UFC: 5 fighters who had to relinquish titles due to injury or illness

Illnesses and injuries can come at any time. Some things are impossible to prevent, while other situations which might have been preventable but were not remain as regrets for the fighters in question. In a combat sports promotion like UFC, injuries are common.

In WWE, on Monday night's episode of Raw, Roman Reigns had a shocking revelation for the fans, one that no one had seen coming. The Big Dog opened the show, and in a moment of intense vulnerability, he revealed that he would not be able to live up to his promises.

He told the live crowd, and the global audience watching from home that he had Leukemia (Blood Cancer). He further went on to reveal that he had been diagnosed with the disease for the first time back when he was 22 years old in 2008. Thankfully, he had been able to beat the disease and it had gone into remission. Now, 11 years on from that fateful day, the disease was back again.

He would be unable to continue to function as a wrestler in WWE as he needed treatment for the disease. This left him with no option but to vacate the Universal Championship that he had managed to win after pursuing it for over two years.

The revelation left the fans shocked and emotional, as it was almost incomprehensible to imagine such a situation.

In this article, we will be talking about 5 UFC Champions who had to give up their own titles due to injuries or illnesses.

#1 Frank Mir

Frank Mir won the UFC Heavyweight Championship following an excellent fight with Tim Sylvia. The fight had to be stopped after Mir broke Sylvia's arm with a straight armbar. Although Sylvia protested the decision to start with, he accepted it after seeing the replay.

Mir would not be able to defend his title, however. Mir was involved in an accident when he was knocked off his bike by a car. He ended up breaking his femur as well as tearing all the ligaments in his knee.

The injury would put him on the sidelines for the better part of two years, and as a result, had to give up the title a year on from his injury. He would return to become the Interim Heavyweight Champion again. but never the Undisputed Champion.

#2 Dominick Cruz

Dominick Cruz is one of those fighters who has been extremely unfortunate in his career. Unfortunate not in the sense of his record, which remains a tremendous statistic that the fighter can throw in anyone's face.

His misfortune stems from the injury issues which seem to refuse to leave him alone. He was an undefeated fighter in the UFC at one point. He had lost only one fight outside of it. He managed to defeat Demetrious Johnson and retained the UFC Bantamweight Championship, something that he had managed to become the initial holder of. He was presented the Inaugural UFC Bantamweight Championship due to being the WEC Bantamweight Champion when he signed.

The fact is that until this point things were going well. However, after this, the fighter ended up being continuously plagued with a series of injuries that would prevent him from defending the title. With multiple surgeries, he had to give up the title, and Renan Barao, the then interim Champion was given the status of the Undisputed Champion instead.

#3 Nicco Montano

One of the most recent incidents on this list, Nicco Montano was unable to fight at UFC 228. As a result of this, she ended up being stripped of the title.

Ahead of UFC 228, it had been expected that Darren Till might not be able to make weight, making the championship bout a normal one instead. Not only did Till make the bout, but it was the Women's Flyweight Championship instead which saw the controversy.

Montano had become the inaugural Women's Flyweight Champion after defeating her competition. However, she would not be able to accept a schedule for a Championship fight for another nine months. When she was finally set to defend her title, effects of weight cutting saw her fall seriously ill.

The illness was enough for her to not be able to make her fight with Valentina Shevchenko, and the UFC ended up stripping her of the title.

#4 Georges St-Pierre

One of the true legends of the company to have ever held the UFC Title, Georges St-Pierre took time away from the company by vacating the title back in 2013. He was in the middle of one of the best-undefeated runs in the history of the company at the time.

At UFC 217, GSP faced and was able to defeat Michael Bisping without too much of a problem. It was a win like any other for him, even though it was his first fight since he had vacated the title four years back.

The 2017 November night was special for him, as he not only won but won via stoppage when he was able to make Bisping submit via a Rear Naked Choke at 4 minutes and 23 seconds of the third round of the fight. He won the Middleweight Title via this bout.

Unfortunately, it was not going to be a long championship run. He ended up having to vacate the belt to deal with his Ulcerative Colitis.

#5 Tony Ferguson

Tony Ferguson is one of the best fighters currently a part of the UFC roster. Competing in the Lightweight division, his recent win against Anthony Pettis means that he should be the next competitor for Khabib Nurmagomedov's UFC Lightweight Title. The controversy surrounding the main event means, however, that his bout against Khabib may have to be postponed again.

The last time that he was supposed to face Khabib, the shoe was on the other foot. Conor McGregor had defeated Eddie Alvarez for the Lightweight Championship before taking a hiatus from the company. As a result, Ferguson ended up competing against Kevin Lee and won the Interim Title.

He was set to defend it against Khabib, but ahead of his fight, he slipped on a big black cord. While this seems innocuous enough, he felt a pop and had to pull out of the fight. His knee kept locking and giving out, and he did the only thing he could - abandon the attempt. As a result, he was stripped of the title, at the same time that Conor was. Khabib defeated Al Iaquinta instead and became the champion.