5 UFC champions who lost in their first octagon appearance

Brock Lesnar failed to pick up a win in his first trip to the octagon

While some UFC champions took the fast route to the top and simply blew through their competition before claiming gold, others found the climb much trickier.

Over the years we’ve seen a number of UFC champions who only claimed titles in the promotion after suffering hardship, with some even losing in their first trip to the octagon.

Tamed the beast! #OnThisDay - Frank Mir was the ultimate spoiler in Brock Lesnar's UFC debut 😳

[ Watch more classic fights on @UFCFightPass ] https://t.co/YibWQJpjG3

In a lot of ways, it could be argued that those fighters who became champions after failing in their first octagon appearance deserve even more respect. After all, they had to earn their titles the hard way.

With that in mind, here are five UFC champions who lost in their first appearance inside the octagon.

#5. Eddie Alvarez – former UFC lightweight champion

Labelled a bust after losing his octagon debut, Eddie Alvarez later captured lightweight gold

After putting on some fantastic fights in Bellator MMA and claiming their lightweight title, Eddie Alvarez was a fighter that UFC fans always dreamed about seeing in the octagon.

That dream became a reality in 2014, when, after some protracted negotiations, he was able to secure his release from the promotion in order to join the UFC. If he’d expected to have a slow introduction to his new home, though, he was sorely mistaken.

‘The Underground King’ was faced with highly-ranked contender Donald Cerrone. Despite starting quickly, he ended up succumbing to the low kicks of ‘Cowboy’ en route to a defeat on the scorecards.

It looked like Alvarez would join the likes of Hector Lombard and Rameau Sokoudjou on the list of major signings who turned out to be busts. Instead, ‘The Underground King’ recovered well in his next two bouts.

He overcame Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis, two former champions in multiple organisations, both via split decision. That was enough to net him a surprise shot at lightweight kingpin Rafael dos Anjos.

Few people expected Alvarez to succeed. However, despite coming into the fight as a heavy underdog, ‘The Underground King’ stunned ‘RDA’ with an early right hand and then put him away with a flurry to claim the title.

Eddie Alvarez batters Rafael dos Anjos, takes home lightweight world title foxs.pt/29TH9kQ https://t.co/ewwGQm5vAT

While he dropped the gold to Conor McGregor in his first defense, the fact he recovered from his debut loss to win the title in the first place was remarkable. It made him the first Bellator champion to find title success in the octagon.