5 UFC champions who were unfairly written off going into title defenses

Stipe Miocic proved that he could never be written off when he defeated Francis Ngannou in 2018

This weekend at UFC 273, Aljamain Sterling will defend his bantamweight title against Petr Yan. In the eyes of many fans, ‘Funk Master’ has no chance of retaining the gold.

Aljamain Sterling isn’t the first UFC champion to be written off by the fans prior to a title bout, as we’ve seen numerous other examples of this over the years.

Whether those fans are correct to write off the chances of the champ will only be seen at the weekend, but in the past, plenty of titleholders proved their doubters wrong and overcame the odds.

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With that in mind, here are five UFC champions who were unfairly written off prior to a title defense.

#5. Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga - UFC 74

Randy Couture overcame the odds to pummel Gabriel Gonzaga in one of his best performances

When Randy Couture dethroned Tim Sylvia to capture the UFC heavyweight title for the third time in early 2007, he became the oldest champion in the promotion’s history at the age of 43.

‘The Natural’ undoubtedly produced a special performance against Sylvia, but when his first title defense was booked against Gabriel Gonzaga five months later, it seemed highly unlikely that he’d be able to defeat the odds again.

Not only did ‘Napao’ hold a huge size and power advantage over the champion, but he was also considered one of the best grapplers on the planet. He had also displayed devastating striking power too, most notably in his knockout of PRIDE legend Mirko Cro Cop.

Apr21.2007

11 years ago today,

Gabriel Gonzaga stunned the fight world, when he knocked out Mirko Crocop with a head kick. https://t.co/yWkTB8pzCB

Essentially, Couture felt like little more than a placeholder going into his defense against the Brazilian. To many observers, it felt like only a matter of time before ‘Napao’ crushed him to claim the UFC title.

However, once again, ‘The Natural’ proved that writing him off was never a good idea. From the start of the fight, Couture got into Gonzaga’s face and never let up, pushing a pace that the Brazilian simply couldn’t match.

Once the champion began to impose his wrestling game, taking Gonzaga down on multiple occasions, the fight was basically over. Couture smashed his nose with ground-and-pound and finished him off in the third round.

This win tends to be forgotten in comparison to his victory over Sylvia, but in many ways, it remains Couture’s most impressive victory in the octagon, particularly in his latter days.