5 UFC title fights that fell apart and weren't put back together
In the world of the UFC, nothing is ever for certain when it comes to fight booking until the two fighters involved square off in the octagon – even if a bout has been signed.
Over the years, we’ve seen a number of title fights that were made official by the UFC, only to fall apart for various reasons, and some were never put back together.
Given that some of these fights sounded hugely intriguing, it still remains disappointing that we never got to see them to this day.
Here are five UFC title fights that fell apart and weren’t put back together.
#5. Benson Henderson vs. TJ Grant – UFC lightweight title (2013)
In the summer of 2013, the hottest fighter in the UFC’s lightweight division was undoubtedly TJ Grant. After a slow start to his octagon career, the native of Canada reeled off five straight wins after dropping to 155lbs.
10 years ago today, T.J. Grant finished Matt Wiman
https://t.co/p1vnOT19f6
Eventually, he knocked out former title challenger Gray Maynard, and that was enough to net him a title shot of his own.
The promotion announced that his clash with lightweight champ Benson Henderson would headline UFC 164 at the end of August, but before the fight could happen, disaster struck.
Grant suffered a concussion in training and was forced out of the fight, and in his stead, Anthony Pettis stepped in and submitted Henderson to win the title.
The promotion intended to give Grant the first shot at Pettis instead, but it quickly emerged that the Canadian wouldn’t be ready for that either.
In fact, he never returned to the octagon, having been forced into retirement a couple of years later. While Grant was never the kind of major star that the promotion was going to miss long-term, it’s still interesting to imagine what could’ve happened at lightweight had he and not Pettis fought for the title that night.
#4. Anthony Pettis vs. Josh Thomson – UFC lightweight title (2013)
Another lightweight to miss out entirely on a title shot in 2013 was Josh Thomson. The former StrikeForce titleholder had returned to the UFC with a bang earlier that year, knocking out Nate Diaz, and that win was enough to move him into contention.
April 20, 2013
5 years ago today, Josh Thomson defeated Nate Diaz via TKO due to a head kick & punches at 3:44 of the 2nd round at UFC on Fox 7.
To date, @TheRealPunk remains the only fighter to ever knock out Nate Diaz. https://t.co/mGlErGohFY
When TJ Grant’s concussion issues meant that he couldn’t pursue a title bout with Anthony Pettis, Thomson was the man that Dana White and company turned to.
A fight between ‘Showtime’ and ‘The Punk’ sounded absolutely thrilling, but a month before it was due to happen, Pettis suffered a knee injury. The fight was promptly postponed, but despite Thomson’s position as top contender, it seemed that the promotion weren’t willing to sit on the title bout.
Instead, ‘The Punk’ was matched with former champ Benson Henderson in the headliner of an event on the Fox network in early 2014 – and subsequently lost a close decision.
The loss knocked Thomson out of contention altogether, and seemed to wreck his mojo for good. He ended up losing his next two bouts in the octagon and departed the promotion in 2015, and never did get his shot at Pettis – or the lightweight title.
#3. Jose Aldo vs. Erik Koch – UFC featherweight title (2012)
UFC 149 is renowned for being one of the most cursed events in the promotion’s history, with a number of fights being either changed on late notice or scrapped altogether due to a number of different reasons.
One of those fights was the event’s intended headliner, a featherweight title bout between champion Jose Aldo and challenger Erik Koch.
The fight felt a little odd to begin with, as Koch simply didn’t seem like the most obvious title challenger. ‘New Breed’ had won his first two bouts in the octagon, but it was difficult to justify him jumping ahead of the likes of Chan Sung Jung.
When Aldo suffered an injury that forced him out of the event, Dana White and company surprisingly decided to stick with Koch as the top contender.
More changes - Aldo injured, Aldo-Koch postponed, Faber-Barao interim title fight now the main event of UFC 149 in Calgary
The fight was re-booked for three months down the line, but when Koch then got injured, his title challenge went down in flames.
The bout was canceled altogether, with ‘New Breed’ replaced by Frankie Edgar, and he wouldn’t return until early 2013. When he did come back, he lost his next two fights, knocking him out of contention for good and putting paid to any hopes he had of fighting Aldo.
#2. Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson – UFC light-heavyweight title (2012)
By the summer of 2012, Jon Jones had basically cleaned out the light-heavyweight division, defeating the likes of Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans.
The next opponent on his list was Dan Henderson, who returned to the UFC in late 2011 and put on one of the best fights of all time, edging out Rua in a classic.
A title bout between Jones and Henderson was signed to headline UFC 151. While very few people were giving ‘Hendo’ a chance of winning, being far smaller than the champion, he did possess a great equalizer in his punching power.
However, before the two men could face off, it was announced that Henderson had blown out his knee, and from there, all hell broke loose.
Jon Jones and Dan Henderson were scheduled to fight 7 years ago today. https://t.co/tTnDOihwQC
Jones refused to face Chael Sonnen as a late replacement, instead beating Vitor Belfort a month later, but the fact that he’d supposedly ‘ducked’ Sonnen cut deep.
The promotion decided to book a clash between ‘Bones’ and ‘The American Gangster’ for the first quarter of 2013, and that pushed Henderson out, even though he was ready to return by February.
Had ‘Hendo’ won his return bout, then he could well have moved back into line for a shot at the Jones/Sonnen winner – but instead, he lost to Machida and slipped from contention for good.
UFC fans never did get to see Jones vs. Henderson, and while it probably would’ve ended in a routine win for Jones, it remains one of the biggest “lost” fights in the promotion’s history.
#1. Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson – UFC lightweight title (2017, 2018 and 2020)
There’s no doubt that the biggest “lost” fight in UFC history is the lightweight title bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, which was signed on no fewer than five occasions before falling apart.
While two of those clashes were intended to be non-title affairs, the other three were all pegged to be for lightweight gold, and each time, something went wrong to prevent the fight from happening.
Their interim title bout in 2017 was canceled when Khabib botched his weight cut, resulting in a hospital trip for the Dagestani. 2018’s fight for the then-vacant title was also scratched, this time when Ferguson blew out his knee prior to weigh-ins.
When both men were finally healthy leading into 2020, Dana White and the company decided to give the fight another shot – booking it to headline their trip to Brooklyn in April.
Crazy heated staredown between @TeamKhabib and @TonyFergusonXT to close the #UFC249 press conference. 👀 https://t.co/LFgNRkthUA
However, the COVID-19 pandemic then struck, forcing the promotion to postpone all their shows and preventing Khabib from entering the US when they were able to restart proceedings.
Rather than simply holding off, White and company instead risked things by having Ferguson face Justin Gaethje for an interim title – and ‘El Cucuy’ subsequently suffered a devastating loss.
Months later, Khabib returned, submitted Gaethje and then retired, putting an end to the potential of a fight with Ferguson for good.
What actually would’ve happened had Khabib and Ferguson actually met? It’s honestly hard to say, particularly if they’d faced off in 2017 or 2018 with both men at the peak of their powers.
In this instance, though, unlike many of the bouts on this list, the clash never happening was not the UFC’s choice – making it the promotion’s greatest ever “lost” fight.