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UFC champions are usually seen as the promotion’s biggest stars. Thus it stands to reason they tend to become the most popular fighters in the promotion, too.
Not every UFC title reign is popular with fans, though. Over the years, we’ve seen a number of reigns that either frustrated or outright turned spectators away from the promotion entirely.
Sometimes injuries were to blame for these disliked title reigns, while other times, the quality of the champion’s fights inside the octagon was brought into question.
Regardless of the reasons, here are five of the most hated title reigns in UFC history.
#5. Germaine de Randamie – UFC women's featherweight title (2017)
Germaine de Randamie’s reign as UFC featherweight champion was a relatively short one, only lasting for five months. However, it’s still fair to say that it remains one of the most disliked reigns in the promotion’s history.
When everything is taken into context around this title reign, though, it’s easy to see why the fans failed to accept ‘The Iron Lady’ as a champion.
Firstly, nobody really expected de Randamie to be involved in the promotion’s inaugural featherweight title bout. When plans to introduce the division in late 2016 were announced, it was widely anticipated that Cris Cyborg would be part of any title bout.
However, the promotion failed to come to terms with the Brazilian and so de Randamie was chosen to face Holly Holm for the new title instead. If that wasn’t bad enough, the title fight was an atrocious fight, with de Randamie edging a decision despite committing a couple of flagrant fouls during the bout.
Secondly, and more importantly, when Cyborg did get on-side with the promotion, ‘The Iron Lady’ outright refused to defend the title against her due to the Brazilian’s checkered past with PED usage.
That forced the promotion to strip her of the title altogether, rendering her whole reign, as well as the terrible title bout with Holm, largely pointless.
As the only time a champion has been stripped for refusing outright to face the top contender in the octagon, it should hardly be surprising that de Randamie’s reign remains one of the most disliked in the promotion’s history.
#4. Michael Bisping – UFC middleweight title (2016-2017)
This entry comes with a caveat of sorts, as it’s probably fair to state that Michael Bisping’s middleweight title victory over Luke Rockhold remains one of the greatest upsets in UFC history.
More to the point, given the amount of great fights and hard work he’d put in over the years, most fans also loved seeing ‘The Count’ finally get his hands on the gold.
However, it’s also fair to suggest that Bisping’s title reign was one of frustration and annoyance for the majority of fans. It arguably held up the 185-pound division for the best part of two years.
The issue seemed to be that because nobody really expected Bisping to dethrone Rockhold in the first place, his victory threw a curveball at all of the promotion’s best-laid plans in terms of the rest of the division’s contenders.
Bisping won the title in June 2016. For his first defense, he was matched with veteran Dan Henderson. On one hand, the booking made sense as Henderson had handed Bisping the worst loss of his career in 2009. On the other hand, though, Henderson had won just two of his previous five bouts and was also 46 years old at the time of the title bout.
Bisping duly defeated ‘Hendo’ and it looked like the promotion would get back on track when they looked set to match him with top contender Yoel Romero.
However, injuries kept ‘The Count’ out of action in the early part of 2017. When he was ready to return, the UFC decided to pursue a “money fight” between him and former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre.
Given the amount of high-level contenders around at the time, including Romero, Robert Whittaker and Jacare Souza, this was highly frustrating and practically made a mockery of the entire division.
Things ironed themselves out when GSP defeated Bisping and then vacated the title shortly after. However, the fact Bisping’s reign lasted nearly two years and didn’t see him face one of the top contenders made it widely disliked by the fans.
#3, Matt Serra – UFC welterweight title (2007-2008)
In a similar vein to the way that Michael Bisping’s reign as middleweight champion was a frustrating one for UFC fans, Matt Serra’s time as welterweight kingpin came as a shock, but turned out to be one of the most disliked reigns in the promotion’s history.
As everyone knows, ‘The Terror’ won the title in April 2007 in one of the greatest upsets in MMA history. He knocked Georges St-Pierre out despite coming into the fight as a huge underdog.
