5 fighters who were undefeated when they won UFC gold
In the world of the UFC, and in MMA in general, it’s near-impossible for a fighter to remain undefeated. That gets even trickier the closer a fighter gets to a UFC title, with the path to a shot at the gold often filled with dangerous opponents.
This weekend sees Ciryl Gane fight for the interim UFC heavyweight title, and if he wins, he’ll become one of the few fighters to claim UFC gold with an undefeated record.
However, Gane won’t be the first to pull off such a monumental feat, as a select handful of UFC stars have managed it previously.
With this in mind, here are five fighters who were still undefeated when they won UFC gold.
#5. Cain Velasquez – Former UFC heavyweight champion
Few fighters were able to live up to their hype quite like Cain Velasquez, who was being talked up by his teammates as a future UFC champion before he’d even made his UFC debut.
The Arizona-based heavyweight had a strong background in collegiate wrestling, where he’d been a renowned Division I All-American, and fighting out of the famed American Kickboxing Academy then allowed him to develop a terrifying all-round game.
Velasquez debuted in the UFC after just two professional fights, and instantly looked like the real deal in early squash wins over Brad Morris, Jake O’Brien and Denis Stojnic.
After just a year on the UFC’s roster, Velasquez broke into contention for the UFC heavyweight title by easily defeating Cheick Kongo and Ben Rothwell. He knocked out the legendary Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to seal a shot at the gold.
And in what was one of the biggest UFC fights of all time, Velasquez then dismantled champion Brock Lesnar to claim the UFC heavyweight title in just his ninth professional fight overall. Not only was he still undefeated, but he honestly hadn’t even been truly tested.
Velasquez was never able to really assert his dominance after winning the title, largely due to a string of injuries, but there’s probably a fair argument that in his prime, he was the best heavyweight that the UFC has ever seen.