5 times the UFC overlooked a more deserving contender to make a big-money title fight
Next month, the UFC will promote a heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and challenger Stipe Miocic. It's a big fight, but it overlooks one thing - a more deserving contender in the form of interim champ Tom Aspinall.
Over the years, the UFC has made a habit at times of overlooking a more deserving contender in order to promote what they believe to be a bigger-money title fight.
At times, this worked nicely for them, while on other occasions, their efforts appeared to backfire somewhat.
Here, then, are five times that the UFC overlooked a more deserving contender to make a big-money title fight.
#5. Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic instead of Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall - UFC 309
It's worth beginning with the UFC heavyweight title fight that fans are about to be treated to next month, which will see champ Jon Jones face former titleholder Stipe Miocic.
The fight is being promoted as a 'legacy fight', with Jones and UFC CEO Dana White being the main duo pushing it. Miocic, for his part, has remained largely quiet. However, there are a handful of problems with this bout that mean many observers are not looking forward to it as the promotion probably expects.
Firstly, Jones is not the lineal heavyweight champion. He defeated Ciryl Gane for the vacant belt in March 2023, following the departure of Francis Ngannou to the PFL. It's hard to fault Jones for that, of course, but it's also hard to defend what's happened since.
'Bones' was set to defend against Miocic, the most accomplished heavyweight in octagon history, last November. The last time fans saw Miocic in action was April 2021, when he was knocked out by Ngannou, but a year ago there was no clear-cut contender.
However, after Jones was forced out of the fight and it was postponed, Tom Aspinall stopped Sergei Pavlovich to claim an interim heavyweight title. Since then, the only fight fans have expressed an interest in is Jones vs. Aspinall, but White and company have continued to pursue 'Bones' vs. Miocic instead.
Only time will tell whether their move turns out to be the right one - or whether Jones retires afterwards as he's teased, which would put a dampener on the whole issue.
Overall, then, this is absolutely a case of the promotion overlooking a more deserving contender in favor of an apparently bigger fight - even if the fight isn't as big as they hope it will be.
#4. Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz instead of Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks - UFC 158
When Nick Diaz returned to the UFC in late 2011 following the promotion's buyout of rival organization Strikeforce, the fight everyone wanted to see was Diaz vs. Georges St-Pierre.
Not only was Diaz the reigning 170-pound champion in Strikeforce, but he'd also talked plenty of trash at 'GSP', particuarly when the Canadian was forced out of their planned bout with a serious knee injury.
With St-Pierre vs. Diaz still the big-money fight worth pursuing, the promotion decided to book an interim title fight between the Californian and dangerous contender Carlos Condit. When 'The Natural Born Killer' upset Diaz and won a five-round decision, though, it felt like any idea of 'GSP' vs. Diaz was dead in the water.
A frustrated Diaz apparently walked away from fighting, while St-Pierre focused on making his return against Condit. In the meantime, surging contender Johny Hendricks began to work his way up the ranks, beating the likes of Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Martin Kampmann.
When St-Pierre beat Condit on the same night that Hendricks knocked out Kampmann, it appeared that the two men were on a collision course.
However, in early 2013, it was announced that Diaz was ready to return and would face 'GSP' next instead of 'Bigg Rigg'.
It felt like a bit of an unfair move from the UFC to reward a fighter who had essentially walked away after losing to Condit. However, things did turn out well in the end.
At UFC 158, Hendricks furthered his claim to a title shot by beating Condit in a thriller, and 'GSP' was able to defeat Diaz over five rounds.
The pay-per-view drew a huge number - over 800,000 buys - and Hendricks duly got his shot later in the year.
#3. Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar instead of Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - UFC 91
The chaos caused in the UFC's heavyweight division by the 2023 departure of Francis Ngannou was bad, but it's arguable that things were even worse in late 2007.
When Ngannou departed for the PFL, at least it was a clear-cut decision, allowing the promotion to crown a new champion in Jon Jones. Back in 2007, though, reigning champ Randy Couture was firmly under contract when he decided to "resign" from the promotion.
'The Natural' only wanted to fight former PRIDE champ Fedor Emelianenko, and was seemingly willing to try anything to make the bout happen.
The UFC, of course, weren't willing to budge. Instead, they crowned an interim champion in Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira while basically refusing to recognise Couture's "resignation."
By late 2008, though, the relationship between the promotion and 'The Natural' began to improve. Eventually, cooler heads prevailed, and Couture agreed to return.
