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#2. Donald Cerrone (numerous occasions)
Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone is not only one of the most popular UFC fighters of all time, but he’s also undoubtedly one of the most exciting. Since his UFC debut in 2011, Cerrone has fought on a total of 37 occasions inside the octagon. He even holds the record for the most wins in UFC history with 23.
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However, ‘Cowboy’ has never won a UFC title. While he’s headlined several UFC shows, he has tended to lose to the very best fighters he’s come up against, from Conor McGregor and Justin Gaethje to Rafael dos Anjos and Tony Ferguson.
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The obvious explanation would be that Cerrone simply isn’t quite at the level of the UFC’s true greats. Naturally, there’s no shame in this, as few fighters manage to ascend to that level, and ‘Cowboy’ is still one of the toughest men on the roster.
However, that hasn’t stopped him from being accused of losing his nerve and choking in big fights over the years. It’s an accusation that’s been leveled at him by everyone, including UFC President Dana White, fans and even some of his fellow fighters.
Cerrone was famously accused of choking during his UFC lightweight title fight with champion Rafael dos Anjos, who stopped him in just over a minute in December 2015.
And after his 40-second loss to McGregor at UFC 246, similar accusations were thrown his way again – and ‘Cowboy’ himself refused to deny them, admitting in an interview with DAZN that he choked under the bright lights.
#1. Conor McGregor (numerous fights)
On the face of it, it'd seem difficult to claim that Conor McGregor is a fighter who loses his nerve on the big occasion.
After all, 'The Notorious' has delivered under immense pressure on numerous occasions in the UFC, most notably when he defeated Eddie Alvarez to become the UFC lightweight champion in 2016.
But in the opinion of McGregor's greatest rival – former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov – the Irishman is a fighter who simply wilts when faced with a genuinely tricky opponent.
In a recent interview, 'The Eagle' was quoted as saying that while McGregor looked like "a lion" against an overmatched foe in the form of Donald' Cowboy' Cerrone at UFC 246, as soon as he was faced with a tougher opponent – likely a reference to either himself or Dustin Poirier, the Irishman instead looked like "a scared chicken."
Naturally, this was something that McGregor quickly refuted on Twitter with a trademark angry retort.
So, does 'The Notorious' really lose his nerve in the biggest fights? In all honesty, it's a tricky argument to make, especially when you consider that he once won multiple UFC main events against great fighters like Alvarez and Jose Aldo.
The truth is that McGregor's losses to Poirier were more likely to have been caused by a combination of ring rust and 'The Notorious' perhaps being past his best. Still, this was an interesting accusation for Nurmagomedov to make, particularly when the subject of the interview was actually Aldo's fight with Pedro Munhoz!
