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To succeed at the highest level of the UFC takes skill, heart, and toughness. It also takes a great deal of nerve and poise, particularly when a fight becomes difficult.
Over the years, we’ve seen several top UFC fighters, even ones who held UFC titles, accused of losing their nerve during major fights - usually ones they would go onto lose.
Whether or not these accusations are true is obviously up for debate, as it’s easy to suggest that a fighter has lost their nerve to explain away a loss rather than looking for more concrete reasons.
Either way, it’s likely that we’ll see similar accusations thrown at UFC fighters for plenty of time to come.
Here are five UFC fighters who were accused of losing their nerve in big fights.
#5. Tyron Woodley (vs. Rory MacDonald at UFC 174)
It’s probably fair to say that UFC President Dana White never quite saw eye to eye with former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, even when he looked like one of the most dominant fighters in the world.
White regularly frowned upon Woodley’s fighting style, as well as his attitude behind the scenes. However, his ire for ‘The Chosen One’ dated back long before his UFC welterweight title reign, even though Woodley was regularly delivering highlight-reel finishes at that point.
Most notably, White accused Woodley of losing his nerve in a big fight against Rory MacDonald at June 2014’s UFC 174. ‘The Chosen One’ lost a lopsided decision in the fight and seemed to be gunshy throughout, allowing MacDonald to back him up for essentially the whole three rounds.
In an interview with Fox Sports after the event, White hit out at Woodley and stated that he “choked in the big fight tonight.” He went onto suggest that ‘The Chosen One’ should’ve come out with much more aggression in the third round but instead only threw “a few punches” and largely sat back.
He ended by suggesting Woodley was an explosive fighter, but one who had a lot of question marks hanging over him.
Whether White changed his tune when it came to Woodley’s performances in big fights once he won the UFC welterweight title is a fair question to ask, but the UFC President clearly felt that ‘The Chosen One’ lost his nerve in this bout.
#4. Nate Marquardt (vs. Yushin Okami at UFC 122)
While he ended up fighting in the UFC for a little too long – suffering a series of bad losses after his prime had passed – it’s hard to deny that a decade or so ago, Nate Marquardt was one of the best middleweights on the planet.
However, ‘Nate the Great’ was never able to capture the UFC middleweight title, and in fact, only fought for it once after coming up short in more than one title eliminator over the years.
One such bout came in the main event of UFC 122 against Yushin Okami. And when Marquardt came out on the wrong end of a decision after fighting passively, UFC President Dana White was quick to suggest he’d lost his nerve.
Despite the fact that Marquardt had defeated top-level fighters such as Demian Maia, Martin Kampmann and Rousimar Palhares, White was quick to label him a “choker” in an interview following UFC 122.
The UFC President did call ‘Nate the Great’ a talented fighter but suggested that he’d lost his head in another big fight – and then took the opportunity to hit out at one of his favorite targets, coach Greg Jackson.
White’s suggestion was that Jackson telling Marquardt that he was winning the fight with Okami – when in reality, he was being “outstruck by a wrestler” – led directly to ‘Nate the Great’ losing his nerve and choking.
Did White have a point? It’s debatable, but following the loss, Marquardt never fought as high on a UFC card again despite appearing in the octagon on a further 12 occasions.
#3. Uriah Hall (vs. John Howard at UFC Fight Night 26)
Despite being a perennial top ten contender in the UFC middleweight division and holding big wins over fighters such as Anderson Silva and Gegard Mousasi, Uriah Hall has never quite shaken off the reputation of a fighter who tends to lose his nerve on the big occasion.
Whether or not ‘Prime Time’ has earned this reputation is up for debate, but it’s safe to say that the accusations probably began when he first arrived in the UFC in 2013.
Hall came into the octagon with a ton of fanfare following three violent finishes during the 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter but didn’t reach the same heights in his UFC debut against Kelvin Gastelum.
And when he dully lost his second UFC bout to journeyman John Howard, UFC President Dana White was quick to suggest that he’d lost his nerve.
In fact, White went even further – stating outright that Hall didn’t have what it took to make it in the UFC and suggesting that it had to do with his mentality. In White’s words, Hall was simply “not a fighter.”
And while ‘Prime Time’ did recover from the loss to Howard and has since put together a pretty respectable UFC record, he’s never quite shaken off the idea that he’s simply too much of a nice guy to reach the top - and often gets accused of losing his nerve in big fights to this day, such as his recent defeat at the hands of Sean Strickland.
#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.
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.
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!
