon way back in 2008 as a one-dimensional grappler for the most part. When Jeremy Stephens practically took his head off with an uppercut, it threatened to turn him into a punchline before his career with the promotion had really begun.
'RDA' did recover from the loss, defeating mid-level fighters like Terry Etim and Rob Emerson, but another three losses in his next seven fights meant that he never really ascended from the prelim level.
However, after taking a brief period of time away from action between late 2011 and mid 2012, dos Anjos returned to the octagon a different fighter. He’d hooked up with renowned trainer Rafael Cordeiro and not only had his wrestling improved, but so had his striking.
Suddenly, dos Anjos began to destroy his opponents, reeling off wins over the likes of Evan Dunham and Donald Cerrone. When he then knocked out former lightweight kingpin Benson Henderson, it was clear that he was for real. Sure enough, after defeating Nate Diaz to secure his title shot, he then hammered Pettis to claim the title.
While his title reign lasted only a little over a year, it is safe to say that it was remarkable to see him with the gold. To say nobody expected it after seeing him knocked out by Stephens would be an understatement.
#4. Fabricio Werdum – former UFC heavyweight champion
After a semi-successful run in Pride that saw him defeat the likes of Alistair Overeem and Alexander Emelianenko, Fabricio Werdum made his way to the UFC in 2007 with a reputation as one of the best heavyweight grapplers on the planet.
However, when he sandwiched wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera with losses to Andrei Arlovski and the debuting Junior dos Santos, ‘Vai Cavalo’ was quickly released from the promotion and looked like he’d go down as another footnote, a fighter who simply couldn’t quite cut it at the top level.
Rather than vanish from the sport, though, Werdum made his way to Strikeforce and promptly stunned everyone when he submitted legendary former Pride champion Fedor Emelianenko, who at the time was seen as unbeatable.
That was enough for the UFC to bring him back when they absorbed Strikeforce’s heavyweights onto their own roster in 2012. Werdum then went on an excellent run, defeating Roy Nelson and Mike Russow before taking out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Travis Browne.
Those wins netted him a title shot, which turned into an interim title bout against Mark Hunt, which the Brazilian won in impressive fashion too. Still, nobody expected him to be able to overcome reigning champion Cain Velasquez when they eventually met in 2015.
Incredibly, though, not only did Werdum beat Velasquez, he dominated him, battering him from the clinch before submitting him with a guillotine choke in the third round.
The win was one of the biggest upsets in UFC history and nobody could’ve expected the grappler, who washed out of the promotion in 2008, to be the man to pull it off.
#3. Glover Teixeira – UFC light heavyweight champion
Even before he’d arrived in the UFC, it was safe to say that Glover Teixeira had taken a bumpy road to the top of the sport. Unable to secure a visa to compete with the promotion, the Brazilian had fought for years on the regional circuit, putting together an impressive 17-2 record before entering the octagon for the first time in 2012.
However, making up for lost time, Teixeira quickly ran through five straight opponents, ending with a knockout of Ryan Bader, to set up a shot at light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in early 2014. Unsurprisingly, though, Teixeira lost that fight in pretty dominant fashion.
Over the next few years, while he remained close to the top of the division, defeating the likes of Rashad Evans, Ovince St. Preux and Jared Cannonier, the Brazilian suffered a number of losses too, falling to Alexander Gustafsson, Anthony Johnson, and Corey Anderson, amongst others.
That loss to Anderson was particularly disappointing and given that Teixeira was pushing 40 at the time, it seemed like his career at the top was all but over.
Remarkably, though, Teixeira not only bounced back from the loss, but reeled off a subsequent five-fight win streak to put himself in line for a surprising second chance at the title.
This time, the Brazilian made the most of his shot, upsetting champion Jan Blachowicz with a second-round rear-naked choke to claim the gold.
Not only did the win make Teixeira one of the most unexpected champions in UFC history, it also made him the oldest fighter to claim a title for the first time, making him the definition of a champion who’d taken an arduous road to the top.
#2. Michael Bisping – former UFC middleweight champion
To say that Michael Bisping’s career with the UFC had a number of twists and turns would be a massive understatement. After debuting via the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, which saw ‘The Count’ win the light heavyweight tournament, he quickly established himself as the promotion’s UK poster-boy, but that didn’t exactly make him popular in the US.
Instead, Bisping quickly became one of the promotion’s biggest villains. While he went onto headline multiple UFC shows, both in the UK and elsewhere, it seemed like he’d never realize his dream of becoming the first ever British fighter to capture gold in the octagon.
Simply put, ‘The Count’ just didn’t seem quite good enough for that level, no matter how hard he tried. Sure, he picked up major wins over the likes of Denis Kang and Yoshihiro Akiyama, but also suffered losses to fighters like Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva and Luke Rockhold, keeping him away from a middleweight title shot.
By early 2016, Bisping was on the wrong side of 35 years old. While he’d earned the respect of the fans who once despised him, he still seemed miles away from a title shot. When he beat former champion Anderson Silva, who was arguably past his prime at the time they fought, it felt like the closest he’d get to the top.
Just four months later, though, ‘The Count’ was given a massive opportunity. He stepped in to fight Rockhold, then the champion, in a rematch with the title on the line on just 17 days’ notice. Nobody expected him to win, but bizarrely, Rockhold was so confident that he simply didn’t take Bisping seriously.
When the champ dropped his hands one too many times, then, the Brit made him pay, turning his lights out with a left hand to shock the world.
Not only was the victory seen as one of the most unlikely title wins in UFC history, but it was also the culmination of a lengthy journey for Bisping, one that showed that sometimes, persistence pays off.
#1. Charles Oliveira – UFC lightweight champion
When Charles Oliveira knocked out Michael Chandler to win the vacant UFC lightweight title in 2021, it was hardly a stretch to suggest that, despite his considerable skills, ‘Do Bronx’ was one of the most unexpected champions in the promotion’s history.
Sure, the Brazilian had always been considered an exciting fighter to watch and held the UFC’s record for the most submission wins in the octagon, but he’d also gained the reputation of a somewhat flaky fighter who couldn’t really pull through adversity.
After all, in his first seven years with the promotion, ‘Do Bronx’ had lost a total of eight fights, with only one of those defeats going the distance. Overall, he’d been submitted on three occasions and stopped via strikes on four, with his losses to Max Holloway and Cub Swanson standing out as overly disappointing.
Things started to change for the Brazilian in late 2017. After taking time off following his loss to Paul Felder, Oliveira returned as a seemingly transformed fighter early the following year.
While his submissions remained as deadly as ever, ‘Do Bronx’, who appeared to have finally grown into his 155-pound frame, was now equally dangerous with his strikes and had developed a strong wrestling game to go with itm too.
Oliveira immediately began to reel off victories and after winning eight in a row – with the final one coming over former interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson – the UFC granted him a shot at the title vacated by Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The fact that Oliveira survived a beating in the first round of his title bout to overcome Chandler via knockout in the second seemed poetic in itself, proving that he’d come a long way from his days as a flaky fighter who’d go down easily.