Nobody really expected Serra to put together a series of impressive title defenses, but most fans probably hoped that he would at least manage to fight a top contender in the months that followed his victory.
However, the promotion instead decided to capitalize on the New Yorker’s rivalry with former champion Matt Hughes. It booked them to coach on the sixth season of The Ultimate Fighter, before clashing at the end of the year.
Everything seemed to be going swimmingly when the TUF season turned out to be a big hit with fans. However, Serra’s title reign then came off the rails entirely when he injured his back, taking him out of the fight with Hughes.
The promotion instead booked a resurgent St-Pierre against the former champion and GSP quickly defeated him to set up a rematch with ‘The Terror’ just over a year after their initial meeting. In a one-sided bout, the Canadian destroyed Serra to reclaim the gold.
In this instance, while Serra was a likable champion, his title reign was largely rendered as a waste of time due to his lack of defenses over an entire year, making it one of the most disliked in the promotion’s history.
#2, Tyron Woodley – UFC welterweight title (2016-2019)
Unlike champions like Matt Serra and Germaine de Randamie, Tyron Woodley was able to make a number of defenses of his UFC welterweight title during his three years as champion. Unfortunately, that didn’t make his title reign any more popular with the fans.
Woodley was always a bit of a surprise champion as he unseated Robbie Lawler for the gold in the summer of 2016 after spending over a year on the shelf. In all honesty, it wasn’t his fault that a number one contender’s bout with Johny Hendricks was canceled when Hendricks failed to make weight. His knockout of Lawler was also an astonishing one.
However, it also turned out to be the high point of his reign as champion. ‘The Chosen One’ put on his first defense four months after winning the title and went to a draw with top contender Stephen Thompson in a largely entertaining fight.
However, his rematch with ‘Wonderboy’ in early 2017 was widely panned as one of the most dull title bouts in UFC history. His next defense, a five-round win over Demian Maia, was arguably even worse.
Woodley’s fourth defense, a submission win over Darren Till, was far more impressive, but even that garnered criticism because most fans felt he should’ve been fighting Colby Covington rather than ‘The Gorilla’.
By the time Kamaru Usman unseated ‘The Chosen One’ in March 2019, most fans had become more than tired of Woodley’s title reign. Although that could be seen as unfair given the number of defenses he managed, it was hard to dispute the poor quality of his title bouts with Thompson and Maia.
#1. Tim Sylvia – UFC heavyweight title (2006-2007)
Despite the reign taking place well over a decade ago, it’s safe to say that longtime UFC fans have never really forgotten quite how hated Tim Sylvia’s time as heavyweight champion was.
The reign was so widely disliked, in fact, that it turned ‘The Maine-Iac’ from a fan favorite into a fighter with a largely damaged reputation.
In hindsight, it’s a little tricky to understand quite why Sylvia’s reign garnered so much hatred. After all, it only lasted for a short period – just eleven months to be exact – and he won the title in one of the most entertaining title bouts in the promotion’s history.
‘The Maine-Iac’ recovered from a heavy knockdown to surprise then-champion Andrei Arlovski with a short uppercut that switched off his lights, ending his reign as champion in a flash. The UFC decided to put together a third bout between the two rivals and that proved to be the turning point for Sylvia and his reign.
Both ‘The Maine-Iac’ and Arlovski fought in a safety-first, almost nervous manner, refusing to really engage in the fight due to the wariness of their opponent’s punching power. The fight petered out to a five-round decision, which Sylvia edged, allowing him to keep the title.
The dull bout was enough to cause the fans to turn on ‘The Maine-Iac’ entirely. When he put on another largely uneventful defense against Jeff Monson a couple of months later, he garnered even more hatred.
The UFC then intended for him to defend for a third time against top contender Gabriel Gonzaga, but the fan response to the possible fight was so toxic that the promotion nixed the idea. Instead, it brought Randy Couture out of retirement to challenge him.
Couture duly defeated Sylvia, ending the title reign and adding to his own legend in the process. For the most part, fans were more relieved than anything else, as one of the most widely disliked title reigns in UFC history was over.
