3 fighters who were handed UFC championships
The journey to winning a UFC championship can be long and grueling. Most fighters never get the opportunity to fight for a title.
Due to various circumstances, a few select fighters have been given titles without winning the championship in the octagon.
Here are 3 fighters who were handed UFC titles.
#3 Robert Whittaker - UFC middleweight championship
After moving up to middleweight, Robert Whittaker defeated six UFC middleweight contenders before facing Yoel Romero for the UFC middleweight interim title. The undisputed champion Michael Bisping had suffered a knee injury, forcing the UFC to create an interim championship.
The Reaper beat Romero by unanimous decision to become the interim champion at UFC 213 in July 2017, to become the interim UFC champion.
Welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre returned to challenge Michael Bisping for the middleweight title at UFC 217 in New York in November 2017. Whittaker was cage-side to see GSP submit Bisping to win the UFC middleweight championship.
Despite promising Dana White that he would defend the title, GSP vacated the belt in December rather than face interim champion Robert Whittaker.
The UFC immediately promoted Whittaker to undisputed middleweight champion and scheduled his first defense against Luke Rockhold at UFC 221. Unfortunately, the bout never took place as Whittaker had to withdraw due to injury.
#2 Jose Aldo - UFC featherweight championship
Jose Aldo became an underground MMA star during his spectacular run in the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion. He won seven of his eight WEC bouts by knockout, including the highlight-reel finish of Cub Swanson.
The Brazilian featherweight captured the WEC title by defeating Mike Brown via knockout in November 2009. He defended his title twice, beating Uriah Faber and Manny Gamburyan.
On October 28, 2010, the WEC merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Jose Aldo was announced as the inaugural UFC Featherweight Champion, receiving the promotion's first-ever featherweight title belt on Saturday, November 20 2010 at UFC 125.
#1 Ronda Rousey - UFC bantamweight championship
Rowdy Ronda Rousey started her MMA career with six straight submission victories. She defeated MMA veterans Sarah Kaufman, Julia Budd and Miesha Tate on her way to the Strikeforce bantamweight championship.
Dana White was adamant he didn’t like female MMA fights and would never let women fight in the octagon. However, he couldn’t ignore Rousey’s superstar potential.
In November 2012, the UFC announced that Rousey had become the first female fighter to sign with the promotion. At the Henderson vs. Diaz pre-fight press conference, Dana White officially introduced Rousey as the first UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion.