5 UFC champions who failed in their first attempt to step up to the elite level
Benoit Saint-Denis will attempt to bounce back from his loss to Dustin Poirier earlier in the year at this weekend's UFC event. If he can do this, his dream of becoming a champion will still be alive.
Thankfully, UFC history is filled with examples of champions who, like Benoit Saint-Denis, failed in their first attempt to step up to the elite level.
Of course, these champions recovered from their losses well, learned from them, and eventually captured gold in the octagon. Whether Saint-Denis can do the same remains to be seen.
For now, though, here are five UFC champions who failed in their first attempt to step up to the elite level.
#5. Stipe Miocic - former UFC heavyweight champion
Stipe Miocic is widely recognized as the most decorated heavyweight in UFC history.
The Cleveland firefighter claimed the heavyweight title twice between 2016 and 2019 and will have the chance to become a three-time champ when he faces Jon Jones later this year.
To claim that Miocic had a smooth path to the title would be largely disingenuous. In fact, he suffered a frustrating loss in his first attempt at fighting an elite-level opponent.
Miocic won six of his first seven bouts in the octagon, with the only loss coming via controversial TKO at the hands of Stefan Struve following an eye poke.
His wins elevated him into the top ten, but by mid-2014, his best wins were still over a pair of gatekeepers in Gabriel Gonzaga and Roy Nelson.
The promotion decided to push him to the next level at the end of that year, matching him with former titleholder Junior dos Santos, and what followed was a heavyweight classic.
Miocic and 'JDS' went toe-to-toe for five rounds, with many observers believing Miocic had gotten the better of things, even if he was badly dropped in the third round. When the judges made their call, though, they gave the nod to the Brazilian.
Miocic was largely undeterred by the loss, clearly sensing that he'd probably done enough to show he was an elite-level fighter. He stormed through his next two opponents and, 18 months later, stopped Fabricio Werdum to claim his first heavyweight title.
#4. Michael Bisping - former UFC middleweight champion
Perhaps no other fighter took such an arduous path to a UFC title than Michael Bisping. The UK favorite finally claimed middleweight gold by defeating Luke Rockhold in June 2016, nearly a decade after he first made his octagon debut in the finals of TUF 3.
Prior to that, it felt like 'The Count' was destined to always be the bridesmaid and never the bride. On numerous occasions, he'd get within inches of a title shot, only to fall at the final hurdle.
Bisping's most devastating career loss, though, came in his first attempt to step up to the elite level.
After looking undersized against the likes of Matt Hamill and Rashad Evans, 'The Count' dropped to 185 pounds in early 2008. The results were immediate.
Bisping impressed in wins over Charles McCarthy, Jason Day and Chris Leben, but none of those fighters were considered the best of the best. The same could not be said for Dan Henderson.
'Hendo' was not only the former PRIDE middleweight champ, but he was also considered a legend of MMA. Had Bisping been able to get past him, nobody could've questioned his credentials.
Of course, that didn't happen. Instead, 'The Count' suffered one of the most brutal knockout losses of all time, going down to a haymaker right hand in the second round.
Lesser fighters would've been finished by such a nasty stoppage, but Bisping bounced back and kept plugging away. Eventually, not only did he become an elite fighter in his own right, but he also became a champion - cementing his own legend in the process.
#3. Amanda Nunes - former UFC bantamweight champion
With wins over eight different UFC champions on her record, Amanda Nunes is undoubtedly the greatest female fighter in MMA history.
However, even 'The Lioness' didn't have a smooth climb to the top, and in fact, the Brazilian was defeated in violent fashion against her first truly elite foe.
Upon arriving in the UFC in 2013, Nunes won her first two bouts impressively, and that was enough for the matchmakers to put her against Cat Zingano in what was essentially a bantamweight title eliminator.
Zingano hadn't fought in over a year due to a serious knee injury, but prior to that, 'Alpha' had destroyed Miesha Tate and looked like the biggest threat to Ronda Rousey's 135-pound title.
Early on, it looked like Nunes was more than capable of making the step up. She took the fight to Zingano and appeared to be on the verge of finishing her with ground and pound.
'Alpha', however, was made of sterner stuff, and it appeared that her bad first round fired her up.
She came into the second like a woman possessed, dumped Nunes onto her head, and began to dismantle her with elbows.
'The Lioness' survived into the third round, but by that point, she was on borrowed time, and with Zingano relentless with her assault, the referee mercifully rescued her before the two-minute mark.
Despite the loss, of course, Nunes had shown enough to suggest that she could hang at the top level, and it didn't take her long to bounce back.
She returned with a win just six months later - and would not lose another fight until 2021, by which point she'd become both a simultaneous two-division champion and a legend of the UFC.
#2. Rashad Evans - former UFC light-heavyweight champion
When Rashad Evans won TUF 2 as an undersized heavyweight, most fans were largely shocked. After all, as the smallest man on the cast, he didn't seem to stand a chance.
They were left even more shocked when 'Suga' dropped to 205 pounds to begin his octagon career properly and appeared to have all the talent required to make it to the top.
Evans defeated Sam Hoger, then outwrestled and shut down Stephan Bonnar, and finally destroyed the highly-touted Jason Lambert with brutal punches from the top. When he then turned the lights off on Sean Salmon with a sickening head kick, a new star appeared to have been born.
The UFC then matched Evans with former light-heavyweight champion and poster-boy Tito Ortiz, clearly hoping that he'd defeat 'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' and usurp his spot.
Unfortunately for everyone, Dana White included, things didn't go to plan.
Ortiz proved to be a little too savvy for his younger foe and bullied him from the off, taking him down and outfighting him in all areas.
Evans did come back late in the third round, but it wasn't quite enough to win. Thanks to a fence grab that saw 'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' deducted a point, the fight was declared a draw, but it still felt like a loss for 'Suga'.
The TUF champion did regroup, though. He took some time away in 2008 and returned to beat Chuck Liddell and then claimed the 205-pound title shortly after. Later, he rematched Ortiz and stopped him in a one-sided fashion - showing that, unlike before, he was definitely an elite-level fighter at that stage.
#1. Georges St-Pierre - former UFC welterweight champion
The best example of a UFC champion who failed in their first attempt to climb to the elite level is Georges St-Pierre.
Widely recognised as the greatest MMA fighter of all time, period, 'GSP' first joined the promotion in early 2004 after beating some far more experienced foes in his native Canada.
However, nobody could've seen how fast he would initially climb the ladder. After beating fellow prospects Karo Parisyan and Jay Hieron, St-Pierre found himself thrust into a fight for the welterweight title vacated by BJ Penn. His foe? Former champion Matt Hughes.
Realistically, the fight had come a little too early for 'GSP', who actually viewed Hughes as his idol.
The Canadian fought remarkably well, taking Hughes down and even stunning him with a spinning back-kick at one point. In the end, though, he made a major error in overreaching for a kimura and found himself submitting to an armbar late in the first round.
Plenty of young fighters would've been crushed by the loss, but not St-Pierre. He regrouped instantly and went on one of the most dominant runs ever seen in the division, winning six straight fights that culminated in a knockout over Hughes in a rematch, making him the new champion.
'GSP' later spoke about what he'd learned from his first failed step up to the elite. He revealed that when he watched the fight with Hughes back, he realized he could've beaten him - and used that knowledge to drive him onto the rematch.
It remains an important lesson for any young fighter who fails in their first step up - something a prospect like Benoit Saint-Denis would do well to learn from.