5 dullest title fights in UFC history
Theoretically, at least, a UFC title fight should pit two combatants at the peak of their powers against each other in an epic clash to decide the best fighter in their weight class. For the most part, that is usually the case.
Over the years, though, we’ve seen a number of UFC title bouts that not only failed to live up to the hype behind them, but outright stunk out the octagon to the point that the fans were turned off entirely.
The crowd after Rose Namajunas vs Carla Esparza #UFC274
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Who is to blame for a dull title bout? Well, naturally it’s easy to blame the fighters involved, but often, the promotion deserves equal blame for not spotting a bad style clash beforehand.
Regardless, here are the five dullest title bouts in UFC history.
#5. Rose Namajunas vs. Carla Esparza – UFC women's strawweight title (2022)
We begin with the most recent entry on this list, as it’s probably safe to say that Rose Namajunas’ UFC strawweight title bout with Carla Esparza this past weekend should be considered the worst title fight since the turn of the decade, eclipsing Israel Adesanya’s clash with Yoel Romero in 2020.
Quite how this fight failed to deliver plenty of action remains a mystery. Not only was it a rematch of a highly-exciting title bout between the two women back in 2014, but both Namajunas and Esparza were coming into it on arguably the best form of their careers thus far.
The general consensus was that if ‘Thug Rose’ could keep the fight standing, she’d be able to blitz Esparza with her strikes. Meanwhile, ‘Cookie Monster’ would hunt for takedowns and submissions in order to find her way to victory.
In the end, neither thing really happened. For reasons known only to her, Namajunas, despite holding a huge striking advantage, simply wasn’t able to let her punches and kicks go, and the fight quickly degenerated into a staring contest.
Esparza did end up landing a couple of takedowns, which apparently swayed the judges into going with her as the victor. But to tell the truth, she fought in a bizarrely passive way too, meaning that neither woman came away looking like a winner.
Overall, the fight saw just 68 strikes land in total across the 25 minutes, and it was hardly a surprise to hear boos when it was over. Quite where the two fighters go from here remains to be seen, but whatever they do, it can’t be as bad as this fight was.
New champ Carla Esparza admits it was a "bummer" her fight with Rose Namajunas wasn't more exciting and admits she's not sure she won.
#UFC274 | Full video: bit.ly/38doaUW https://t.co/ZmPXXnQShZ