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Being the top promotion in the sport of MMA, the UFC has housed only the best fighters in the game. That includes several phenomenal fighters who have been undefeated in their professional MMA careers.
That includes Khabib Nurmagomedov, the only UFC fighter to retire undefeated even after defending the UFC lightweight title on several occasions.
However, unlike the 'Eagle', some undefeated fighters saw themselves get defeated before becoming champions, while some were handed their first professional MMA defeat by another fighter who was the champion of their division.
After their defeats to a champion, these fighters have either seen their careers go downhill or made them better fighters. On that note, here are five undefeated fighters lost eventually lost to the UFC champion:
#5 Brian Ortega (lost to UFC featherweight champion)
Brian Ortega is one of the greatest fighters in the UFC featherweight division. He remained undefeated for nearly eight years. Ortega is known for his proficiency as a grappler.
'T-city' held a flawless professional MMA record of 14 wins, out of which seven came by way of submission. Ortega defeated several big names, including Clay Guida, Renato Moicano, Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar, until he found himself the top contender for the UFC featherweight title.
Ortega faced the UFC featherweight champion at the time, Max 'Blessed' Holloway, at UFC 231. 'Blessed' ran a striking clinic on his opponent till the fourth round. The fight eventually had to be stopped, as the doctor chose to have mercy on Ortega, whose face was battered. In the process, Holloway handed Ortega his first professional MMA loss by TKO due to doctor stoppage in the fourth round.
Brian Ortega has had only one fight since his loss to Holloway. He fought 'Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung at UFC Fight Night 180 and won by unanimous decision.
#4 Darren Till (lost to UFC welterweight champion)
If not for having hilarious posts on his Instagram profile, former UFC welterweight top contender Darren 'The Gorilla' Till is known for being a prolific knockout artist hailing from Liverpool.
He was on a 17-fight win streak that included wins over Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson and Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone. Ten of his 17 victories have come by way of knockout.
'The Gorilla' was defeated for the first time at the hands of then UFC welterweight champion Tyron 'The Chosen One' Woodley at UFC 228. Despite Till's tally of 17 victories and no losses, 'T-Wood' made easy work of TIll, knocking him down in the first round before submitting him in the second by way of a D'Arce choke.
Till fought thrice after his first loss, only to be defeated by Jorge Masvidal and Robert Whittaker. Masvidal handed Till his first knockout loss at UFC Fight Night 147.
#3 Paulo Costa (lost to UFC middleweight champion)
Paulo 'The Eraser' Costa made his first UFC appearance on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3. Costa was on Wanderlei Silva's team on the show. 'The Eraser' was eliminated from the show after being defeated by Marcio Alexandre Jr. by a split decision.
However, by no means did this defeat carry forward into his MMA career, as defeats or victories on the show outside of the finale do not count on the fighter's professional MMA record.
Costa went on to score two knockout victories and one submission win at the Brazilian Jungle Fight events. He proceeded to have five UFC fights, all of which he won.
At this point, out of Costa's 13 professional wins, 11 came by knockouts. His victories in the UFC include one decision win over Yoel Romero and knockout wins over Uriah Hall and former UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks.
However, 'The Eraser's undefeated run was ended by current UFC middleweight champion Israel 'The Last Stylebender' Adesanya. Adesanya, being the taller fighter of the two, was able to dismantle his powerhouse opponent while standing up. Costa found himself on the receiving end of a second-round TKO.
#2 Dominick Reyes (lost to UFC light heavyweight champion)
After the former football player transitioned to MMA in 2014, Dominick 'The Devastator' Reyes went on a 12-fight win streak.
After making his entry in the UFC's light heavyweight division, he defeated big names such as Ovince Saint Preux, Volkan Oezdemir, Jared Cannonier and former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman. That earned him a title shot against then UFC light heavyweight champion and pound-for-pound king, Jon 'Bones' Jones.
Jones was looking to make a move to the UFC heavyweight division at the time. He decided to have his last fight at light heavyweight against top contender Reyes at UFC 247.
Challenger Reyes pushed Jones to the limit, unlike any fighter has done since Jones' outing with Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165. The fight turned out to be as close a fight as Jones' bout with Gustafsson, if not more.
Like the Gustafsson bout, many people from the fight community had scored the fight in the challenger's favor. However, it was Jones who was given a decision win in this fight.
'The Devastator' has been on a two-fight losing streak since the loss to Jones. He faced a loss to Jan Blachowicz in their fight for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title after Jones left the division to compete in heavyweight. His second loss came against newcomer Jiri Prochazka.
#1 Israel Adesanya (lost to UFC light heavyweight champion)
Although Israel 'The Last Stylebender' Adesanya is on this list, he remains undefeated in the UFC middleweight division.
Israel Adesanya has 20 wins in his professional MMA career at middleweight. His record includes wins over Derek Brunson, Anderson Silva, Kelvin Gastelum, Robert Whittaker, Yoel Romero and his predecessor on this list, Paulo Costa.
'Stylebender' faced his first professional MMA defeat when he made the move to light heavyweight to challenge UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz.
With Adesanya's use of distance management complemented by his height and reach, it was speculated that the shorter fighter Blachowicz would only do as good as Paulo Costa did against Adesanya. It was also speculated that Blachowicz's only path to victory was through grappling against Adesanya, as he was the bigger fighter between the two.
However, the outcome of the fight was totally different. Jan Blachowicz not only out-grappled Adesanya but also outstruck him. Blachowicz saw through all of Izzy's cards. The light heavyweight champion exposed the flaws in Israel Adesanya's striking as no other fighter had done before. The fight went to the end of the fifth round before Jan Blachowicz was declared the winner by unanimous decision.
