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The past decade has seen the UFC put on some truly amazing title fights. The likes of Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald (2015), Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard (2011) and Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum (2019) would all be up there with the very best title fights in promotional history.
Unfortunately, there have been some title fights in the past ten years that just didn’t live up to the hype. Various factors – from bad style clashes to injuries suffered during the fights – have played their part, but the following five title fights definitely rank amongst the very worst that we’ve seen from 2010 to 2019.
#5 Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields, UFC 129 – 04/30/201
The UFC’s first show in Toronto, UFC 129 was looking all set to be one of the greatest MMA shows of all time after an undercard filled with highlight reel finishes was topped off by a classic title Featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick. All it needed to send it into the stratosphere was a big win from Canadian hero Georges St-Pierre, who faced Jake Shields in a Welterweight title main event.
Well, St-Pierre did win the fight, but it wasn’t in the fashion he – or the Toronto crowd – would’ve liked. ‘GSP’ completely outclassed Shields for five rounds, stopping his takedown attempts and easily outstriking him, but the fight was full of inactivity from start to finish, with St-Pierre seemingly attempting to force a knockout via an overhand right that just wouldn’t come.
The explanation for the bad showing seemed simple when it was revealed that an errant eye poke from Shields midway through the fight had essentially rendered GSP blind; he’d been content to do just enough to edge the win after the injury. It was understandable, but it didn’t make the fight any better to watch.
#4 Germaine De Randamie vs. Holly Holm, UFC 208 – 02/12/2017
When the UFC announced that they were introducing a Women’s Featherweight division in early 2017, eyebrows were raised when the inaugural title fight didn’t involve the consensus #1 female 145lber in the world, Cris Cyborg. Instead, Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie – both contenders in the 135lbs division – would fight for the new championship.
Unfortunately, the two women failed to start the division with any kind of a bang. Their fight at UFC 208 was a slow, tentative striking battle that saw minimal action across the five rounds, and ended in controversy when De Randamie had her hand raised at the end. ‘The Iron Lady’ probably did enough to outpoint Holm – but post-buzzer strikes in the second and third rounds stunned Holm badly and should’ve seen the Dutchwoman deducted at least one point.
In the end the fight was nothing short of a disaster for the UFC; not only did De Randamie come off like a dirty fighter following her arguably undeserved win – but she didn’t even defend her title after refusing to face Cyborg later in the year.
#3 Valentina Shevchenko vs. Liz Carmouche, UFC Fight Night 156 – 08/10/2019
Valentina Shevchenko’s first UFC Flyweight title defence ended with her knocking Jessica Eye out with one of the greatest head kicks in promotional history. Unfortunately for her – and for the fans in attendance in Montevideo, Uruguay, as well as those watching on TV – her second defence didn’t go quite so well.
Faced with the first woman to ever defeat her in her MMA career – longtime veteran Liz Carmouche – the Kyrgyzstani striker decided to take a safety-first approach, and simply sniped at ‘Girl-Rilla’ from distance for 25 minutes, peppering her with kicks and punches that never really had Carmouche hurt or stunned.
Carmouche for her part seemed overawed by either Shevchenko or by the occasion – baffling considering her performance in 2013 against Ronda Rousey – and barely did anything in return, resulting in a dull fight that ended with Shevchenko winning a unanimous decision. In the end, the fight was so bad that the fans reserved the biggest cheers for Shevchenko’s victory dance.
#2 Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson, UFC 209 – 03/04/2017
When Tyron Woodley defended his UFC Welterweight title against top contender Stephen Thompson at UFC 205, the two men came away with a pair of $50k bonuses for the Fight of the Night, and after the showdown ended in a majority draw, most fans were excited by the potential of a rematch.
The UFC obliged, but somehow, not only did ‘The Chosen One’ and ‘Wonderboy’ completely fail to live up to the first fight, they also put on a stinker worthy of being considered an all-time bad title fight. Thompson continually sniped at Woodley from the outside but after being badly hurt in the first fight, seemed too wary of Woodley’s power to truly open up, while the champion looked shockingly tentative, allowing ‘Wonderboy’ to back him up throughout the fight.
The action did pick up, but only in the dying seconds of the fight – when Woodley caught Thompson with a big right hand and had him on the verge of being finished before the buzzer sounded to end the bout. The barrage turned out to be enough to convince the judges that Woodley had won the fight, and he retained his title – but didn’t exactly win the favour of the fans in the process.
#1 Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia, UFC 112 – 04/10/2010
The previous fights on this list all turned out to be stinkers, but for the most part there were reasons for them turning out so badly, be it injuries or bad style matches. The April 2010 Middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Demian Maia, however, was different.
This one featured a champion in Silva who – judging by the first round at least – was clearly capable of outclassing and beating his overmatched opponent with little effort on his part. Unfortunately for the fans though, ‘The Spider’ seemingly had no interest in actually putting Maia away, and simply chose to fool around for the remaining 20 minutes rather than pursue a finish.
Silva danced, he mimed playing a guitar solo, he taunted Maia and dared him to take a shot at him; essentially he did everything but actually take the fight to his fellow Brazilian. Things got so bad in the fifth round that referee Dan Miragliotta was forced to call time to warn Silva for his inactivity.
For his part, Maia tried to swing for Silva, but he just didn’t have the speed to hit the champion cleanly, nor could he get him to the ground. In the end Silva successfully defended his title, winning a unanimous decision, but it took him a while at least to regain the fans he lost with this diabolical showing.
