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The UFC has been considered the world’s biggest and best MMA promotion for the best part of 15 years now, and at this stage, you can practically count the number of great fighters who’ve never stepped into the Octagon on two hands.
Some fighters – names like Daniel Cormier, Quinton Jackson, and Mauricio Rua – were equally successful in the UFC as they were in other promotions, but for others, success inside the Octagon was very tricky to come by despite thriving elsewhere.
Here are 5 UFC fighters who found more success away from the promotion.
#1 Wanderlei Silva
Many people forget that Wanderlei Silva had a brief career in the UFC before making his way to PRIDE in the late 1990s. But, in fact, ‘The Axe Murderer’ debuted in the Octagon way back in 1998, where he was brutally knocked out by Vitor Belfort at the UFC’s first-ever show in Brazil.
Silva came back to defeat Tony Petarra at UFC 20 seven months later, and after winning three fights in PRIDE, he was pitted against a young Tito Ortiz for the then-vacant UFC Light-Heavyweight title
Ortiz would defeat Silva by unanimous decision – comfortably out-grappling him for five rounds straight – and that was the last we’d see of the Brazilian in the promotion for the best part of a decade.
Instead, ‘The Axe Murderer’ headed back to PRIDE – and went on a frighteningly dominant run, defeating 19 opponents and going unbeaten for four years before Mark Hunt – at Heavyweight – was able to defeat him.
By the time PRIDE was bought out by the UFC, though, Silva’s run of dominance had ended, and he’d lost his last two fights by KO. And so despite showing flashes of his former greatness in wins over Keith Jardine, Cung Le, and Brian Stann, the Brazilian was only able to put together a record of 4-5 in the Octagon before departing the promotion in 2013.
Would Silva have dominated the UFC as he did PRIDE had he spent the prime of his career there? We’ll never know, but it’s impossible to deny that ‘The Axe Murderer’ was far more successful away from the Octagon than he was inside it.
#2 Ryan Bader
The Light-Heavyweight winner of the 8th season of The Ultimate Fighter, Ryan Bader was always a relatively successful fighter in the UFC. ‘Darth’ went 15-5 in the Octagon over a span of eight years, beating the likes of Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira along the way. But his losses always seemed to show he would never quite make it to the very top, as he would always suffer a defeat before being able to secure a title shot.
That hasn’t been the same since he moved to Bellator in 2017, though. After fighting out his UFC contract in 2016 – ending it with two wins – the former NCAA Division I wrestler signed with Scott Coker’s promotion and instantly won gold, beating Phil Davis for the Bellator Light-Heavyweight title in his promotional debut.
Since then, Bader has beaten a further four opponents and claimed the vacant Bellator Heavyweight title in 2019 by defeating the legendary Fedor Emelianenko by KO. The win made Bader Bellator’s first double champion, and now it’s hard to dispute his standing as one of the promotion’s all-time most successful fighters – something that never looked likely to happen in the UFC.
#3 Jorge Santiago
One of American Top Team’s original Brazilian fighters along with the likes of Wilson Gouveia, Thiago Alves, and Gleison Tibau, Jorge Santiago put together a strong 11-5 record on the regional scene between 2002 and 2006 before being signed to the UFC that year.
And, he made good on his Octagon debut too, knocking out Justin Levens with a series of knees. From there though, things went badly wrong for him, as he was knocked out by Chris Leben and Alan Belcher before being cut loose by the promotion.
From there though, rather than simply fade into obscurity, Santiago put together the best run of his career.
From 2007 to 2010 he went 11-1, winning the StrikeForce Middleweight Grand Prix and the Sengoku Middleweight title while defeating tough veterans such as Kazuo Misaki, Jeremy Horn and Siyar Bahadurzada.
Some publications even had him ranked as high as the top five in the world at 185lbs during this period.
Unsurprisingly, Santiago’s run of wins was enough to earn him a ticket back into the UFC, where many fans expected him to become an immediate title contender. However, the opposite happened; the Brazilian was knocked out in his return fight by Brian Stann, and then dropped a decision to Demian Maia before being released again.
Two wins on the regional circuit earned him another chance – this time at 170lbs – but this time he lost to Gunnar Nelson and was cut again, before retiring after one more loss outside the UFC.
Essentially, Santiago was always a UFC-quality fighter, but while he was able to look brilliant against the slightly lower-level opponents outside the promotion, he just couldn’t keep that form up against a higher level of competition inside the Octagon.
#4 Nick Diaz
It might be controversial to suggest that Nick Diaz never truly succeeded inside the UFC. After all, he was one of their biggest stars after returning to the Octagon in 2011 and helped to sell millions of pay-per-views in fights against Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva.
But the truth is that despite being a hugely popular fighter, his Octagon record – 7-6 with one No Contest – just isn’t that great when it comes down to it.
Outside of the UFC though, Diaz was always pretty awesome. After leaving the promotion in late 2006, the native of Stockton, California went 11-1 with one No Contest – a fight he won against PRIDE Lightweight champion Takanori Gomi – and the only loss he suffered, a TKO due to a doctor stoppage against KJ Noons, was later avenged.
Along the way, he defeated great opponents like Paul Daley, Frank Shamrock and Hayato Sakurai, won the StrikeForce Welterweight title, and also defeated the DREAM Welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis.
At the peak of his powers in StrikeForce, there were plenty of fans who believed he was the best 170lber in the world – something that was proven firmly wrong when he came back to the UFC and was defeated by St-Pierre and Carlos Condit.
#5 Ben Askren
For years it felt like Ben Askren would be one of the big “what if?” stories in the UFC. A world-class freestyle wrestler who had won 2 NCAA Division I titles in his collegiate days and competed in the 2008 Olympics, ‘Funky Ben’ won Bellator’s Welterweight title in 2010 and put together 4 successful defenses of his crown while going 12-0 overall in MMA.
When Bellator surprisingly released him in the summer of 2013, he was expected to make his way to the UFC.
But, due to a personal spat with UFC President Dana White, Askren instead headed to Singapore-based promotion ONE FC, and continued to win, going 6-0 with one No Contest there before apparently retiring in 2017.
It appeared that we’d never get the answer to the question of how good he would’ve done in the UFC – until the promotion stunningly decided to bring him aboard in late 2018, with former Flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson going in the opposite direction.
Askren debuted in the Octagon in March 2019 at UFC 235, but while he defeated Robbie Lawler, the win came with some controversy.
After Askren just about survived a beating early on, referee Herb Dean stopped the contest with Lawler trapped in a bulldog choke despite the fact that ‘Ruthless Robbie’ never tapped out.
‘Funky Ben’ then moved onto a fight with Jorge Masvidal – and suffered a stunning five-second knockout via flying knee, before being out-grappled and submitted by Demian Maia three months later.
Askren then retired from MMA after the loss, and while there remain questions as to how he would’ve done against different opponents, it’s now safe to say he was far more successful outside the UFC than he was inside.