However, part of his agreement to return involved him fighting former WWE champ Brock Lesnar, rather than Nogueira, in his comeback title defense.
To say that Lesnar, who'd only had three professional bouts and was 1-1 in the octagon was undeserving would be an understatement. However, he was a far bigger name than Nogueira with casual fans, meaning Couture's payout would be substantially bigger.
Unfortunately, Lesnar - and the promotion - were the only ones who made good on this whole situation. He surprised Couture by knocking him out to claim the title, shocking the world. Nogueira, meanwhile, lost his interim title to Frank Mir, with his career never fully recovering.
Couture did fight Nogueira in the end, but the fight came nearly a year after it should've done - and was not for any kind of title. While the situation worked out well for the UFC, it's safe to say it probably backfired on 'The Natural'.
#2. George St-Pierre vs. B.J. Penn instead of Georges St-Pierre vs. Thiago Alves - UFC 94
The controversy around Georges St-Pierre's welterweight title defense against Nick Diaz in 2013 wasn't the first time 'GSP' found himself in such a situation.
Back in 2008, St-Pierre was in the early stages of his second run with the 170-pound title and had made his first successful defense, beating Jon Fitch. It seemed obvious who the next man in line for a shot at the Canadian was: Thiago Alves.
'The Pitbull' was surging up the ranks and had won six fights in a row, including a big knockout of legendary former titleholder Matt Hughes. However, after the Fitch fight was over, it wasn't Alves who entered the octagon to confront 'GSP' - it was lightweight kingpin B.J. Penn.
'The Prodigy' had an existing rivalry with St-Pierre based on a tight split decision that went the Canadian's way in 2006. However, the Hawaiian had also not fought at 170 pounds since a failed shot at Hughes later that year.
Essentially, given Alves's win streak and his finish of Hughes, there's no way Penn should've been allowed to leapfrog the Brazilian in the queue.
Despite that, the UFC couldn't resist the allure of their first champion vs. champion fight, and so 'The Pitbull' was shunted aside - and into a dangerous fight with Josh Koscheck - while Penn was given his shot at glory. Weirdly, though, the only thing that ended up harmed by the situation was Penn's legacy, while the biggest benefactor was St-Pierre.
'The Prodigy' was thrashed by 'GSP' and forced to quit on his stool after four rounds. While he returned to the lightweight division and defended his title twice more, he fell from his summit a year later and was never the same again.
Had he managed to defend his title maybe twice more - rather than chase St-Pierre - his legacy as the UFC's greatest-ever 155-pounder could still be intact.
As for Alves, he duly beat Koscheck and took his shot at St-Pierre later in 2009, although he did lose. In the end, then, 'GSP' took two scalps, helping to cement his reputation as the greatest of all time later down the line.
#1. Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock instead of Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell - UFC 40
The earliest example of the UFC overlooking a deserving title contender in favor of making a 'money fight' came back in 2002.
However, it's safe to say that the decision to book light heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz against Ken Shamrock and not Chuck Liddell not only paid off, but it helped everyone involved and may even have saved the promotion.
At the time, the UFC was bleeding money and appeared to be heading into serious financial danger. With the Fertitta brothers and Dana White considering giving up on their investment, they decided to go with one final roll of the dice.
Ortiz and Shamrock had a bitter feud dating back to 1999, when 'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' flipped off the pioneer after beating Guy Mezger, one of his top students.
Shamrock had still been involved in WWE at that point, but by 2002, 'The World's Most Dangerous Man' was back in MMA. He hadn't seen too much success, going 1-1 in PRIDE, but his name still carried a lot of weight with fans who remembered his days as the first-ever 'Superfight' champion.
Therefore, rather than looking to book Liddell - who had more than earned a shot at the title with a series of violent knockouts - against Ortiz, White and company instead went with the long-awaited grudge match.
In the end, things could not have gone any better for everyone involved.
The fight drew more interest than the UFC had enjoyed for years, and ended up popping a pay-per-view buyrate enough to convince the Fertittas to keep on going.
Ortiz picked up one of the biggest and best wins of his career, and was catapulted to a new level of stardom. Shamrock put up a good enough fight to retain plenty of respect while also passing the proverbial torch to the next generation, and Liddell won on the undercard, eventually setting up his own run at the top.
In essence, few decisions from the UFC have ever paid off quite so much as this one. Without it, the promotion may not be around as we know it today.