The 5 worst title reigns in UFC history

#3 Conor McGregor – UFC Featherweight title – 12/12/2015 to 11/26/2016

Conor McGregor never defended his Featherweight title

While St-Pierre’s Middleweight title reign was a bad one, its only saving grace was that at least GSP was willing to relinquish the title quickly when it became apparent that he wouldn’t be defending it. The same cannot be said for Conor McGregor’s near-year long run as Featherweight champion.

Nobody could argue with the way that McGregor won the title – the Irishman knocked out long-reigning king Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds to claim the gold at UFC 194 – but almost immediately he didn’t seem interested in defending it against contenders like Frankie Edgar. Instead, McGregor announced his wish to move to 155lbs to claim the title there, too.

A fight with champion Rafael Dos Anjos was signed, but when ‘RDA’ dropped out with an injury, McGregor instead fought Nate Diaz in a last-minute fight at 170lbs and was beaten. Afterwards, rather than return to 145lbs, McGregor demanded a rematch with Diaz, again at 170lbs, and after getting his win back, then took on Eddie Alvarez to win the 155lbs title.

Essentially, McGregor’s title reign is one of the worst ever because he held the title for a year without ever defending it, but remained active in that time period too – making the whole issue far more frustrating to the fans.

McGregor is probably the biggest star in MMA history, but during this period he simply made a mockery of the Featherweight title, which it could be argued has only recently recovered from this dark period.